Monday 5 March 2018

How D'Artist Press For Progress With Women

A painting by Chike Onuorah titled Knowledge is Power.
Aligning his thoughts with the theme of International Women's Day 2018, artist, Chike Onuorah, will offer his paintings as a mark of solidarity with the softer gender.   
 Also known as D'Artist,
Onuorah whose work, most often uses female forms to express socio-cultural thematic rendition celebrates what he describes as unqantifiable values of women. With a new body of work titled Press For Progress, showing from March 8-21, 2018, at Moor House Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos, the artist shows direction through which a society needs to navigate
for progress and development. The exhibition is part of the 'New Possibilities'  initiative of the curator, Naomi Ora Ataguba.
 "This exhibition titled Press For Progress showcases the essence, value, importance and strength of women in our daily live," D'Artist declares during a preview. "It displays their eternal relevance to our daily existence and the need for constant appraisal and appreciation for womanhood." 
  Expressing the said values in visual context are paintings such as Knowledge is Power and You Are An Icon, among other pieces for the exhibition. Still a consistent impressionist, D'Artist adds a fresh texture to his canvas in the two works. It's a freshness that radiates his contemporary focused, despite being largely figural in rendition.
 Thematically, for focus on women's value to the society, D' Artist anchors his thought on education for the girl child. For example, he captures young girl reading from a book in his style of painting that flowns with impressionism.
  "The empowerment of the girl child through education equals the training of a community of men because children get their first and basic education from their mothers."  He notes that in achieving progress "we must firstly appreciate these values in our everyday life and encourage their upliftment and greater advancement in all aspects of our existence." 
 Arguably, one of the few artists in Lagos who has sustained a yearly calender of shows for the past ten years, D'Artist's canvas keeps evolving. "I have currently explored a purpose-driven increase in dexterity and calculated minimalism in achieving greater value and content in communication with the viewer," he explains how much of change his canvas has in the last two years. "This has brought forth the merger of 'splashillino' and 'plastillino' in majority of the current creative expositions. Press For Progress is an introduction."
   And looking forward, he has his eyes set on 
 'The Statement', a coming show at another gallery in Victoria Island.
 D'Artist's Press For Progress opens a new phase of regular art exhibitions at Moor House. The curator,  Ataguba is bringing fresh textures into the art exhibition space at Moor House wit 'New Possibilties', a central theme under which Press For Progress is being shown.
  "New Possibilities is intended to evoke and challenge both the artist and the collector to rise above the mundane and familiar to aspire to new horizons of hope," Ataguba states ahead of the first show. "The choice of artists is deliberate and intended to perpetuate the theme of the exhibition which is ‘hop.’"
 Sponsored by Studio 24, a creative imaging solution; Moor House Hotels and M-Gallery, memorable hotels by Accor, the exhibitions under 'New Possibilities', according to the curator, are about how 'Hope' gives one the reason to wake to responsibilities, dream dreams and live life with great expectations."
 Excerpts from Ataguba's curatorial statement: "The hues and colors combine to lighten the mood, quickens a joyous emotion and feelings of excitement. 
Throughout these exhibitions, our desire is to see that every month the audiences will see what the various artist see, feel and hope for. Hope to live another day; hope to aspire to greater heights; hope to see new possibilities where hitherto it’s been impossible. We hope that people will feel hope and month in month out, will infect everyone within their circle thereby creating a viral feeling of hope beyond comprehension. We will generate so much enthusiasm never felt or  experienced before on a scale that will shake the nation as a whole."
 - Tajudeen Sowole.

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