Godwin Adesoye (Nigeria, born 1974)
Godwin Adesoye
The last decade has had no other Nigerian artists as derided as Bob-Nosa Uwagboe and Godwin Adesoye. If the whimsical, unsettling political imageries, and protest references embedded in Uwagboe’s works make them difficult to love, then Adesoye’s random, fuzzy and radical brushstrokes betray the mainstream taste dictating the direction of the Nigerian art market. His use of the medium of charcoal pencil to compose staggering drawings and abstract forms, like his intriguing sketches in Litu Friend, (2008) however, confirms his technical virtuosity and draughtsmanship.
His seminal piece as part of a discourse on physics: The Study of a Moving Object in a Speed of Light (2009), suggesting quasi-scientific analysis of the property of motion and the Law of Gravity, appears to have distanced him further away from public reception, as have his recent collages of magazine prints layered with dark, patchy and bold colours. Adesoye showed a small collection of works in 2012 at the Bloom Gallery: The Life House, Lagos, with charcoal and acrylic as his primary materials. This approach - the hybridization of both mediums - was a great detraction from methods utilized by renowned charcoal artist Soji Yoloye, who favours just charcoal on white canvas to create impressionist landscapes and portraitures bearing nostalgic and hazy simulation.
Works
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