By Osa Mbonu-Amadi

After five years exploring the beauty of black figures on canvas, Tobenna Okwuosa seemed to have a fresh visual definition for figurative expressions.

This much the artist brings in his current solo art exhibition titled “Black Figures, Black Masks: Likeness and Beyond”, showing from September 21 to 30, 2024 at Signature Beyond Art Gallery, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The exhibition has been described as Okwuosa’s continuous series in profound exploration, influenced by famous American Africanist, Jean Borgatti’s ‘Likeness and Beyond: Portraiture in Africa and the World’.

For Okwuosa, his “Black Figures, Black Masks: Likeness and Beyond” delves into the intricate dynamics of identity formation, memory, and the ways in which cultural heritage shapes self-concept. Okwuosa’s work, according to Signature Beyond, features young, audacious black figures, paired with traditional African masks, in a powerful visual dialogue: “This series goes beyond mere physical likeness; it constructs identities that resonate deeply with Africa’s rich cultural heritage and the contemporary realities of its youth.”

On the energies behind the concept of the works, the gallery notes that the artist challenges the conventional western emphasis on physiognomic likeness in portraiture. In place of the much-celebrated western values, Okwuosa embraces a broader, more symbolic approach to portraying identity deeply rooted in African traditions. “By juxtaposing his subjects with African masks, Okwuosa offers a commentary on the fluidity of identity, the intersection of personal and cultural narratives, and the role of symbolism in expressing the essence of the individual,” Rahman Akar, Founder of Signature Beyond Art Gallery states.

On the artist’s techniques and themes, Akar explains Okwuosa’s paintings’ strength in capturing the distinct features of his subjects, especially in employing what he described as the artist’s deep, resonant palette of blacks and blues. “This color scheme is not merely aesthetic but is loaded with meaning, drawing parallels to the work of artists like Kerry James Marshall and Zanele Muholi, who use intense blackness to articulate powerful statements about black identity,” Akar said ahead of the exhibition opening. “Each figure in this series is an active participant in the construction of their own identity. The African masks paired with the subjects often echo their physical attributes or embody an emotional or cultural resonance. This interplay invites viewers to explore the deeper narratives embedded in each work.”

Among such works, according to Akar, are “I am Becoming the Kind of Man I Want to Be” and “Self-Love” which he said highlight the aspirational and reflective qualities of the mentioned subjects.

In his Artist Statement, Okwuosa disclosed that the body of work for the exhibition were created between 2017 and 2022, which expanded the portrait series he started in 2016. The paintings, he said, have images of bold black youths and traditional African masks generated using students at Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa, Nigeria as models. “I photographed the students on campus,” he said.

On the African masks, he said the images were taken mainly from his many copies of the African Arts journal, a renowned publication founded in 1967. Perhaps the journal connects Okwuosa and the American, Borgatti. The artist noted that the African Arts Journal has not only published many images of traditional African art, but also some of the most important articles on portraiture in African art by scholars and researchers.

 “Jean Borgatti, an American Africanist scholar, in her essay in Likeness and Beyond: Portraits from Africa and the World, has classified African portraits into three broad and overlapping categories: generalized anthropomorphic portraits, representational portraits, and emblematic portraits,” Okwuosa stated.

“Most traditional African artists did not strive for physiognomic likeness in their portraiture in contrast with most of their western counterparts. They mainly used stylized and nonrepresentational modes in their portrayal of specific individuals. My figures are rendered in a realistic style which was influenced by my academic training in mimesis.”

 For his style and technique in painting masks, Okwuosa said that his choice for each composition bears a degree of likeness or similarity with the figure. He explained that the similarities in figures and masks “may be physical or nonphysical, realistic or abstract.” And there are other elements apart from masks, in the artist’s compositions, which include letters from the Roman alphabet, words, Arabic numerals, geometric shapes, symbolic forms, painted postage stamps, and the designs featured on Dutch Wax African prints.” He said his choice of the elements represent the influence of Western modernity and other knowledge systems on the African subjects that happened mostly during colonialism, and have continued in the present in very advanced forms.”

Tobenna Okwuosa (b. 1972) is a contemporary Nigerian visual artist, art critic, writer, mystic, and bhakti yogi, whose regimented lifestyle includes teetotalism, vegetarianism, and celibacy. He holds a BA in Sculpture (First Class Honours) and an MFA in Painting from the University of Benin. He obtained his PhD in Studio Arts from Delta State University, Abraka. Okwuosa is an Associate Professor of Painting in the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa, Nigeria.