Wunika Mukan Gallery is pleased to present its first salon show of the year featuring Nigerian artists, Adeyinka Akingbade and Kolawole Olalekan. The salon introduces paintings and works on card that offer fresh perspectives on the human figure through expressive and detailed abstractions. Informed by the artists' individual experiences, this show is unified by a shared state of indeterminacy, reflecting the complex and unavoidable challenges of human life.

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Incorporating distorted, vigorous brush strokes and spontaneity, Adeyinka Akingbade delves into the intertwined relationship between personal identity, materials utilized, and surrounding societal influences. Presenting stories rooted in experiences traced to childhood and guided by an audacious imagination, he embraces a consistent aversion towards complacency while navigating artistic expression vocally.

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In this show, he presents a couple of paintings from his series "Quest," which introduces contemporary work influenced by the current economic climate in Nigeria - a country enduring persistent inflation. Within this series, “Humility" signifies the absence of oppression or self-asserted superiority over others. As a collective society, he believes we undoubtedly fall short in upholding these values; online bullying has become an unfortunate norm among commoners while our currency's value continues its uncontrolled plunge.

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Kolawole Olalekan’s dynamic figurative paintings stand as a testament to his meticulous practice. Inspired by his immediate environment, the artist reflects and captures through paintings and drawings the nuanced happenings of everyday life. The artist presents his developing body of work, “Plant Your Head, Ostrich,” a phrase taken from the ironic character trait of how an ostrich bird buries its head to avoid, or be safe from, predators. He uses this irony as a metaphoric entry point to reflect on the political relationship between the Nigerian government and her citizens—how in the face of a politically oppressive climate, citizens retreat to making jokes and comedies of their socio-economic and political situations as a coping mechanism.

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Adeyinka Akingbade is an award-winning painter, photographer, and graphic designer who graduated in Fine Arts from the Yaba College of Technology in 2008, specializing in Painting.

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Kolawole Olalekan is an expressionist and experimental artist currently living and working in Lagos, Nigeria. He earned his B.A. in Fine and Applied Arts from the University of Benin in 2013.

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