Olumide Onadipe: Connecting The Dots

A solo exhibition of paintings and sculptures, reflects over forty of Olumide’s thought-provoking works, which show amazing artistic dexterity, sensitivity, and breadth in tackling urgent issues of global consumerism, against the backdrop of daunting environmental pressures facing millions of Africans everyday.

His signature sculptures, made from up-cycled and re-purposed plastic shopping bags, water sachets, juice packs, cement bags and newspapers are presented alongside his paintings, which are a continuation of his eclectic palette of rich materiality and textural freedom, showing human forms emerging out of intricate tangles of roots and leaves.

Connecting the Dots exposes the different layers of Olumide’s artistic personality, in which he grapples with identity and migration vis-à-vis a universal yearning for global citizenship and communication across a world of bold color. Onadipe’s interpretation of these universal themes are presented through the tying, knotting, folding and melting of vibrant re-purposed materials, used to create striking sculptures with life size legs and geometric shaped torsos and heads. They are a powerful counterpoint to the delicate brushstrokes of his paintings depicting human forms, yearning towards emotional harmony and environmental balance.

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