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RE(de)FINED: JOHNSON UWADINMA
RE(de)FINED: JOHNSON UWADINMA
March 31, 2023
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2023 Winter Artwork Lookbook sneak peek
Published by Urevbu Contemporary
Subscribe to receive the Artwork Lookbook
Winter 2023 EditionPre-order a copyInside this free lookbook, you’ll get a better view of Urevbu Contemporary’s latest winter 2023 art collection, hanging up in rooms and spaces where they’d naturally be.
No delivery, hammer, nails or printed image required. If you’ve been yearning for emerging art from the continent and the diaspora, but couldn’t quite picture how it might work in your space, the Artwork Lookbook has you covered. Subscribe to pre-order your free copy. Released Feb 2023.
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Artists
JIMMY NWANNE
Nigerian artist based in GermanyLayered and energetic, Jimmy Nwanne’s recent paintings contemplate the realities of existence and of daily experience. He embraces painting as his instrument to give visual expression to his innermost thoughts. Coupled with vivid color, imaginative elements enhance his paintings’ wistful quality. Nwanne’s textures replicate the surfaces of cut and stacked materials, underscoring a fascination with handcrafted objects that stems from his childhood. He graduated from Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka, Nigeria. Today Nwanne lives and works in Kaiserslautern, Germany. His work has been exhibited in his native Nigeria as well as in Germany and Italy. Black Soliloquy is Nwanne’s debut exhibition in the United States.
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VIdeo - Jimmy Nwanne featured at the 2019 Florence Biennale
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INTRODUCING DOUDOU MBEMBA
Driven to AbstractionArtist Statement
Doudou’s energetic paintings are a revelation in texture and color as he explores themes of identity and community, immigration and migration, technology and mechanization. In Doudou’s most recent work, he was inspired to rebuild the human form out of mechanical devices. He has an affinity for experimenting with different media on canvas, from the more traditional oil and acrylic paints rendered with brush and palette knife to playful paper collaging and mixed media. Depicting his subjects in textures that mimic metal, wood, and packaging materials, Doudou’s compositions evoke sensations of splintering and fracturing.
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AVAILABLE ARTWORK
Doudou MbembaDoudou Mbemba Lumbu, Kasereka, 2022%3Cspan%20class%3D%26%2334%3Bartist%26%2334%3B%3E%3Cstrong%3EDoudou%20Mbemba%20Lumbu%3C/strong%3E%3C/span%3E%2C%20%3Cspan%20class%3D%26%2334%3Btitle%26%2334%3B%3E%3Cem%3EKasereka%3C/em%3E%2C%202022%3C/span%3E -
Johnson Uwadinma
Recent artworkNigerian artist Johnson Uwadinma holds an MA in Painting from the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria. He has exhibited his work internationally in both Africa and Europe. Africa on My Mind marks his debut exhibition in the United States. Uwadinma’s paintings are characterized by stylized human figures whose bodies are formed from dynamic colors, patterns, and symbols. Set against backgrounds of fractured text inspired by historic newsprint, Uwadinma’s compositions consider the body in relation to social and political events. He is especially attentive to the phenomenon of memory and its capacity to shape historical and social narratives. In Uwadinma’s bold paintings, the body is a reservoir of powerful memories.
Johnson Uwadinma, I've Tried to Cage Wor(l)ds, 2020%3Cspan%20class%3D%26%2334%3Bartist%26%2334%3B%3E%3Cstrong%3EJohnson%20Uwadinma%3C/strong%3E%3C/span%3E%2C%20%3Cspan%20class%3D%26%2334%3Btitle%26%2334%3B%3E%3Cem%3EI%27ve%20Tried%20to%20Cage%20Wor%28l%29ds%3C/em%3E%2C%202020%3C/span%3E -
Watch artist Johnson Uwadinma in studio
Port Harcourt, NigeriaAlluring and enigmatic, Uwadinma’s vibrant compositions are brimming with texture and pattern. His paintings present stylized human figures set against colorful, intentionally repetitive backdrops of fractured text. Through bold forms and intriguing symbols, he contemplates memory and history and how both may powerfully shape narratives. In Uwadinma’s paintings, the body is a site upon which centuries of social and political history are inscribed.
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Artists
BIRHANE WOREDE
Birhane Worede (b.1998) lives and works in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He graduated in 2021 with highest honors as a gold medal student in Painting from Addis Ababa University, Ale School of Fine Art and Design. Birhane previously obtained a certificate of fine art from the Russian Culture and Art Center in Addis Ababa.
Birhane’s earliest artistic inspiration were the iconic paintings found in historic Ethiopian Orthodox cathedrals.Throughout his work, he expresses an interest in self-discovery and the surrounding world. His artistic exploration is deeply rooted in the visual interpretation of the psychology of human behavior. Birhane’s abstract figurative paintings present the poise of the human figure in a chaotic world. These are connected to personal stories of pain and triumph while continuing his quest to interpret his place in the world and negotiate his position within it. Birhane currently works as a full-time studio artist in Addis Ababa.
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Birhane Worede
Birhane Worede dynamic figurative paintings are kinetic and lively. His work is imbued with a strong sense of movement consistent with his background in contemporary dance. Describing his practice as “psychology in visual form,” for Woledeyesus painting is a reflective process. As a child artmaking was a way to escape to other worlds, today painting is the way he contends with the world around him. Woledeyesus lives and works in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He graduated from Addis Ababa University’s Ale School of Fine Arts with highest honors in painting in 2021. Black Soliloquy marks Woledeyesus’s debut exhibition outside of his home country.
Exciting Chaos, 2021, Acrylic On Canvas, 51.2 inches x 39.4 inches
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