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…opens at Alexis Gallery
The intersection of light, color, life, energy, and how self-illumination and self-discovery interline, is the thrust of a solo exhibition of paintings by award-winning interdisciplinary Germany-based Nigerian artist, Chidi Kwubiri, which opened last Friday at Alexis Gallery, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Titled “Luminous Presence – A Journey into the heart of light, where art and soul intertwine,” and hosted by Alexis Gallery, the exhibition, which will run till Saturday November 9, 2024, features Kwubiri’s most recent creations and expressive mastery of dynamic pointillism and splashing painting techniques.
As the founder of Alexis Gallery, Patty Chidiac Mastrogiannis, notes, “‘Luminous Presence’ draws us in through the luminous flux, energies and atoms that lie presence in our lives, inspiring us to tap into our inner luminescence and revel in the freedom and possibilities open to us with light.
Featuring refreshing and energetic paintings that connects and convey us through the journey towards life, color, illumination and self-discovery.”
Kwubiri’s exhibition explores the intersection of light, colour, life, and energy, imploring the viewer to experience the radiant beauty of the human spirit, the Luminescence that connects us and the essence of ‘presence’.
“We invite you to immerse yourself in Chidi Kwubiri’s refreshingly striking paintings that open up the hidden aspects of our shared human connection with light and colour,” she added.
In his curatorial statement, the Curator of the exhibition, Uche Obasi, described ‘Luminous Presence’ as a “visually-stimulating collection that delves into the human experience with the soul of light and color, probing the boundaries between our connectedness to light and color, and our place within it.”
According to him, “through an absorbing display of gestural beams of pulsating colors and composition in his paintings, Chidi kwubiri invite us into the inner worlds where search for selfillumination and self-discovery interwine; from the illuminating pursuit of reconnection with oneself, to the infinite possibilities that lies therein.
“Chidi kwubiri implores the viewer to experience the magical spark of colorthe love, the energy, linked with the realities of light in our everyday lives, the human spirit as it tries to capture the very essence of living and of presence.”
One of Kwubiri’s paintings, “Come to Life,” is an abstract reflection on the brutal murder of George Floyd in 2020. In this work, Obasi notes, kwubiri “tried to visualise, document and freeze that short moment in time, when all of life’s aspirations and hope came to a grinding halt,” adding that ‘Come to Life’ reflects the aftermath of George Floyd’s Black Lives Matter movement – where light relentessly seeks to persist in the face of darkness.
Another painting, ‘Circumcision II’, shows a teenage girl with an intent gaze, wearing a razor blade as an earring, with waist beads strapped to her forehead – a powerful, metaphorical campaign against female genital mutilation, an issue that Kwubiri has championed through his artwork.
‘Circumcision II’ reconciles the stark reality of the survival of female genital mutilation in parts of Africa and around the world, where the practice still persists under the guise of “culture” or “tradition,” leaving victims with the realities and trauma of physical and emotional scar.
Chidi Kwubiri’s stylistic techniques manipulate rhythmic tension of colours, oscillating with dynamic drip and energy. He fuses and invents a space that accommodates the dance of colours that float in recycling motion of time, revealing figurative gestures that evoke contemplation.
In ‘Luminous Presence’, kwubiri attempts to explore the intersection of light, colour, life, and energy. In his words, “My aim is to implore the viewer to experience the radiant beauty of the human spirit as I try to capture the essence of ‘presence’ – the Spark within, the Glow around, and the Luminescence that connects us all.”
Speaking with New Telegraph, he said: “Coming back to Nigeria every now and then is very important to me. So whenever I have the opportunity to come here to exhibit, I take it seriously.”
Kwubiri is a Nigerian visual artist born in umuahia, Abia state, Nigeria, living and working in Germany. He studied fine art at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, the Düsseldorf Art Academy, in 1993, where he was under the tutelage of Michael Buthe and Prof. A. R. Penck, graduating with an MFA in Painting in 2002.
Kwubiri’s style of painting navigates between the realms of abstract expressionism rendered in ethereal, blurry, yet glorious figures submerged in time, space, and color.
He primarily uses acrylic, allowing his canvas to populate with paint dribbles, where colors jostle and dot in rhythmic motion, a style reminiscent of pointillism. Since 2000, Kwubiri is widely exhibited throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and USA.
Having had numerous international solo and group exhibition across-the-board. Kwubiri is an art ambassador for several international and local organisations and institutions, including the International African Youth Foundation, Bonn, Germany (Adler Award recipient, 2000), MISEREOR Germany (Lenten Veil Artist, 2017/2018), Culturati Lagos (2023), and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (2023).
This ambassadorial role, which he largely represented, has seen him mentor and support early-career artists globally, with a particular commitment to Nigerian artists.
According to Chidiac-Mastrogiannis, sponsors of this exhibition include: Coca-Cola, Macallan, Bombay-Sappire, Mikano International Limited, Tiger, UPS, Aina Blankson Global, Marquis de BEROL, The Guardian, Schweppes, Aramex Delivery Unlimited, Nigeria Info, COBRANET, and Art Cafe by Alexies Gallery.
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