Alexis Galleries set for conversations in colour

All is set for the ninth edition of FATE, a show of work created by artists, who spent three weeks in residence at the Alexis Galleries.

The aim of the programme is to identify, nurture, mentor, promote and equip emerging artists with space, atmosphere and information that fosters newness, deviation and critical inquiry into conventional ideas.

Titled, Conversations in Colour, the show, which is curated by Matthew Oyedele, is a conversation involving five artists (King Ereso, Meshach Charity, Segun Abraham, Ghina Sabra and Gobe Joseph) working on oil and acrylic.

According to Oyedele, the artists have been invited “to tap into their creative depth and present the audience with works that probe, address and interrogate innocence, memory, epiphany, acceptance, nostalgia, impermanence, awakening and self-discovery.”

Ereso explores impasto, collage and smooth textured technique to reflect on epiphany, dreams and realisation, with multiple faces around solitary figures in his heavily collaged canvases. He brings the audience into his fascination with the red hue as a metaphor for hope, strength and passion.

His works capture the beauty in physical expression, self-realisation, emotions, fashion and his journey to self-discovery. He is a versatile artist who is comfortable with his expression in diverse media. He holds a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Negotiating the canvas space with school-children, Charity uses his childhood experiences as a point of departure into children’s coping mechanisms under pressures from parents and teachers. Here, he looks into the concept of distraction, focus, nostalgia and innocence in his reflection of past experiences.

A graduate of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Uyo, his love and fascination with colour enables him to record and portray everyday happenings that are connected to his past and present experiences. He retains the statement ‘art is a reflection of oneself’ as his philosophy in his practice and that is evident in his recent body of works that tell his story of courage, fear and travails during his school days. He lives and works in Ibadan.

Abraham’s canvases are replete with lines, patterns, beauty, pride, expectation and joy through the expressions of his subjects. Here, Segun invites the audience into a close study of continuity and fleeting moments through his use of African motifs and floral patterns.

Abraham, a graduate of Auchi Polytechnic, with a specialisation in painting, draws inspiration from his early and continuous exposure to comic illustrations, movies and music videos.

Sabra’s abstract compositions are expressions of her self-reflection, self-awareness, self-examination and self-discovery. She uses her canvas as a window into new ways of seeing and looking at oneself, releasing emotional baggage, awakening and the transformative power of art.

Sabra, a multimedia artist and director working on a diversity of productions ranging from paintings, immersive shows, “non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and more recently, film, was originally educated at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), today she is fully dedicated to the expression of the Transformative Arts.

She engages with different media between the physical and digital worlds exploring the potential of their alchemy. Painting is the first form of art she practiced and experimented with, which led her to develop her own abstract figurative style. Her inspirations are drawn from the study of metaphysics, spirituality, personal transformation, mythology, her personal life experiences and cultural encounters.

Joseph’s past experiences offer enormous depth as a point of departure into concepts of acceptance and love. Here, he uses space and reflection to look into loneliness and a sense of belonging.

Born in Oyo State, Gobe is an artist with strong interest in the relationship with self, nature and immediate environment. He is a graduate of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, with a specialisation in Painting.

In her gallery statement, Patty Chidiac-Mastrogiannis, founder, Alexis Galleries, said the facility begins each calendar year with a residency programme for young and emerging artists. “But for the first time, and without neglecting the objective to nurture and guide the artists, the gallery is having two residencies in a calendar year due to its observation of the need to extend the platform to more artists.”

She said, “the artists in this exhibition have had interactions and talk-sessions with seasoned artists, as well as an atmosphere that allows them to create without pressure or distraction. The resulting works are therefore presented to the public as an exhibition of the artists’ creative skills.”

For the exhibition, the gallery will be adopting Little Sisters of the Poor as a non-governmental and not-for-profit organisation to give back to the society.

The show is sponsored by Pepsi, Tiger, Indomie, Mikano, The Guardian, AMG Logistics, Haier Thermocool, U.P.S, Aina Blankson, Lost in a City, Cobranet, Art Cafe, Lipton, Wazobia TV, Nigeria Info FM and Rentokil Boecker.