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By Henry Akubuiro
The synthesis goes beyond a garden variety. With Makoko, a Lagos community on stilts and Venice, Italy, Damilola Opedun has created visual concepts aimed at energising those he described as marginalised people.
Apart from creating art for regular appreciation in commercial context, Opedun, over the years, has used his work to identify with the riverian Makoko community of Lagos. Coined as Makovenice, a solo art exhibition of 15 pieces, the artist’s concept opened on June 26, showing till July 9 at Signature Beyond Gallery, 107, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.
In Makovenice, the artist’s works capture life beyond the common perspective. He explained his context of Makovenice as a situation that involves seeing and living beyond the limits of any confinement.
This is expressed by the artist in quite a number of the works for the show. Among them are Revelation, oil on canvas, 36’’ X 48’’ (2019); and Transition, oil on canvas, 48’’ X 48’’, dated 2021.
Deploying the mentality of Makovenice, he noted, generated what he described as “trans-dimensional vision or perception of reality and a deep belief that all things are truly possible,” and “through my interactions with people I come across, especially the children I teach in Makoko Oko-Agbon, I have become increasingly aware of the lack of this type of vision, which is an inevitable element for advancement. And this should not be the case for us,” Opedun said.
“Therefore, with Makovenice, I hope to activate in the audience this wonderful intrinsic perception of reality, to live beyond current limitations in our world, also wishing that, through this show, I can intelligibly convey my unflinching love and desire to be the voice for the marginalised people, especially that of the children of the stilt community of Makoko Oko-Agbon,” he explained, hoping to attract the desired assistance to them, especially in the area of education.
In its gallery statement, Signature Beyond described Opedun’s show as one of its best exhibits yet, “The artist goes beyond a master by right in his
craftsmanship, he is also behind The Seed of the True Vine Foundation, a non-governmental organisation that cares for the education and welfare of children living in ghettos since 2015.”
Rahman Akar, founder, Signature Beyond Art Gallery hinted that Opedun “is a reflection of what we stand for.” Signature Beyond boasted that, in its decades of handling artists, “We are professionals, sincere and transparent, purely designated for the art and art alone.” As a policy in marketing art, Akar said, “When we sell art, we want you to be fully aware of who you’re buying so we are not here to impress you with a glass of champagne or a red carpet.”
As regards the value of art being sold at Signature Beyond, Akar assured, “When you buy art from us and when you wake up the next morning you realise that you did the right thing Signature has been around for a long time and we all know what we stand for, we all know how long we’ve been in this business, we all know how far we’ve come and what we’ve contributed to the art scene.”
Opedun is a 2010 graduate from The School of Art And Design, Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State, and the best student of Higher National Diploma (HND) in Painting.
