By Henry Akubuiro
Seven years after Abiodun Badejo had his debut solo art exhibition, he returned with a broad scope in his capture of urban sceneries. Badejo’s signature of bold and deep colours came into the art exhibition circuit of Lagos, converging old and contemporary art enthusiasts.
Badejo’s return with another solo art exhibition titled Times and Places, which opened on December 3, and showing till 8, 12, 2023 at Gemini Art Gallery, King George V Road, Onikan, Lagos, has been described as a celebration of crucial moments that shape human existence. As an artist with great depth of creating aesthetics on canvas, Badejo’s interplay of monochrome and colour textures comes as his creative assets in visual expressions.
“In art, there is a sensitive interplay between the past and the present, between the distant corners of the world and the intimate spaces that define our lives,” curator of the exhibition, Matthew Oyedele, said. “This exhibition is a tribute to this constant interplay, an exploration of the profound correlation between the moments and places that shape our existence.”
The curator noted that Times and Places invites art enthusiasts on a journey through the artist’s evocative interpretation of the human experience. Oyedele explained that each canvas brings contents such as being “a time capsule, a fragment of history, and a glimpse of the soul’s journey.”
Among the paintings for the show are Take Home I & II series (crylic on canvas, 180cm x 120cm, dated 2023; Evenfall (acrylic on canvas, 120cm x 180cm, 2023; and Daylight II (crylic on canvas 120cm x 150cm, dated 2023). With about 20 artworks for the exhibition, Badejo brings some of his familiar textures and others of new techniques in convergence of poetic visual narratives. The artist, in the exhibition, continues to flaunt his familiarity with the dynamics of urbanisation, especially of Lagos.
“From the bustling streets of a metropolis to the rainy days of a city to the serenity of a water-filled environment, this collection takes us to a multitude of places, transcending the boundaries of eras as the art forges a connection between generations,” Oyedele stated in his Curatorial note.
Disclosing that most of the works were done in impasto, Oyedele also noted the universality of the theme of the exhibition. “Through the perspective of Times and Places, we witness the artist’s inner dialog with the world, the people, the cultures and the memories that have left indelible imprints on his canvas,” the curator explained.
Capturing Badejo’s styles and techniques in his critique of the artworks, Dr Frank Ugiomoh, a professor of the history of art and theory at University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, explained the social commentary contents of the artist’s paintings.
“In modern aesthetics, beauty is defined by the fitness of an art form to function,” Ugiomoh wrote in the critique titled ‘Abiodun Badejo and Nigeria’s Social Space in Animated Visual Narratives’: “Badejo’s work is a pertinent social commentary of the time. In terms of style, it may be apparent that he conveys an eclectic disposition. Yet, within a postmodern sense, an artist’s status to originality is defined by a sensible conveyance of a means to an end.”
Ugiomoh, who is also Omoba Yemisi Shyllon Professor of Fine Art and Design at the University of Port Harcourt, added: “Badejo’s compositions and their measured perspective and depth of field set in intense shades of grey are deliberate constructions aimed at narrating Nigeria’s social contexts and reality. As a contemporaneous artist, Badejo seizes the creative authority and the appropriation of visual language to express contemporary sociocultural values of Nigeria’s social divide.”
Excerpts from Ugiomoh’s critique: “Badejo’s originality and the beauty of his work lie. His work, thus, cues into a polychronic array of styles and metaphors that privileges an understanding of the present in the unfolding history of Nigerian art. The above understanding is in sync with an assessment of modern or contemporary Nigerian painting as undergoing a radical transformation in the hands of artists eager to subvert the medium and continue to make it a relevant cultural engagement.”
Born in 1978, Abiodun Badejo is a renowned artist who works in oil and acrylic. He studied painting at the Federal College of Education in Abeokuta and then became a mentee of Bashiru Bolaji Babatunde, who opened the door for him to Kolade Oshinowo and Abiodun Olaku.
In 2016, he presented his first solo exhibition at Nike Art Gallery, Lagos, where he impressed with his depth and knowledge of colour, perspective and form. Badejo has participated across Nigeria in a number of art workshops and group exhibitions.