“Self Portrait Benin Head” by OSI AUDU

 

OSI AUDU, Self Portrait Benin Head, 2016, 36″x40″, pastel & graphite mounted on canvas About Self Portrait Benin Head The overall shape of this work was inspired by the abstract geometric possibilities in the traditional Benin sculpture of the Head of the Queen Mother. I explore the light sheen of graphite, the matte, light absorbing quality of black pastel, the white of paper and canvas, as well as the visually affecting interactions of colors to investigate form and its evocative potential to suggest or hint at something about the shape of the head. I am interested in the dualism of form and void, and the ontological relation between the tangible and intangible, something and nothing, light and dark, body and mind, the dual nature of being – the self in portraits. The construction of a sense of self is a very complex process, perhaps even more so in our increasingly global age, in which the boundaries between race, nationality, gender and sexuality are getting more and more blurred. I am interested in issues of self identity, and in concepts of the self rooted in my cultural experiences growing up in Nigeria, as well as global metaphysical, scientific, and social concepts of the self. There is a Yoruba thought that consciousness, referred to as the “head”, has both a physical dimension called the “outer head” and a non-physical one: “the inner head”. It is the visual implications of concepts like this that I find intriguing. The title, Self-Portrait, in my work, is more about the portrait of the intangible self, rather than a literal portrait of the artist. – OSI AUDU Click HERE to view available artwork by OSI AUDU.

Join OSI AUDU at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Sunday April 19, 2015 at 2pm

 

Detroit Institute of Arts

• 5200 Woodward Avenue
• Detroit, Michigan 48202

AFTER-IMAGE: DUALISM THROUGH COLOR

Osi Audu
Contemporary Artist

SUNDAY, APRIL 19, 2015, 2 P.M.

Osi Audu focuses on the Yoruba concept of consciousness, which has both a physical and a spiritual dimension. In referencing the Yoruba sculpture known as ile ori (house of the head) in his works, Osi seeks to articulate this dual nature of being and conscious experience, which he traces to his childhood in Nigeria. He draws from his on-going experimentation with color and invites his audience to participate in a visual interactive experience.

Sponsored by Friends of African and African American Art.

Image Credit: Outer and Inner Head IV (diptych), 2011, acrylic, wool and graphite on canvas; Osi Audu, born Nigeria. Photo courtesy of the artist

– See more at: http://www.dia.org/calendar/event.aspx?id=4899&iid=#sthash.hrmpQzNj.dpuf

MAYA FREELON ASANTE, OSI AUDU & KESHA BRUCE Artwork featured in DC by Design Blog

http://dcbydesignblog.com/designers/guest-post-angela-belt-and-sheryl-scruggs/

Jennifer Sergent’s DC by Design Blog

Photo credits: Morgan Howarth

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Guest Post: Angela Belt and Sheryl Scruggs

I’m excited to have this guest post from stylist and writer Angela Belt, who’s in charge of the visual merchandising for Room & Board on 14th Street. I wrote a post on her own apartment last year, and in this post, Angela profiles an incredible kitchen transformation by designer Sheryl Scruggs, the owner of DC-based Bronze Interiors.

Take it away, Angela!

Sheryl is has a one-of-a-kind personality. When she talks, you listen—and watch, because she uses every part of herself to communicate an idea. When you ask Sheryl a question, she answers from her head to her toes with a response. I asked her if she has a background in theatre, and to my surprise she said no, because the way she moves is flowing and graceful, and everything is accentuated all at once. Sheryl, similar to her design, can be best summed up in this quote: “I’m sort of all over the place—I’m mosaic in that way.”

All photography copyright by Morgan Howarth

In our interview together, Sheryl and I discussed the vision behind this kitchen. “Its a jewel box, small and dramatic; it’s the perfect example of big is not always better,” she says. As the stylist for this photo shoot, I have to agree. The backsplash in this kitchen literally looks like gems.

The glass tiles in this backsplash have to be applied individually by hand—they don’t come prearranged on square sheets. Tedious work to say the least.

Sheryl reached out to me to style this kitchen because she wanted to get rid of the notion that kitchens are merely utilitarian, with a cabinet on every wall. She asked me, essentially, to bring the living room into the kitchen, without the decorative aspects taking away from its function and layout. This can be a tricky balancing act, because I love to layer elements in a room; pulling back and restraining myself was an intriguing challenge.

We sourced the accessories for this photo shoot from Daren Miller, the owner of  AndBeigein Adams Morgan. Sheryl wanted the objects in the kitchen to be white, metallic and sculptural, and the sculptural offerings from Miller’s boutique perfectly fit the ticket.

For the artwork, Sheryl and I collaborated with Amy Morton of her eponymous Morton Fine Art in DC, which focuses on African and African-American artists both here and abroad. Clients tend to think kitchens need cabinets on every wall, Sheryl says, but placing art on a wall or two is an unexpected surprise.

Bronze Interiors is about bold design, yet simple and refined in its execution. Based on these images of her recent kitchen remodel, I think you will agree!

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African Origins Exhibition featuring OSI AUDU, ROSEMARY FEIT COVEY, VICTOR EKPUK and NNENNA OKORE

AFRICAN ORIGINS

4 Contemporary Artists Born in Africa and Living in the US featuring OSI AUDU, ROSEMARY FEIT COVEY, VICTOR EKPUK and NNENNA OKORE

April 25- May 20, 2014

 

OPENING RECEPTION 

Friday, April 25th, 6pm-8pm

 Local artists will be in attendance.

MFA’s exhibition African Origins explores artwork by four African-born, culturally hybrid artists currently living in the United States – three from Nigeria and one from South Africa.

The viewer is invited to explore African Origins by contemplating a range of original voices, overlaps and differences in aesthetic, medium, and subject. These artists successfully integrate diverse experiences and cultural inspirations from their respective African roots, and from their life in the United States.

OSI AUDU, I Have a Landscape in my Head IV (diptych), 2014, 24″x24″ each, wool & graphite on canvas

About OSI AUDU (New York, b. Nigeria): 

OSI AUDU works in series, and is inspired by the discourse on the nature of consciousness, the dualism of something and nothing, light and dark, form and void.  Inspired by the Yoruba people of Western Nigeria’s belief that consciousness, referred to as the “head”, has both a physical dimension called the “outer head” and a spiritual one, “the inner head”, he fuses together cultural, scientific, and artistic ideas. His drawings on paper, titled – Self-Portrait are more about the portrait of the intangible essence of self, rather than a literal portrait of the artist. His drawings can also be made directly on the wall as a large scale wall drawing.

His new series –  I Have a Landscape in my Head, is about the way neurons light up in the brain, like fireflies, during a conscious experience. It explores the idea that perception takes place inside the head, as an interpretation of electromagnetic neural impulses that light up in the brain, and thus question the boundary between “outer” and “inner”.  AUDU has integrated a visual Interactive element – if the viewer stares fixedly at any of the abstract shapes on the left (color) canvas for about 20 seconds and transfers gaze to the same spot on the drawn (monochromatic) canvas  on the right, the viewer will see the shapes light up in the complementary colors of the color canvas.

 

Select collections include Newark Museum, The British Museum, The Horniman Museum, The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, and National Gallery, Lagos.

ROSEMARY FEIT COVEY, Little Madam and the Girl, 2014, 27.5″x15″, mixed media on panel

 

About ROSEMARY FEIT COVEY (Washington, DC b. South Africa): 

Rosemary Feit Covey was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. In a career spanning three decades she has exhibited internationally and received countless awards.  Ms. Covey’s work is in many major museum and library collections, including the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the New York Public Library Print Collection, the National Museum of American History, Harvard University, the Papyrus Institute in Cairo and 512 works in the permanent collection of Georgetown University Library. There is currently a retrospective of Ms. Covey’s wood engravings and installation work on display at the Evergreen Museum in Baltimore.

“In my art work on South Africa I have tried to deal with issues, not admitted, to face the taboos of the culture I came from. I have tried to understand what I knew as a child and where it meshes with history. Guilt is a subject that colors my work.  Communal guilt but especially non-participatory guilt. In the documentary Hitler’s Children, a man describes playing in a garden, while on the other side was the concentration camp his father commanded. My experience was not so literal or extreme but the metaphor applies. I did live on the other side of the fence. ” -ROSEMARY FEIT COVEY

VICTOR EKPUK,
Composition 7, 50″x50″, pastel and graphite on paper

 

About VICTOR EKPUK (Washington, DC b. Nigeria):

VICTOR EKPUK’s art began as an exploration of nsibidi “traditional” graphics and writing systems in Nigeria, and has since evolved to embrace a wider spectrum of meaning that is rooted in African and global contemporary art discourses.  His artwork is in the permanent collection of Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African Art, Newark Museum, The World Bank, and University of Maryland University College Art.

The central theme of Ekpuk’s work is the exploration of relationships, challenges, and responses to changes that characterize the contemporary human condition.  Of particular interest to his oeuvreis nsibidi, an indigenous African system of writing that employs graphic signs and codes to convey concepts. Inspired by these ancient writings, the forms in his works are reduced to a basic essence resulting in new symbols or codes in script-like drawings.

 

NNENNA OKORE,
Bodily Beings, 2011, dimensions variable, burlap, handmade paper and dye

 

About NNENNA OKORE (Illinois b. Nigeria): 

With a BA in Painting from the University of Nigeria and both an MA and MFA in Sculpture from University of Iowa, NNENNA OKORE’s work broadly focuses on the concepts of recycling, transformation and regeneration of forms based on observations from ecological and man-made milieus. She is drawn to uniquely diverse and tactile characteristics of the collective physical world, astounded by natural phenomena that cause things to become weathered, dilapidated and lifeless – those events slowly triggered by aging, death and decay – and subtly captured in the fluid and delicate nature of life.

Her materials are biodegradable and comprise largely of old newspapers, found paper, ropes, thread, yarn, fibers, burlap, dye, coffee, starch, clay, etc. Through manually repetitive techniques as mirrored in both natural and mechanical reproductions, her processes of fraying, tearing, teasing, twisting, weaving, dyeing, waxing, accumulating and sewing allow her to interweave and synthesize the distinct properties of materials.  OKORE systematically deconstructs and reconstructs her media to yield subtle transformations of visual complexities. And much like impermanent earthy attributes, her organic and twisted forms mimic the dazzling intricacies of trees, barks, topography and architecture.

“I desire to heighten through my works, the perception of textures, undulating contours and movements that exist within our ephemeral world; and to evoke some reflection about how we can better preserve and care for our earthbound surroundings. ” NNENNA OKORE

Artwork by Victor Ekpuk- Live painting in Amsterdam

Artwork by Victor Ekpuk, made during the presentation of ZAM Africa Magazine in 2009.