Art-at-Ouida is a walk-through exhibition space, showing accessible, contemporary artworks that won’t burn a hole in your pocket. Utilising the three floors of the newly-refurbished Ouida, this exhibition takes you on a journey through the Arts. At Ouida, you are sure to find something to fall in love with.
Curator’s Note
It’s Women’s Month!
To help elevate the global celebration of women’s achievements and experiences, this exhibition features 19 paintings that have women as their subject matter alongside their invaluable impact in our society.
Olumide Daniel, Grace Ighavbota, and Naomi Oyeniyi’s works explore womanhood from different perspectives but are united in their rendering of female forms with oil on canvas. The artists were also deliberate about challenging the norms, continuously improving their practice and depicting powerful portraits of women.
Ethereal, elegant, and striking are some words that best describe Olumide Daniel’s subjects in his paintings. “Wedding Guest I” and “Ebony III” showcase his vibrant style of painting and his general outlook on women’s outfits and hairstyles. His impasto technique also adds a three-dimensional perspective to his works. Olumide’s ability to shed light on daily activities and sometimes mundane tasks as seen in “Today’s Newspaper” and “E Don Cost” is also applaudable.
Grace Ighavbota’s “Blue Scarf” depicts beauty as being in the eyes of the beholder – beauty that differs from one culture to another. Her strong monochromatic use of colours definitely sets her work apart from the other presented artists. The veils and scarves seen on the women in the paintings appear fluid and textured even though the overall portraits denote sombre thoughts and obvious vulnerability.
Naomi Oyeniyi also employs bold primary colours to elevate the subjects in her paintings. Her ability to break down one colour into numerous shades with a palette knife is commendable and perhaps a metaphor for the multifaceted nature of women. Her figurative forms as seen in “The Beauties of Today” series, are also achieved with overlapping brush strokes to give the paintings a more realistic finish.
The artists have all distinguished themselves from their contemporaries and are without a doubt strong emerging artists who are passionate about women’s affairs.
As this exhibition only documents and celebrates a fraction of women through the lenses of three artists, I encourage you to continue supporting women and girls around the globe who work tirelessly to make the world a better place for everyone.
Happy Women’s Month!
Seun Alli
Curator and Founder, JCAA
