The program's goal is to find, support, mentor, support, and provide budding artists with the resources they need to be innovative, deviate from the norm, and critically examine accepted concepts.
The exhibition, Conversations in Colour, is a dialogue between five oil and acrylic-working artists (King Ereso, Meshach Charity, Segun Abraham, Ghina Sabra, and Gobe Joseph). It is curated by Matthew Oyedele.
The artists have been asked to "dig into their creative depth and provide the audience with works that investigate, address and dissect innocence, memory, epiphany, acceptance, nostalgia, impermanence, awakening, and self-discovery," according to Oyedele.
In his massively collaged canvases, Ereso experiments with impasto, collage, and smooth textured technique to reflect on revelation, dreams, and realisation with several faces encircling solitary individuals. He engages the audience in his fascination with the color red as a symbol of vigor, passion, and hope.
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His artwork beautifully captures the beauty of bodily expression, self-realization, feelings, fashion, and his quest for self-discovery. He is a versatile artist who feels at ease expressing himself in a variety of media. He graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, with a bachelor of arts degree.
As he negotiates the canvas space with schoolchildren, Charity draws on his own background to explore how kids deal with pressure from parents and teachers. He examines the ideas of diversion, concentration, nostalgia, and innocence in this contemplation on the past.
A graduate of the University of Uyo's Fine and Applied Arts, his passion for color allows him to capture and depict commonplace events that are tied to his past and present experiences. He continues to live by the adage that "art is a reflection of oneself" in his practice, and his most recent body of work, which recounts his struggles in school and displays courage and fear, demonstrates this. He resides in Ibadan and works there.
Through the expressions of his subjects, Abraham's canvases are bursting with lines, patterns, beauty, pride, expectation, and delight. Through his use of African motifs and floral patterns, Segun urges the viewer to engage in a deep examination of continuity and ephemeral moments.
Abraham, a painting specialist and Auchi Polytechnic alumnus, finds inspiration from his early and ongoing exposure to comic book images, movies, and music videos.
The self-reflection, self-awareness, self-examination, and self-discovery that Sabra expresses in her abstract compositions. She uses her canvas as a doorway into fresh perspectives on life, self-awareness, letting go of emotional baggage, and the transforming nature of art.
Sabra, a multimedia artist and director, originally received her education at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). Today, she is entirely committed to the expression of the Transformative Arts, working on a variety of productions including paintings, immersive shows, "non-fungible tokens (NFTs)," and more recently, films.
She interacts with many mediums in both the physical and digital realms in order to explore their alchemical potential. She first practiced and experimented with painting, which helped her to create her own abstract figurative style. Her sources of inspiration include the study of metaphysics, spirituality, the process of personal growth, mythology, her own life experiences, and cross-cultural interactions.
Joseph's past experiences provide a wealth of insight into the meanings of acceptance and love as a starting point. Here, he examines loneliness and a sense of belonging using space and reflection.
Gobe, an artist from Oyo State, is passionate about the connection between oneself, the natural world, and one's local surroundings. He received his degree from The Polytechnic in Ibadan with a focus on painting.
The institution starts each calendar year with a residency program for young and emerging artists, according to Patty Chidiac-Mastrogiannis, creator of Alexis Galleries. But due to its observation of the necessity to provide the platform to more artists, the gallery is holding two residencies in a calendar year for the first time, without forgetting the mission to nurture and guide the artists.
"The artists in this exhibition have interacted with and had conversations with accomplished artists, as well as an environment that allows them to produce without stress or interruption," she said. Therefore, the finished products are displayed to the public as a showcase of the artists' artistic abilities.
In order to give back to society, the gallery will adopt Little Sisters of the Poor for the show as a non-profit organization.
