After running informally for a year, ‘O’DA Art, a contemporary art gallery, opened to enthrall and engage art lovers and collectors with sheer creative masterpieces from its renowned artists.
In this interviews, Obida Obioha, creative director and founder of the gallery, speaks to Obinna Emelike on the reasons for establishing the gallery, focus, collection of artist, exhibitions and impact on the art scene among others.
Congratulations on your relatively new gallery, why the name O’DA Art Gallery?
The name translated from Yoruba language and it means ‘It Is Good’. The strive to be good in everything we do is very important to us. For us, this means how we treat ourselves, how we treat and conduct business with the artists who are kind enough to work with us, how we treat collectors both new and seasoned. We never push, we believe in choice. If you are not happy, we are not happy.
What informed the establishment of the gallery when you can invest in other art ventures?
We decided to establish a gallery after running informally from my home for a year because we wanted to share more beauty with the world. It is important to me to be able to share the serenity and joy we have created within the O’DA universe with more people. Lagos and life can be so chaotic, we believe the bit of good we can do is creating and sharing a space that brings about a much needed respite from the big bad world.
How has it been since 2021 when you started?
We have been immensely fortunate to work with some incredible talent, starting with Alimi Adewale, who we did our first salon with, to Duke Asidere
who was the first artist to show at our new gallery, well, not so new anymore. We have enjoyed making the acquaintance of new art lovers, seasoned art collectors, artist, art students, everyone. It has been an incredibly rewarding journey.
So far, with quite a number of successful exhibitions, which is the next and when is it opening?
The next exhibition we are looking forward to is a solo by Chika Idu. An incredible artist who is super multi-faceted and very thorough with his work.
He has a series that looks at communities who live by and on the water, in his study and interaction with them, he has found them to be proud and joyful with their lot and he seeks to share that perspective in his very beautiful and striking art.
Read also: World Art Dubai empowers contemporary art, emerging artists — Onoriode
What informs your choice of artists for your exhibitions?
We are very keen on contemporary artists who have a unique language of their own. We are focused on artist from Africa or its dispora, as we feel
there is so much talent here that the world hasn’t had a chance to see yet. And that’s our job; to share the beauty, creativity and brilliance of African artists with the world.
Beyond offering the exhibition space, what else do you do for your artists?
To be honest, I don’t think we do enough yet! But as we develop further, we would like to take our artists to international art fairs; we plan to open
an artist residency for artists to have the space reflect and take time to explore ideas at their own pace. We are also very interested in finding or creating grants for artists to further develop their technical skills.
You mentioned that serenity is at the epicentre of your gallery’s vision, can you explain more?
It is the idea that so much of us spend life in a fast daze, often forget to into appreciate the beauty that exists around us. At O’DA we aim
to give you a break to catch your breath, a respite, a chance to enjoy life.
You also seems to combine art with interior design, why and how does that concept work?
I am an interior designer by profession, I got a Masters in Interior Design in Milan, Italy and have worked in the industry for close to ten years.
Art became a very natural complement to my practice. A home isn’t finished without some art in my opinion, no matter how modest. We have sought
to combine both our love for art and interior design at O’DA Art Gallery. When you come into the space, the first thing you notice is the calming
mint green walls, very different from usual white cube galleries, there’s also music, and some other elements I leave you to experience when you visit us. For us, we want you to be able to envision the art you see on our walls in your home.
Finally, for those who are meeting you for the first time, who is Obida Obioha?
An easy going man with a goal to make life more joyful for everyone around him.
