Nigerian art sensation Ken Nwadiogbu is set to debut in the United States with his first solo exhibition at the reputable Thinkspace Projects space located in the burgeoning Los Angeles’ West Adams District.
Nwadiogbu who won the The Future Awards Africa in the Arts (Visual & Applied) catgory will stage his first US solo art exhibition from Saturday March 6, to Saturday March, 27, 2021.
With an eye for uncommon young talents such as Nwadiogbu, the LA based gallery has been at the vanguard of showcasing new contemporary art talents connecting them with the enlightened US art audience comprising curators, collectors, enthusiast and scholars among others.
At Thinkspace Projects, Nwadiogbu will interrogates contemporary social-culture issues from his worldview with about twenty new hyperrealist works. He investigates representation through a focal-point of eyes as a means of discovering and revelation.
By recreating his own realities as a young Nigerian, his work projects the experiences encountered by black lives around the globe.
Nwadiogbu invokes a humanist connection to the ongoing issues of police brutality, racism, xenophobia, culture conflict and shock.
Working with charcoal and acrylic he creates a hyperrealist narrative that demands socio-political thought and discourse, bringing the ideology full circle by emphasizing an understanding that we are more alike than different.
Societal tendencies drive Nwadiogbu’s work and his commitment to technique amplifies the intention behind every mark.
“My love for drawing faces of everyday people through ripped paper was born from a need to identify Africans in major global contexts. These juxtaposed pieces became my way of exploring, evaluating, interrogating, and challenging socio-political structures and issues within the society,” he explains.
“I believe that the eye is a window into the being of any human and as such, make it a constant symbol in my latest body of work.
“The focal point of my art is on black lives; recreating my experiences and those encountered by the people around me such as police brutality, lingering racism, xenophobia, culture conflict and shock. Working with charcoal and acrylic on canvas, I am able to invoke empathy in the viewer forcing socio-political thoughts and discourse, and making them aware enough to respond to what is going on in the society.”
Speaking about the exhibition Andrew Hosner, curator and co-owner of Thinkspace Projects says it’s an honour to provide the platform for Nwadiogbu’s US debut.
“We’ve known Ken for a couple years now and it is an honor to provide a platform for his debut U.S. solo exhibition,” Hosner says.
“Nwadiogbu is an incredible talent and his story will help to also tell Nigeria’s story. Such an important show and we are thrilled to be presenting it in tandem with Ken.”
Nwadiogbu studied Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Lagos, Nigeria dividing his time between his canvas and his notebooks.
The self-taught 25 year old artist pivoted on a strand of hyperrealism match with contemporary art which he calls ‘Contemporealism.’
The artist has featured in local and international group exhibitions and fairs including Art X, Insanity, It’s not Furniture, Finding your Identity, ArtyramaArt Exhibition, Empowerment Exhibition, Generation Y, Moniker Art Fair, Afriuture, LAX-SFO, In the Making, LAX-MSY and so on.
In October 2019, Nwadiogbu’s similar debut in the UK at The Brick Lane Gallery, East London attracted a room full of new audience who went home with a remarkable first impression of his artistic expression.
The sold-out show tagged Contemporealism showcased 25 original works of charcoal and acrylic on canvas.
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