Throughout history, art has served as a powerful tool for challenging status quo, pushing boundaries, and inspiring social change. It has the power to shock, to challenge preconceived notions, and to force the viewer to confront fears and desires. In fact, throughout history, artists have pushed the envelope by tackling subjects, using controversial materials, and subverting traditional artistic norms.

Gbolahan Ayoola, celebrated for his exploration of the African feminine archetype in his renowned series, Blue Woman, in his last show, themed, Solitude: The Fortunate Loneliness of Being on a Path Less Traveled, pushes boundaries and explores new avenues of expression: challenging status quo and inspiring change.

In the show, Ayoola deploys his rebellious, hidden nature, as a reminder of the power that creativity holds to challenge perceptions, spark conversations, and ultimately transform society. By embracing the maverick spirit of artists who dare to defy convention, he celebrates the power of creative expression but also help to foster a more open, inclusive, and diverse world.

He doesn’t need you to say his works are beautiful, he already knows that. However, with each works he ingrains a caveat on what you already know: Circle, Square or whatever form he chooses to add, which should question your sensibility, do not matter.

His painterly rebellion answers the question of beauty: Who defines what is beautiful? The beholder or society? Asking mostly, probing questions of forms, contents, appearance, reality, essence and existence, he argues that beauty is a figment of human imagination.

Held at Fresco Gallery, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos between March 30, 2024 and April 27, the exhibition ironically celebrates the martyr, Solitude, who was executed for her involvement in the 1802 slave rebellion in Guadeloupe.

Solitude has since been described as the symbol of Caribbean women who fought to protect the ideals of equality and freedom. Her name is still on the lips of many, and now graces squares and avenues in Guadeloupe.

Born in slavery in the plantations of Guadeloupe in 1772, Solitude’s father was a French sailor and her mother was an African woman who was reportedly raped during a voyage on the slave ship.

Solitude was admired by many. When her mother fled the plantation where she was enslaved, Solitude was left all alone with her enslavers.

Solitude was freed in the first abolition of 1794, but after Napoleon’s decree, she was classified as a “maroon” and joined a group of freedom fighters that were led by men such as Louis Delgrès, Ignace, Paleme and Jacquet.

Solitude, though a few months pregnant, joined this fight against Richepance’s troops. She was said to be a fierce and fearless warrior who “pushed herself and her belly into the heart of the battles” at Dole, Trou-aux-chiens, Fond-Bananier, and Capesterre.

Solitude got injured in the explosion and was captured and sentenced to death. But since the child in her womb was to become the property of her slave owner, she was temporarily pardoned and her execution was rescheduled to the day after the birth.

She gave birth on November 28, 1802, and on the morning of the following day, the greatest heroine of the revolution, who was now 30 years old, stepped out of jail peacefully while, according to accounts, maternity milk slowly stained her nightshirt.

She was then executed with no one knowing the whereabouts of her child.
“Live free or die” were Solitude’s last words and these were the concept that Ayoola’s recent show: Freedom to express himself in terms of strokes, lines and colours.

After two decades of mastering traditional mediums, including painting and drawings, Ayoola embarks on an exploration of new media, including printmaking, animation, and digital art. In this groundbreaking collection, Ayoola strives to articulate the profoundness in moments of seclusion and introspection.

From The Joy of Wealth to The Seeker of A richer Experience and The Portrait Of The Artist Who Told Me To Love, The Seeker Of A Richer Experience, 2024, The Famous One Doing Unfamous Things, 2024

The Happiness Of Pursuit, 2024, all print with acrylic on giclee archival fine, art/cotton rag paper, Ayoola crafts print, inspired by Ayoola’s iconic series ‘The Blue Woman’ and ‘We Are The Re-Agents’.

‘We Are The Re-Agents series’, he explained that the work is a portrait of people in different experiences. “I will say that it is like a language I am trying to make into pictures. You know how you look at hieroglyphics, they are series of drawings but people can read them like a message.

“That is pretty much what I want to do with this series though it looks like a figure, I am writing a whole story using different pictures to tell that story on just that one body alone.”

While in ‘The Blue Woman’ series, which seems to have brought him into limelight, Ayoola said, “It is an apparition that appeared to him in a dream in 2007. At that point in time it was literal for me to paint my dreams. I think I painted the dream but I did not complete the painting until 2011.

“I was gradually trying to understand her and till today it is difficult to understand her, I am not a woman. She has taken me on a nice journey so far.

“I have painted about 40 works for the Blue Woman series in all these years but about five or six are being showcased in the exhibition,” he said.

Born and raised in the palace with a blend of traditional Yoruba culture and Christian beliefs, blossomed into a renowned contemporary African artist. His upbringing, steeped in the dichotomy of Esu and Christ, sparked his interest in exploring the theme of coloniality in African art.

Despite initially failing to grasp the artistic significance of his surroundings, Ayoola’s inherent talent flourished naturally. Educated at Obafemi Awolowo University, he discovered his artistic prowess exceeded that of his teachers. Through dismantling Western colonial influence and embracing African heritage, he emerged as a captivating artist with a unique perspective.