This weekend is exciting for the Nigerian art community as Art X Lagos, premier West African art expo, opens in Lagos.
As expected, the expo is bigger this year, which is its seventh edition with exciting and robust programmes featuring 120 artists from 40 countries across Africa and the diaspora and a series of special projects.
As well, over 31 dedicated and first-time galleries are showcasing breathtaking works of their artists in their various booths.
One of such galleries is Alexis Galleries, a Victoria Island Lagos-based contemporary art company and supporter of artists across Africa.
Alexis is storming the art fair with many enthralling works by four artists including; Blaise Vernyuy, Oluwole Omofemi, Samuel Tete – Katchan and Stanley Arinze.
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Speaking at the fairground at Federal Palace Hotel Lagos on Friday, Patty Chidiac Mastrogiannis, founder, Alexis Galleries, pointed out that Art X Lagos has sustained its steady growth since inception on October 1, 2011. Also, considering what she has seen so far, this year’s edition, according to her, is going to be more exciting as promised by the organisers.
As well, the excited Patty has been busy receiving high net worth guests at the fair, especially Nnaemeka Alfred Ugochukwu Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha, Anambra State, South-East Nigeria.
The first-class traditional ruler also commended the quality of the works at the Alexis Galleries booth, while also appreciating the efforts of the Patty-led gallery at grooming and empowering Nigerian youth artists.
Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, former group managing director and chief executive officer of Access Bank Plc, also graced the Alexis booth, leaving behind kind words.
On the quality of the works, Patty noted that the works of the four artists are well sought-after, especially Samuel Tete – Katchan.
She noted that Oluwole Omofemi will present his Afro Hair series at Alexis Galleries booth at the ongoing ART X Lagos 2022.
She also gives reasons the artists are sought-after and need to visit the stand by profiling the artists accordingly.
Blaise Vernyuy
Blaise Vernyuy is a Cameroonian artist. After earning a degree in Visual Art and Arts History from the University of Bamenda, he set up a studio in the same town. He creates acrylic paintings on canvas, producing what he describes as “Afro abstract figurative” paintings. His figures are characters in a drama unfolding on the canvas.
Vernyuy’s work is currently focused on advocacy and he captures the energy of protests on his canvas. His characters ask questions or echo statements from world leaders and other famous people. They also use slogans from protest movements, specific to the subject under examination.
Oluwole Omofemi
Oluwole Omofemi nudges Black people towards accepting their identity and beauty, using hair as a metaphor for freedom in his paintings. He embellishes the faces of his Black female models with scarification marks to identify his subjects’ roots. Omofemi looks to the future in his work and is inspired by the liberating spirit of Afropunk street styles and Fela Aníkúlápó-Kuti’s Pan-African vision.
He has exhibited his work at solo and group shows in Nigeria, Ghana, Belgium, the UK, and Spain.
Samuel Tete-Katchan
Samuel Tete- Katchan is a graphic designer and painter born in Togo. He currently resides in Accra, Ghana and developed his style from studying the Oshogbo Art of South-West Nigeria. In 2007, he attended the Instituto Rural de Arte Hosz del Jucar in Spain.
Tete-Katchan believes in art as a tool for social development and has carried out several art projects in Cape Coast, Ghana, in collaboration with ICOMOS International and students of the University of Virginia in the US. He is represented by Alexis Galleries and has had his work exhibited in the US and across Africa and Europe.
Stanley Arinze
Stanley Arinze showed an enthusiasm for portraits on paper since he was six, partly because his family was involved in the business of paper conversion. Through patience, practice and persistence, the Imo State University graduate taught himself to harness pencil and paper in harmony towards the goal of self-expression.
Inspired by his personal experiences living in Nigeria, Arinze uses hyper-realism as a tool to trigger a degree of emotional connection between his audience and the stories in his art, which are mostly geared towards socio-political activism. His first exhibition as part of a group was at Omenka Gallery, Lagos. He is represented by Alexis Galleries in Nigeria.
Patty and the Alexis Galleries team invite you to visit them at Booth 20, Art X Lagos 2022.
