REAL & SURREAL. Opeyemi Matthew Olukotun and Moses Zibor

From 22nd April to 28th May, 2023

OOA GALLERY

Carrer Nou, 1. Sitges (Barcelona), Spain

OOA Gallery (Out of Africa Gallery) presents REAL & SURREAL, a duo exhibition dedicated to the Nigerian artists Opeyemi Matthew Olukotun and Moses Zibor.

OPEYEMI MATTHEW OLUKOTUN

The works by Opeyemi Matthew Olukotun, born in Ipetu Ijesha (Nigeria), celebrate, the artist himself tells us, human beings, their surprising facial expressions, their bodily gestures, their enthusiasm for their work, their behavioural activities and their passions.

Generally painted in acrylic, his work emphasises the face. The portraits, although they give the impression of perfect realism, borrow artifice and false pretence from techniques that make it possible to achieve a result that is more evocative than real. The artist plays very skilfully with shadows and transparencies, solids and voids, reminiscences of colour, blurred lines or, on the contrary, with a very clear line; in short, a quite remarkable set of processes that allows Olukotun to obtain the results he desires.

This artist is fascinated by the human anatomy and is passionate about drawing the different aspects of it: movements, facial expressions, proportions, etc. His color palette is harmonious and fairly unified, although he provokes "breaks" with spots and lines that create a visual contrast that, as he explains, are intended to provoke dialogue and connectivity around them.

His desire to understand the state of mind, the psychological condition of the subject that demonstrates his originality and above all his strength. The painter tells us: I make sure that the faces I paint represent the people I intend to paint. When I paint a soldier's face, for example, it should look like a soldier's face, not a farmer's. I make sure to pay attention to what makes human faces different based on their life experiences.

MOSES ZIBOR

Moses Zibor, born and raised in Lagos (Nigeria) and based in Almaty (Kazakhstan), is as enigmatic and mystical as the figures and themes he depicts in his hyper surrealist portraits, which have their origin in the dreams they experience since childhood.

The overwhelming and profound nature of these dreams, the figment of a hyperactive imagination, is evident in the recurring motifs of water in the artist's paintings. In several of his works, such as Dream Infinity, the artist's figures are submerged and suspended in water, surrounded by aquatic creatures and motifs, such as fountains and fish. This a clear nod to the ethereal nature of his dreams in which man can survive and thrive underwater, but also to the African mysticism element of his work, which speaks to folktales and fables such as Mami Wata and the world of water spirits and black mermaids.

Another recurring motif in his paintings are footballs, as well as hexagons in the background of his work, which is also reminiscent of the classic football pattern the artist was acquainted with in the 1980's and 90's. In works such as Immigrants in the USSR, Only the wise and A man and his books, the reference to football speaks squarely to the artist's personal love of, and pursuit of football as a profession, and past time, a passion which saw him leave Nigeria for the first time for Kazakhstan, where he now hones his craft. 

Enchanting, mesmerising and mystical in composition, colour palette and style, the works of this artist seduce those who contemplate them and invite them to see beyond the natural and physical world into the realms of the invisible and unknown. Thus, in a world of chaos, confusion and conformity, he would like his viewers to dream and be inspired to live a life out of the ordinary and out of the ordinary, and not to accept the status quo.

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