Japhet Davidson
DESPITE the economic crunch coupled with the Covid 19 crisis that is changing the plans of many organisations especially people in the art industry, one gallery that is bent on maintaining its programmes is Alexis galleries. And in line with art lovers, promoters, collectors are set to explore the best of artistic creativity as they open its gallery doors for another joint exhibition tagged Mixed feelings.
Mixed feelings, an exhibition of paintings which is scheduled to open on March 28, 2020, will showcase the works of two Alexis in-house artists Olasunkanmi Oyelusi and Adedotun Fashina. The exhibition will feature about 25 works that will run till 4th April 2020 at Alexis Galleries, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Speaking on the choice of the exhibiting artists, Patty Chidiac, the curator stated that “they are in house artists, we have studied their works, have been dealing with them for years and felt that there is need to bring them out to the public.”
On the theme, one thing about life is that there are always different angles of life and people react to issues in different ways. The artists through the body of works bring to the fore some of those issues that always bring public debate.
Fashina who studied Business Admin from Yaba tech, but found love with arts, draws inspiration from the environment, people and everyday life in urban cities, through his body of works tries to shed more light on chaotic and unavoidable processes of urbanisation in our globalised and overpopulated world. To him. Though some see it as normal, many see it as abnormal and need to be addressed.
While Auchi Polytechnic graduate Olasunkanmi Oyelusi, who practices impressionism and uses bright colours for bold representation also looks at issues that people generally have mixed feelings about.
A critical look at most of the works on display brings to the fore the theme as it is made up of works that will really generate mixed reactions from viewers. For example, Ola has different series but in this exhibition, it focused on those that talk about body shaping. The piece Enjoyment time which shows the image of a fat woman. Here, according to the artist, it tells the story of what fat women go through, many lost their position because of their size and as such try to slim down, while many try to cover their body or while others leave it. Other works by Ola include Self-portrait, White lips, Garden 11, etc.
On the part of Dotun, the works really speak volumes of the theme eg works like Nostalgia, In between walls, One way, Markets etc. In Nostalgia, a replica of the old Oshodi, here the artist draws the attention of the viewers to the former congested Oshodi before Fashola’s government changed it. In between walls, it shows the crowded Lagos Island where buildings are built without proper planning, residential homes, markets, churches etc scramble with each other for survival.
As usual part of the proceeds of this exhibition will go to Down Syndrome Foundation Nigeria, an NGO that commits to bridge the gap between children and adults with Down Syndrome(DS) with the rest of the society.
As usual, the gallery gives credit to some art-loving organisations like Pepsi, Tiger, Indomie, Mikano, Wazobia FM, Cool World, Cobranet, Delta Airlines and a host of others who are always there to lend their support to our exhibition.
