OSI AUDU at SUNY New Paltz’s Dorsky Museum

ART BEAT: Exhibition of work by African artists opens Jan. 24 at SUNY New Paltz’s Dorsky museum

“Rooted” by Nenna Okore. 

Posted: 01/17/18, 5:27 PM EST

An exhibition titled “Abstract-Minded: Works by Six Contemporary African Artists” goes on display Wednesday, Jan. 24, at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art on the campus of the State University of New York at New Paltz, 1 Hawk Drive, New Paltz.

This exhibition shows how contemporary African artists are using abstraction to create works that are thematically or conceptually connected to the continent, and as a way of engaging in a broader conversation about art. Curated by Osi Audu, an artist and independent curator, “Abstract-Minded” will be on view in the museum’s Alice and Horace Chandler Gallery and North Gallery.

The exhibition does more than look for the African in African art; it asks questions about what contemporary African art is, and what it does, in an increasingly global socio-cultural landscape. The artits whose works are featured are Osi Adu, Nicholas Hlobo, Serge Alian Nitegeka, Odili Donald Odita. Nnenna Okore and Elias Simé. For the artists, all born and/or raised in countries in Africa, aesthetic engagement with form is as important as their works’ symbolic, historical, political or conceptual significance.

Audu’s work, described by R.C. Baker as “shape-shifting … space-warping geometric abstraction,” examines complex issues of self-identity and the relationship between the dual aspects of the self (the tangible and intangible), by referencing the Yoruba thought that the human head has both a spiritual dimension (the “inner Head”) and a physical one (the “outer head”).

Hlobo uses stitching and color on paper and other materials, producing abstract forms that could be interpreted as an unconscious attempt to stitch together his divided South Africa. His repetitive process of “suturing” appears to seek the healing of deep wounds; a portrait of a nation at once frightening and beautiful.

Nitegeka, born in Burundi, is inspired by his love of the industrial infrastructure he finds in his home city of Johannesburg, South Africa. His work describes “the long and broad highways, complex flyovers, elaborate use of cast concrete on roads and skyscrapers, and the grid layout of the city centre.”

Odita uses color and pattern to produce visually captivating paintings as a metaphor for his personal experiences and travels, expressing a “desire to speak positively about Africa, and its rich culture.”

Okore’s creative process, informed by the technical practices (weaving, rolling, waxing, twisting, dyeing and sewing) she learned from villagers in her native Nigeria, repurposes discarded materials to create entrancing webs of lines and colors that critique the culture of consumption she observes in her homeland.

Elias Simé draws inspiration from the Addis Mercato, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, widely considered the largest and most vibrant open-air marketplace in Africa. He uses discarded electrical equipment and detritus to produce a patchwork of images and experiences described by Quinn Latimer as “the feverish fusion of a multivalent society.”

“Abstract-Minded” runs through Sunday, April 15. An opening reception will take place Saturday, Feb. 10.

Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays, It is closed Mondays, Tuesdays, holidays and intersessions.

Call (845) 257-3844 or visit newpaltz.edu/museum for more information.

Click HERE to view the article in full.

VIEW AVAILABLE ARTWORK BY OSI AUDU.

Or contact Morton Fine Art, 1781 Florida Ave NW, Washington, DC 20009 for artwork by internationally renowned Nigerian artist, OSI AUDU. (202) 628-2787, mortonfineart@gmail.com, http://www.mortonfineart.com

“Abstract Minded” Curator Soiree with OSI AUDU & LAURIE ANN FARRELL at N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art

Next Saturday, November 18th join us at a special reception for Abstract Minded.   ​ Abstract Minded Curator Soiree with Osi Audu, exhibition curator & Laurie Ann Farrell, curator of contemporary art at the DIA  Date:  Saturday, November 18, 2017 Time: 2:00pm – 5:00pm Location: Detroit, MI – The N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, 52 E. Forest Ave. Abstract Minded curator and artist Osi Audu and the Detroit Institute of Arts’ curator and department head of contemporary art, Laurie Ann Farrell discuss the artists, exhibition, and influence of the African Diaspora on contemporary art at this intimate afternoon event. Refreshments will be served. Abstract Minded: Works by Six Contemporary African Artists” showcases explorative works by Osi Audu, Nicholas Hlobo, Serge Alain Nitegeka, Odili Donald Odita, Nnenna Okore, and Elias Sime that thematically or conceptually connect to the continent of Africa by pursuing the use of abstraction as a way of engaging the broader conversation about art. The exhibition will be on display through January 6, 2018. Osi Audu Osi Audu is a Nigerian born artist whose work explores the intersections of scientific, cultural and philosophical ideas about the nature of consciousness. His work, which has been shown in numerous international exhibitions including the Kwangju Biennale in Korea, the Africa Africa exhibition in Japan, and the Museum of the Mind exhibition at the British Museum in London; has also been collected by a number of public institutions such as the Newark Museum in New Jersey, The National Museum of African Art in Washington DC, the British Museum, and the Horniman Museum in London. He has presented papers and talks about his work at several international conferences such as the 16th ACASA International Triennial Symposium on African Art at the Brooklyn Museum, New York; The Human Image conference at the British Museum in London, Conversations with a Continent: FIVE AFRICAN ARTISTS at Columbia University in New York; and Next Wave Nigeria: Artists Dialogue at the Newark Museum. His article –Yoruba Concept of the Mind was published in the 2nd edition of The Oxford Companion to The Mind, edited by Richard Gregory. He was a lecturer in Painting and Drawing at the University of Benin for 9 years, and the Head of Art and Design at Sir Joseph Williamson’s Mathematical School in the UK for 11 years. He received an MFA degree in Painting and Drawing from the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.  He lives and works in New York. Laurie Ann Farrell Farrell came to the DIA in 2016 in from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) where she was executive director of exhibitions initiatives. She directed exhibition programming for the SCAD Museum of Art and SCAD FASH, its museum of fashion and film, as well as the university’s galleries in Atlanta, Hong Kong and Lacoste, France. Farrell is currently an art consultant for the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium Art Collection in Atlanta and curator of the first Rolls-Royce art program in North America. Farrell has curated exhibitions of work by a diverse group of prominent contemporary artists, among them Marina Abramovic, Doug Aitken, Carrie Mae Weems, Yinka Shonibare, Alfredo Jaar, Michael Joo, Sigalit Landau, Stephen Antonakos, Cao Fei, Kader Attia and Yeondoo Jung. Farrell was curator of contemporary art at the Museum for African Art in New York City from 1998 to 2007, where she curated the exhibitions “Personal Affects: Power and Poetics in Contemporary South African Art” and “Looking Both Ways: Art of the Contemporary African Diaspora.” In 2006, Farrell organized American participation at Angola’s inaugural Trienal de Luanda with support and funding from the U.S. Department of State. Farrell received the Abraaj Capital Art Prize with artist Kader Attia in 2010, the ArtTable New Leadership award in 2011 and the Southeast Museum Conference 2015 Museum Leadership Award. Farrell is widely published in art journals and has lectured throughout the Americas, Africa and Europe. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in art history from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Master of Fine Arts in art history and theory from the University of Arizona. Osi Audu’s curatorial abstract:  “Abstraction is as indigenous to African visual culture as it is to other parts of the world. The exploration of purely formal elements is not only readily evidenced in the rich traditions of textile designs and other decorative practices from the continent, but is also present in the stylizations of much figurative work from Africa. The six artists in this exhibition, all born and, or raised in countries in Africa, produce work thematically or conceptually connected to the continent by pursuing the use of abstraction as a way of engaging in a broader conversation about art. In our increasingly global existence of the 21st century the world is becoming less and less exotic, and is being experienced more as a sphere of commonalities of being, dreams, fears and aspirations. Cultural ideas once thought as discrete are now being understood as archetypical, having resonances across the wider world. Aesthetic engagement with form is as important a part of the content of these artists’ works as is their symbolic, historical, socio-political, or conceptual significance. Among the many questions raised by this exhibition, the overarching one must be the dialectical question: what is contemporary African art? Abstract Minded: Works by Six Contemporary African Artists is not simply about looking for the African in African art, it is also about taking a look at what some African artists are doing today in order to get a fuller sense of the current ‘state of things’ in contemporary African art.”  – Don’t miss the Curator Soiree happening next Saturday, beginning at 2:00pm at the N’Namdi Center! The N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art presents diverse, multi-disciplinary and engaging art experiences. It serves to promote and perpetuate the cultural legacy of African-American and African diasporic art, along with art from diverse cultures. Since its conception in 2010, the N’Namdi Center has contributed to the Detroit arts scene by presenting art exhibitions by nationally and internationally renowned artists as well as local and emerging talent. The N’Namdi Center’s work is based on two core beliefs: that the arts can play an integral role in the revitalization of Detroit, and that a thriving creative community depends upon the participation of a diverse group of artists, organizations and individuals. The N’Namdi Center builds on these beliefs by acting as a catalyst in the development of Detroit’s creative ecosystem, with a continuing focus on African American art and community engagement through the arts.

NNENNA OKORE in “The Contemporaries” at the Wheatbaker in London

 

Contemporaries holds at Wheatbaker

Posted By: Our Reporter on: October 21, 2015In: Arts & Life, Life – The Midweek Magazine

As the global art world gathers in London next week for Frieze, tagged one of the “blingiest” art fairs in the world, The Contemporaries, an exhibition showcasing works by eleven cutting edge Nigerian contemporary artists, attracted much interest when it opened at the Wheatbaker boutique hotel, penultimate Monday. It will run till November 13 and is supported by Veuve Cliquot.

The exhibition of 21 paintings, sculptures, drawings, and mixed media works is a timely reflection of current trends in Nigeria and makes stirring and sometimes, tongue-in-cheek, comments about a nation expectant of change. The Wheatbaker’s fall exhibition The Contemporaries, showcases leading and emerging artists including Nnenna Okore, Duke Asidere, Uchay Joel Chima, Gerald Chukwuma, Raoul Olawale da Silva, Anthea Epelle,  Taiye Idahor , Chika Idu , Adeyinka Akingbade, Tony Nsofor,  and Onyeama Offoedu-Okeke.

A kaleidoscope of art that offers fresh perspectives on environment and development issues, feminism, unity, identity, history & tradition, and freedom of expression, draw on the artists’ unique heritage and perspectives. The exhibition is a robust exchange of ideas challenging its audience not to merely “think outside the box”, but to literally “stand on the box” and use it as platform to behold new vistas.

Sculptor and environmental activist, Uchay Joel Chima, whose skillfully crafted charcoal and paper relief addresses rampant environmental degradation and security challenges is juxtaposed  against the masterly paintings of children swimming under-water created by Chika Idu, who tried to escape the nightmare of traffic gridlocked streets by relying on water transportation, only to be confronted with the daily struggles of coastal communities affected by dredging, pollution, flooding and all forms of urban pressure.

Artist, historian and architect Onyema Offoedu-Okeke, presents Obstacles to Paradise on the theme of global migration showing the desperate fragmented surge of humanity across geometric paths of color and symbol, while master sculptor Gerald Chukwuma’s ironic multi-media work,CHOP, created out of an intricate pattern of plastic spoons on wooden slats, makes a strong comment on the social cancer of corruption and the growing gap between Africa’s well heeled elite and the increasingly disadvantaged poor; in the artist’s own words, there is “plenty food, plenty spoons and empty plates”.

“Art reflects society within a constantly evolving socio-political reality,” explains exhibition curator Sandra Mbanefo Obiago, who started documenting the impact of contemporary Nigerian art in 2011 in a five part documentary series, Red Hot Nigerian Creativity, she produced and co-directed. “Its exciting to see how the contemporary art scene is making a positive impact on our international identity and confidence as Nigerians, as Lagos fast becomes one of the most-talked-about emerging global art cities.”

The Contemporaries is offering visitors works which exhibit inspirational bold abstract human forms created by painters Raoul Olawale da Silva and Tony Nsofor, alongside the unusual biomorphic sculptures and installations created by internationally celebrated Nnenna Okore, in which twine, burlap,  and discarded newspapers touch on recycling, transformation and regeneration inspired by natural and man-made conditions within semi rural dwellings.

NNENNA OKORE featured in Blouin Art + Auction

NNENNA OKORE featured in Blouin Art + Auction as “Wise Buys : 50 Women Artists Worth Watching”.

NNENNA OKORE b. 1975 NIGERIA

Nigerian-born, Chicago-based Okore produces tactile works that explore the manner in which abject materials are intertwined in our daily lives. Working with organic media such as burlap, clay, and wax as well as discarded rope and newspaper, Okore weaves, twists, sews and rolls elements to create pieces that are regenerative in nature and evocative of textures found in the natural world. For “Earthbound”, 2011, a trip of earth-toned wall works, Okore wove myriad ceramic beads and cubes onto a burlap ground that was then folded and formed.  For “No Condition is Permanent”, 2013, the artist used newsprint and acrylic to create a transformative work reminiscent of a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. “I am astounded by natural phenomenon that cause things to become weathered, dilapidated, and lifeless,” she has said, “events subtly captured in the fluid and delicate nature of life.”  At auction, her works have commanded in excess of $20,000, a figure in line with her primary market prices, which range from $8,000 to $30,000. Okore’s installations have a highly tactile and sensual quality as well as a powerful presence.

NNENNA OKORE in the Wall Street Journal

 

NY CULTURE

Paintings of a Caricaturist, Plus Two Sculptors

David Levine, Nnenna Okore and Juan Muñoz in Fine Art

Nnenna Okore: Twist and Turns

David Krut Projects

526 W. 26th St., (212) 255-3094

Through Jan. 17

‘Transitions’ (2013) by Nnenna Okore. NNENNA OKORE/DAVID KRUT PROJECTS, NEW YORK

To Western art-world eyes, a lot of work made by contemporary artists with non-Western backgrounds is technically impressive but aesthetically a little suspicious. That is, we sense it looks good mostly because considerable labor and careful craft have gone into it. Because it often contains exotic or folkish materials, it has a kind of guaranteed visual floor under it. Whatever else happens, it won’t look outrightly bad.

In the hurly-burly of today’s big-city gallery scenes (especially New York’s), this can be a disadvantage. But it is one that the Nigerian-American sculptor, Nnenna Okore (b. 1975) overcomes. Not that Ms. Okore—who is an art professor in Chicago—avoids the problem; she actually doubles down on it.

Having spent an apprentice year under the internationally successful Ghanaian artist El Anatsui (whose fabriclike wall pieces, made of bits of refuse metal in his studio in Nigeria, grace a plethora of modern art museums), Ms. Okore has worked with sewing, dyeing, weaving and other unconventional processes.

For this exhibition, the artist has pared down the materials in her complex, weblike relief sculptures. The three-part, 10-foot-wide “Transitions” (2013), for example, consists of newspaper stiffened and colored with acrylic paint. Ms. Okore’s palette tends toward muted, organic greens and reds and, in some works, black. Although her art’s initial impact is that of the easy good looks that come with craft and applied African traditions, the emotional intensity in this exhibition lifts Ms. Okore’s work to a higher level.

Morton Fine Art at Aqua Art Miami 2014

Morton Fine Art invites you to attend Aqua Art Miami. For the third consecutive year, MFA will be located in booth #216 at Aqua Art Miami international fine art fair.  

Show Hours

Wednesday, December 3 | 3pm-10pm | VIP Opening Preview Party (for VIP pass holders)

Regular Fair Hours
Thursday, December 4 : 12pm – 9pm
Friday, December 5 : 11am – 9pm
Saturday, December 6 : 11am – 9pm
Sunday, December 7 : 11am – 6pm

Location

Aqua Art Miami – Aqua Hotel, 1539 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33139

Aqua is located on Collins Ave, a short walk south of Art Basel Miami Beach, across from the Loews Hotel.

Morton Fine Art will be located in Suite 216.

Featured Artists

Maya Freelon Asante (North Carolina, b. USA)

Osi Audu (NYC, b. Nigeria)

Kesha Bruce (France, b. USA)

Ethan Diehl (Iowa, b. USA)

Victor Ekpuk (Washington, DC, b. Nigeria)

GA Gardner (Trinidad, b. Trinidad)

Katherine Hattam (Melbourne, b. Australia)

Choichun Leung (NYC, b. Wales)

William Mackinnon (Melbourne, b. Australia)

Nnenna Okore (Illinois, b. Nigeria)

Andrei Petrov (NYC, b. USA)

Stephon Senegal (Washington, DC, b. USA)

Vonn Sumner (Los Angeles, b. USA)

Charles Williams (North Carolina, b. USA)

Preview the work on the Morton Fine Art website: www.mortonfineart.com

mortonfineart@gmail.com, (202) 628-2787

NNENNA OKORE in Artists of Nigeria – an anthology of Nigerian art by Onyema Offoedu-Okeke

 

 

 

Visit http://www.mortonfineart.com to view sculptures by internationally renowned NNENNA OKORE.

VICTOR EKPUK in “Artists of Nigeria” by Onyema Offoedu-Okeke

VICTOR EKPUK prominently featured in “Artists of Nigeria”, an anthology on Nigerian Art written by ONYEMA OFFOEDU-OKEKE. Please contact Morton Fine Art LLC for available works by this amazing internationally renowned artist!

mortonfineart@gmail.com

(202) 628-2787

http://www.mortonfineart.com

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