…As group exhibition debuts this month
Sometime last year, precisely from September 30 – November 30, 2024, four gifted visual artists gathered for a seemingly anticipated art residency of the year.
The month-long residency, which took place during the Lagos art season, practically set Alexis Galleries, the venue, on fire as the young artists engaged in healthy rivalry, whose result is being showcased this month.
From February 15 – March 1, 2025, Alexis Galleries will open its doors to art lovers, collectors and the public to visit and appreciate the creative ingenuity of the four artists, whose works, across different media, are sheer beauties on canvas.
The foursome: Eugene Konboye, Olushola Olajobi, Yusuf Riliwan Idowu and Francis Denedo are taking their craft a notch higher in the group exhibition, amid experimenting with new materials, media and techniques, which are worth seeing and appreciated.
Apart from their passion, their quest for cleaner and safer environment and hunger to experiment with other forms of art have led them to pick on found objects and discarded materials, and turning the supposedly waste into gold through their enthralling works.
On show at the exhibition are 16 works, four from each artist, from different found materials including; stain glasses, rubber, scrap metal and nylon wastes, which all bear the signature of their makers.
Speaking on the rationale for the exhibition in her gallery statement, Patty Chidiac Mastrogiannis, founder, Alexis Galleries, said,“Recycling Matters I, aims to inspire viewers to reconnect with the idea of reinvention and social intervention, by transforming community-dumped debris into aesthetic treasure.
In a society paralyzed by waste and consumption, this exhibition motivates viewers to take proactive, responsive efforts towards their immediate environment and society”.
She further described it as a multidisciplinary group exhibition worth seeing because of the new works by four recent residency participants.
The gallery, according to her, is excited to bring together the four interdisciplinary artists who work with found objects and materials, as well as implore diverse innovative approaches to the idea of waste and utility, through forms and colour, while producing aesthetical assemblage of works that connects the human condition to materiality and consumption.
By repurposing discarded objects found and collected from their immediate environs, the artists, according to her, reutilize and recover people’s penchant engagement with wastefulness and consumer excesses, while making social commentary on pressing issues, which address the human experience, inequality, injustice, mismanagement and environmental pollution.
On the other hand, Uche Obasi, curator of the exhibition, explained that it engages with the social reality of waste, utility and functionality, in light of profusion of consumer excesses and socio-economic factors.
“This exhibition draws us in to take part in the process and result of remaking, reinvention and reusage, revealing everyday objects that re-connect our place in its utility, grace and duality of meaning,” Obasi said.
The curator noted further that through forms and colour, the four artists produce aesthetic assemblage of works from installation, sculpture and multimedia combinations that reflect and connect the human condition to consumption and environmental pollution.
Offering more insights on the artists and their works, Obasi explained that Konboye Ebipade Eugene reinvents portraiture that emerge out of meticulously stitched assemblage of discarded rubber footwear, held together as a grid of shades of visual elds perceptible through radiant hue of colors that represents an interplay between old and new.
“Eugene’s work “Bose” pushes beyond the boundaries of gender limitations on survival and livelihood,” he said.
In his case, Yusuf Riliwan employs systematic cubic arrangement of retro-reflective debris of broken pieces of glass, bottle drinks harmonized in different shades, textures and vibrant colors.
“Elegance of Heritage”, has work, portrays a portrait and cultural identity of a young woman, adorned with simple yet meaningful tribal markings.
Excitedly, Francis Denedo picks discarded scrap metal and used materials and recreates them into forms and meanings, to address the age-long, universal human quest for freedom and autonomy.
Denedo’s sculptural work, according to Obasi, reminds people of the need to act with courage, resilience and determination in the face of adversity, which “Emancipation”, his work, depicts.
The last, but not the least is Olushola Olajobi, who uses nylon wastes for works that explore the interplay of everyday consumption, utility, and disposal.
Of course, “Infestation Series I”, his sculptural installation awaits the viewers to confront the overwhelming presence of nylon waste in the environment.
Another reason to see Olajobi’s installation is because he recontextualizes waste as a primary material, challenging perceptions of value, while making commentary on waste pollution and sustainable environmental management practices in Nigeria.
The above are among the reasons to visit the gallery to see the exhibition as the innovative works on display capture the hidden value and essence in wastage. On a visit, viewers will see reasons to reconcile their place and role in recycling everyday discarded objects, while nurturing a safe, environmental management culture.
In the traditions of the gallery to donate some proceeds of every exhibition to charity, the beneficiary this time is Ajofa Special Education Foundation for the Deaf, established in 2010 with the purpose of promoting special education and skills development for deaf learners in Nigeria.
It is also important to note that “Recycling Matters 1” is being sponsored by The Macallan, and runs from February 15 – March 1, 2025, at Alexis Galleries on # 282 Akin Olugbade Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.
However, the gallery commended The Macallan for its commitment at sponsoring resources for emerging artists working with recycled materials and waste.
“Alexis galleries is committed to nurturing the highest standard form of excellence for The Macallan brand, by representing and collaborating with innovative artists that inspire sustainability through art,” the gallery concluded, while inviting viewers to the exhibition.
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