Black Figuration Is Alive And Well, Now Showing At O’DA Art Gallery

Viewers can expect a compelling range of African culture, photography, abstract art, afro-surrealism, textured works, “fractellations,” and realist portraiture. The exhibition spans sculpture, photography, collage, surrealism, and painting, all offering rich, diverse expressions of what it means to be seen.

Speaking on the exhibition, the Curator Obida Obioha explains that the ongoing prominence of figuration in Black and African art at a point in history where the visual field is over saturated is a testament to the right to be seen, on one’s terms, in all the emotional and conceptual complexity. “… The ongoing prominence of figuration in Black and African art stands not as aesthetic repetition, but as an urgent political and cultural gesture—a reclaiming of presence, history, and imaginative sovereignty,” he says.

Black Figuration Is Alive And Well is presented by O’DA Art Gallery, a contemporary art gallery committed to bridging the gap between local and international audiences by promoting mid-career and established artists who explore themes such as identity, technology, political commentary, social consciousness, and environmental change.

Featured Artists

In African Sculpture

For this category, Reuben Ugbine & Djakou Kassi Nathalie reinvigorate African sculpture with references to spirituality, heritage, and surreal form.

Reuben Ugbine

Throughout his career as a full-time studio artist, Reuben Ugbine designed and executed several carvings, terracottas, sculptural figures, metal railings and other artworks for private commissions. During his lifetime, he was renowned as a master storyteller with a keen eye for detail whose creative flair permitted him to translate human experience into visual narratives. His work has been praised for their ability to draw the viewer’s attention to the nuances of multiple lives and conditioned behaviours, shedding light on how we collectively occupy space in culture.

Ugbine was a member of the Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA) and the Guild of Professional Fine Artists of Nigeria (GFA). He exhibited in solo and group shows across Africa and internationally in Lebanon, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and South Africa.

Djakou Kassi Nathalie

With a wealth of experience in studio practice, Djakou Kassi Nathalie is a ceramist par excellence who has showcased her creations in numerous local and international exhibitions, garnering acclaim and recognition. Nathalie’s artistic creations are inspired by the intricate dance between nature and humanity, delving into the often tumultuous interplay between the two forces. She continually devotes herself to producing a diverse array of captivating works across various media (wood, bronze, marble, stone, bonded stone).

Nathalie is also a renowned art instructor, having worked with multiple institutions and devoted her time to mentoring and nurturing young artists in Cameroon, Nigeria, the Republic of Benin, the USA, Iran and Iraq over the past two decades. She is an esteemed member of the Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA), Sculptors Association of Nigeria (ScAN), and the Guild of Professional Fine Artists of Nigeria (GFA) and has participated in various exhibitions across the globe.

In Photography

For this category, Mobolaji Ogunrosoye, Orry Studio, & Lakin Ogunbanwo deconstruct photography and collage to explore memory, beauty, and layered identity.

Mobolaji Ogunrosoye 

Mobolaji works in the intersection of photography and collage, using both mediums to explore contrasting emotions and distortion within images featuring Black and Nigerian women. Over the past three years, her work has revolved around two main bodies of work: ‘Portraits’ and ‘Contrasts In Loveliness.’ 

In Portraits, she focuses on integrating coffee granules and fumage as significant elements in each collage. With Contrasts In Loveliness, she experiments with transparent materials such as perspex and UV filters as tools for collage. Mobolaji is currently working towards developing ‘Contrasts In Loveliness,’ by exploring side-by-side configurations and photograms, as well as tools for collage.

Orry Shenjobi 

Orry Shenjobi is a Nigerian-British multidisciplinary artist and product designer, whose works hold a transformative power that inspires change. Her practice spans photography, film, painting, sculpture, and installation, and is deeply rooted in storytelling and community. Through this lens, she explores the intersections of identity, memory, and cultural continuity, creating work that reflects both personal experience and collective history.

Founder of Studio ỌRRY,  Shenjobi’s work is often a call to witness; not only to what is seen, but also to what is felt, remembered, and carried. Through layered visuals and a sustainable approach, she documents the moments that connect us and the everyday objects that hold our stories.

Alongside her artistic practice, Shenjobi is the founder of the Laho Foundation, an artist-led non-profit focused on expanding access to art education across Nigeria. At its core, her practice is a space where documentation, sustainability, cultural translation, and continuity come together.

She presented her solo exhibition À Wá Ǹbé: A Celebration of Community and Culture in 2024 at the Venice Biennale, as part of the “Foreigners Everywhere” series curated by Usen Esiet at the European Cultural Centre in Venice, Italy.

Lakin Ogunbanwo

Working at the confluence of fashion photography and classical portraiture, Lakin Ogunbanwo creates enigmatic portraits with an erotic and subversive undertone. His subjects exist defiantly in the frame, often framed by shadow, drapery and foliage. His use of colour and bold compositions is influenced by the traditions of African studio photography, although form and silhouette are also key stylistic traits. Central to Ogunbanwo’s artistic investigation is his desire to document the culture of Lagos, expand the contemporary African visual archive, and portray self-represented African narratives.

He has participated in several group exhibitions, art fairs and residency programs. His work has been placed in many private and public collections. He was also commissioned by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London as part of their Africa Fashion exhibition and Galeries Lafayette in Paris.

In Abstract Art

For this category, Anthony Nsofor, Isaac Emokpae, & Joseph Ogbeide use linework and abstraction to examine family, ancestry, and cultural preservation.

Anthony Chukwudinma Nsofor 

With a focus on the Black experience, Anthony’s works ask questions of nationality, migration, and black identity. His works delve into childhood memories of community, festivals, and rituals, celebrating shared spaces in Africa. His works have been exhibited extensively in Nigeria and internationally, appearing in art fairs ArtX Lagos, the New York Art Fair, the Dak’ Art Biennale, Senegal, etc.

His works are also featured in the US by Montague Contemporary, New York; at Galerie D’Art Houkami Guyzagn, Abidjan, Ivory Coast; and Oda Art Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria. In 2020, Anthony Nsofor set up studios in the USA. He became a resident artist at the Torpedo Factory Art Centre in 2022 and was elected Vice President of the Board of the Torpedo Factory Artists’ Association in 2023.

Isaac Erhabor Emokpae

As a multi-faceted visual artist whose approach to art is broadly based on the principle of duality, Isaac churns out works primarily in the expressionism and surrealism art movements. He is an award-winning artist who has held several group and solo exhibitions globally. 

He remains very selective about his work and divides his time between painting and his photography projects. He is also a member of OHOS (Open Hands Open Space), an artists’ collective in Reading, UK.

Joseph Ogbeide

Joseph’s works explore the diverse states of the human mind and our shared need to derive and impose meaning in the world around us. His works often utilise simple lines and visceral strokes to depict baseline emotions that those who view the works may recognise as aspects of what it means to be human.

At the heart of Joseph’s artistic approach is a drive to inspire empathy, provoke introspection, and highlight the universal search for meaning in how we navigate the world. His works are created to be open-ended in a way that invites the viewer to engage, reflect, and draw their own conclusions.

In Afro-surrealism

For this category, Soji Adesina, Chika Idu, & Olajide Ajayi (LA Draws) dive into Afro-surrealism to interrogate dreams, technology, and diasporic memory.

Soji Adesina 

Soji Adesina is a Nigerian-British multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans painting, film, and photography. Renowned for his radical experimentation with materials and techniques, he has cultivated a distinctive visual language that challenges traditional representation. 

His work captivates with vibrant colour juxtapositions, often set against the stark presence of a solitary figure, exploring the complexities of identity. By rendering the skin of his subjects in abstract hues, Adesina provokes a fundamental question: “What is the colour of skin?” This inquiry serves as a gateway into broader themes of identity, culture, and the intersection of tradition and modernity. Storytelling is at the heart of his practice, as he invites viewers to engage with the layered narratives within his compositions. 

Colour plays a significant role in his works, not only as an aesthetic choice but as an emotional force that stimulates the senses and challenges perceptions.  His work critically examines globalisation, sovereignty, conflict, and migration, using irony, metaphor, and paradox to deconstruct the forces shaping radicalisation, statehood, and sexuality.

Adesina’s art celebrates the diversity and complexity of the African experience while fostering a dialogue on the evolving nature of identity in a globalised world. He has exhibited widely in Nigeria and internationally, with shows in major cities such as New York, Paris, London, and São Paulo.

Chika Idu

Chika Idu is a multimedia artist whose professional art practice has spanned over 27 years. His works are a reflection of his chain of thoughts and life issues as they affect his living space. Through his works, he has navigated between issues related to women and children, their response to cultural, traditional and societal interrogations. In addition to his body of pictorial dialogues, are his views and representations on environmental pollution questions.

Chika is known for his use of water colour, Acrylics and oil paint mediums, which surprisingly are very distant in style and techniques. His oil paintings are characterised by heavy, overplayed signature hazy textures, a technique he developed through his study of dust and light. He has exhibited in TR Art Gallery, Kuaba Gallery, O’DA Gallery and Ashanti Gallery.

Olajide Ajayi

Olajide Ajayi (L.A. Draws) is a multidisciplinary Nigerian artist whose practice spans illustration, concept art, and traditional painting. Rooted in a deep appreciation for African history, mythology, and storytelling, his work explores cultural identity through both fantastical and contemporary lenses.

Trained in Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Benin with a focus on Graphic Design, notably, Olajide became the first African artist to collaborate with Magic: The Gathering, a globally renowned fantasy card game. He has also contributed to high-profile international projects, including Black Panther (2023), among other collaborations across America and Europe.

Currently, Olajide is expanding his creative vision through traditional oil painting, exploring new artistic territories that bridge the fantastical with the tangible. His recent works mark a new chapter in his growing practice, inviting audiences into richly imagined worlds where cultures and ideas intersect.

In Textured Works 

For this category, Taiye Idahor & Stephen Price offer emotionally textured works that reflect on freedom, femininity, and inherited memory.

Taiye Idahor

Taiye Idahor is a multidisciplinary visual artist whose studio practice incorporates drawing, sculpture, collage, painting and printmaking to articulate ideas of women’s identity. 

She often uses “hair” as a consistent visual language in her work to further explore subjects of memory, culture, tradition and modernity in relation to women’s interactions and navigation of the modern world. These interests have also set her on a path of constantly seeking ways to subsume these feminine histories, while also excavating her own ancestry and stories from her hometown of Benin City. 

Taiye exhibits locally and abroad, and her work forms part of the permanent collections of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art South Africa, the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Princeton University Art Museum, The Stanley Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum in New York, amongst others.

Stephen Price 

As a mixed media artist, Stephen explores his identity by evoking emotion and humanity through painting. His work delves into personal and psychological experiences, particularly as they intersect with his black identity. Through the depth of charcoal, he depicts non-existent figures inhabiting colourful, surreal natural environments, spaces that reflect his deep longing to create a timeless, contemplative realm for these figures to exist in.  

His inspiration comes from a variety of sources, including literature, art history, archival photographs, and found images on the internet, all of which help materialise his vision while also allowing room for imagination.  

Music, particularly calm orchestral compositions, also plays a vital role in his process. It guides his approach to colour, helping him intuitively build harmony and atmosphere in his work. These influences, combined with his imagination, culminate in paintings that invite contemplation, convey emotional depth, and highlight the quiet power of his figures. Through this process, he aims to craft a dream-like world where presence, connection,  and mysticism intertwine. 

His works have been exhibited in several solo and group exhibitions, shows and art fairs across the globe. He was also awarded the winner of the Wells Art Contemporary 2020 student prize award, and the Patron’s Prize at the RBA Annual Exhibition 2021.

In “Fractellations” and Soundscapes

For this category, Simon Ojeaga’s rhythmic “fractellations” evoke the meditative, emotional quality of Yinka Bernie’s soulful soundscapes.

Simon Ojeaga

Simon Ojeaga is a talented and passionate visual artist known for his creative expression and unique artistic vision. His journey into the world of art began at a young age, driven by an innate ability to translate emotions and concepts into striking visual compositions. His works reflect a deep connection to culture, identity, and storytelling, making each piece a testament to his artistic prowess.

Simon’s art blends traditional techniques and contemporary concepts. It often explores themes of culture, human experiences, and societal narratives. He draws inspiration from everyday life, African heritage, and personal introspection, using various mediums to bring his ideas to life. He continues to push creative boundaries, leaving an indelible mark on the art scene through his innovative approach and dedication to visual storytelling.

Yinka Bernie

Known for blending emotion with experimentation, Yinka’s work spans moody soundscapes and cinematic scores, always grounded in a deep commitment to storytelling through sound. He has carved out a space in sound design for short films, documentaries, ads, and installations — contributing to projects for brands like Adidas, Nike, Amazon, Peacock, DyeLab, Santan Dave and producing Amaarae’s hit single Sad Girlz Luv Money.

In Realist Portraits

Opeyemi Olukotun rounds out the exhibition categories as he presents poignant realist portraits that honour everyday Black life with dignity and empathy.

Opeyemi Olukotun

In his art, Olukotun demonstrates his fascination with human anatomy and his passion for drawing different aspects of it in movement, expression, proportion, and palette. He uses harmonious colours and impressionist marks to portray his subjects as thoughtful, multifaceted agents. Through the use of visible sketchy lines, he creates a flow and connection between the people he paints and the fullness of their context. He is represented commercially by Out of Africa Gallery in Barcelona, Spain.

Together, these artists reaffirm that black figuration is neither static nor reductive, but expansive, experimental, and deeply personal. Far from fading, it continues to evolve as a vital force of cultural commentary and self-affirmation. Across their diverse practices, they are united in their embrace of figuration as a living, adaptable language, one that resists confinement and insists on presence.