• Thursday, March 28, 2024
businessday logo

BusinessDay

From Opedun comes Makovenice for humanity

From Opedun comes Makovenice for humanity

In the realm of possibility, Damilola Opedun takes painterly solutions to alleviate diverse challenges.

This is much the artist does with Makovenice, a solo art exhibition of over 30 pieces works opening on June 26, 2021, at Signature Beyond Gallery’, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Opedun said the concept of the exhibition is an idea that portrays life as beyond what is seen with just the physical eyes.

He explained Makovenice as involving seeing and living beyond the limits of any environment the people live in, regardless of the prevailing conditions. He noted that deploying the mentality of Makeovenice generated what he described as “trans-dimensional vision or perception of reality and a deep belief that all things are truly possible.”

Two of the works for the exhibition include; Revelation, oil on canvas, 36” X 48” (2019); and Transition, oil on canvas, 48” X 48” dated 2021. “Through my interactions with people I come across, especially the children I teach in Makoko Oko-Agbon, I have become increasingly aware of the lack of this type of vision, which is an inevitable element for advancement. And this should not be the case for us,” Opedun stated.

“Therefore, with Makovenice, I hope to activate in the audience this wonderful intrinsic perception of reality, to live beyond current limitations in our world, also wishing that through this show, I can intelligibly convey my unflinching love and desire to be the voice for the marginalised people, especially that of the children of the stilt community of Makoko Oko-Agbon.”

Read also: Fidoko: The man and his art

He added that by acting as a bridge between them and the intellectual world, he intends to attract the desired assistance to them, especially in the area of education.

In its gallery statement, Signature Beyond described Opedun’s show as one of its best exhibits yet. “The artist goes beyond a master by right in his craftsmanship, he is also behind The Seed of the True Vine Foundation, a non-governmental organization that cares for the education and welfare of children living in ghettos since 2015.”

Apart from being an artist, Opedun, according to Signature, is a humanist.

“Opedun is an amazing artist as well as a great human being,” said Rahman Akar, founder, Signature Beyond Art Gallery.

Akar said Opedun “is a reflection of what we stand for.”

Signature Beyond boasted that in its decades of handling artists, “we are professionals, sincere and transparent, purely designated for the art and art alone.”

As a policy in marketing art, Akar disclosed: “When we sell art, we want you to be fully aware of who you are buying so we are not here to impress you with a glass of champagne or a red carpet.”

As regards the value of art being sold at Signature Beyond, Akar assured: “When you buy art from us and when you wake up the next morning you realize that you did the right thing Signature has been around for a long time and we all know what we stand for, we all know how long we’ve been in this business, we all know how far we’ve come and what we’ve contributed to the art scene.

In 2010, Opedun graduated from The School of Art And Design, Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State, as the best student of Higher National Diploma (HND) in Painting.

From 2015, he became a full-time studio artist, but currently deplores his work in dual areas of education and philanthropist.