OOA GALLERY @ Art X LAGOS (Nigeria) with Evans Mbugua, Bob-Nosa, Anjel & Bodo Fils BBM 

We are proud to announce our second participation at Art X Lagos (Nigeria), where we present on our booth 17 four contemporary african artists: Evans Mbugua (Kenya), Bob- Nosa (Nigeria), Anjel (Cameroon) and Bodo Fils (DRC).

Strongly rooted in their respective identities and stories, these emergent artists distinguish themselves by the freedom of tone and the originality of their plastic language. Resolutely turned towards modernity, while remaining very attached to the African values, these artists affirm that the sociocultural differences are a source of wealth. Observers of the world they live in, these artists take an enlightened and critical look at our society and record its history, while participating in the living memory of their cultures and redefining their link to the world.

Evans Mbugua 

Evans Mbugua studied Fine Arts with option Graphic Design at ESAP Pau, France. This grounding is evident in his portraits; vibrant compositions with pictogram-patterned backdrops that, says Mbugua, represent the urban environments that shape our daily lives. Working in oil paint on plexiglass, the artist composes his works from a series of dots, creating layers that, in the finished works, result in shapes coming in and out of focus as the viewer moves towards or away from each piece. “Humans are at the centre of my practice because they are at the centre of my interest,” says Mbugua. Recently, he designed a series of brooches for the Parisian jeweller Chaumet, six extraordinary animal-themed pieces imbued with off-beat humour, colour and character.

For Art X Lagos, OOA presents three artworks from Mbugua's "Body Talk" series. These works celebrate and elevate his subjects with brightness and reflections while simultaneously revealing their human fragility.

Mbugua's works are held in institutions and private collections in France, the UK, Italy, the United States, Denmark, Nigeria, Morocco and Kenya. He has been featured in exhibitions in Paris, London, Barcelona and New York.

Bob-Nosa

Bob-Nosa is a fine arts graduate of Auchi Polytechnic. This multidisciplinary artist works out of the Protest Art Studio, a fitting designation given the tenor of his practice: a relentless condemnation of the inhumanity of social and political systems that render people victims. The self-described art activist belongs to a protest subculture devoted to using art as a catalyst for change.

His paintings, which run the gamut from abstract to representational, are distinguished by intense primary colours applied in large expressive strokes and frequently include collaged images and found materials. Surfaces are scratched with written texts and aerosol paint is roughly sprayed over and across painted forms.

Bob-Nosa’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions in Spain, Argentina and Nigeria.
For Art X Lagos 2019, Bob-Nosa has created a new series of powerful, satirical comments on inhumanity as borne by the individual in a socially decaying system.

Anjel 

After finishing his baccalaureate in 2012, Anjel (Boris Anje) managed to enter the Foumban Institute of Fine Arts (Cameroon). His studies allowed him to make contact with famous local artists such Hervé Youmbi and also with the Contemporary Art Center "Les Ateliers Sahm", where he met the "Dandies". In 2015, he obtained a professional licence in drawing-painting (IBAF) and in 2018 a Master.

Some of his artworks entered yet in major art collections such as the permanent collection of the World Bank in Washington. In Europe, his artwork was presented in Spain, The Netherlands and France and in 2018 during the Beirut Art Fair.

His work and creations are centred on the intimate relationship linked with the concept of dependency. His favourite themes relate to social matters, the subjects of said "taboos". For Art X Lagos, Anjel's work will depict characters who are addicted to fashion, labels, and the need to pretend to be what they are not. “In this consumer world, the desire to feign imposes itself as a human need, as a catalyst of our life, making us believe that it makes us superior, that it allows us to elevate ourselves within society”, said Anjel.

Bodo Fils BBM 

M'Pambu Bodo Bodo, aka Bodo Fils BBM (in honour of his father, the artist Pierre Bodo, under whose instruction he developed as a painter), is also a writer, composer and musician. He achieved international acclaim as an artist for his fusion of surrealist and realist influences in full-body depictions of sapeurs. Bodo uses his allegorical portraits to articulate the aspirations of Congolese youth, whose ambitions belie their material circumstances.

His new series for Art X Lagos features hybrid beings with animal heads specific to their character, in recognition of the individuality of each sapeur and in reference to the clan or ancestral land whose totem each animal embodies. These works are representative of Bodo’s practice of contrasting western markers of success with the depictions of animals as patriotic symbols in Africa. Bodo’s work is in the Pigozzi Collection, Geneva. His most recent solo exhibition was Songeries Congolaises, La Ferronnerie, France, 2018.

PUBLIC OPENING TIME: 2/11 & 3/11 from 10 am till 8pm

LOCATION: Federal Palace Hotel - Ahmadu Bello Way - Victoria Island - Lagos - Nigeria