Artist Abdulrazaq Awofeso. | Photo by Tegen Kimbley
AFTER ESTABLISHING a unique practice that reflects his own biography and also speaks to global issues, Abdulrazaq Awofeso is working with a new gallery. Ed Cross Fine Art in London recently announced its representation of the sculptor and installation artist.
Working with discarded and dismantled wood palettes used to ship goods around the world, Awfeso creates figurative sculptures and narrative installations that explore human migration and reference his travels throughout Africa and across Europe.
Awfeso who splits his time between Birmingham, UK, and Lagos, Nigeria, where he was born, identifies himself as a maker and an itinerant.
“Abdulrazaq Awofeso: Out of Frame” was presented earlier this year at Ikon Gallery in Birmingham. The exhibition featured “Avalanche of Calm” (2021-22), an ambitious installation that anchored the show. Envisioning the diverse population of a modern city, the work is composed of 3,000 tiny, hand-carved figures with wood clouds hoovering above, a nod to the gray canopy the characterizes Britain’s overcast skies.
Next year, Museum Arnhem in Arnhem, The Netherlands, will host a solo exhibition of Awofeso. In London, Ed Cross will stage its first solo exhibition with the artist in spring 2023.
“We are thrilled to be working with Abdulrazaq Awofeso,” Gallery Director Ed Cross said in a statement about the announcement. “Like many great ideas, his merging of painting with sculpture, and his elevation and expansion of portraiture towards installation, are disarmingly simple—truly one of the African continent’s brightest young art stars.” CT
FIND MORE about Abdulrazaq Awofeso on Instagram
WATCH MORE Abdulrazaq Awofeso shares insights about his work on the occasion of his recent exhibition at IKON Gallery in Birmingham, UK
ABDULRAZAQ AWOFESO, Installation view of “Avalanche of Calm,” 2021-22 (pallet wood, acrylic paint, various dimensions), IKON Gallery, London. | © Abdulrazaq Awofeso
ABDULRAZAQ AWOFESO, “Komole (bridal train),” 2022 (pallet wood, acrylic paint, 120 x 108 x 2.5 cm / 47.2 x 42.5 x 0.98 inches). | © Abdulrazaq Awofeso
BOOKSHELF
Several key volumes survey African contemporary artists, including “Contemporary African Art Since 1980” edited by Okwui Enwezor and Chika Okeke-Agulu, and more recently, “African Artists: From 1882 to Now” and “Contemporary African Art: Second Edition (World of Art)”
