“Art will find a way”, that is the belief of all the artists that participate in this exhibition.
The display takes place in Espacio Gallery (159 Bethnal Green Road, London), from Tuesday 15th of August to Saturday 26th. It shows works from four artists, and it consists mostly of paintings, but there are also sculptures and installations.
An important part of the pieces are by Mayowa Ajagunna, the promoter artist of the exhibition. Ajagunna’s paintings are painted over the traditional canvas with acrylic painting. They show us relatively realistic scenes, but from the artist’s characteristic point of view.
The influence of cubism and abstraction on Ajagunna’s paintings makes them very expressive. Each of the paintings, as the artist himself says, “tells a story about myself or something I have come across”. We can see political topics in some of his paintings, such as racism, the art industry, Trump and Brexit.
There are also works of digital art and handmade paintings from Mary Osinibi. She made photo portraits from people and then painted over the photography. That makes the photography even more suggestive and introduces Osinibi’s subjectivity into the plain capture of reality.
We can also find the colourful abstraction of Princess Idowu in the exposition. The titles of her paintings complement the merely visual aspect of the work, and make the reflexion and the imagination of the viewer part of the artwork.
Finally, there are also the more realistic portraits and scenes by Saman Gedara. Some of them have forms and characters that could remind us of the Renaissance aesthetic. Although all the pieces shown in the exhibit have nothing in common in their creative aspect, what is the same is the strong belief of these artists that independent art can find a way, and the hope that it will find a way in today’s world.
Ivet Armengol – @Artcelona