Godwin Oluwole Omofemi

(Nigerian, born 1988)

Lost in Thought 1

Footnotes

Provenance
A private collection, Nigeria.

Using vibrant colour to explore a deeply felt political message of self-love, Oluwole Omofemi has crafted a distinctive approach to contemporary Black portraiture. Born in Ibadan, Nigeria in 1988, Omofemi's aptitude for painting was recognised at a young age and fostered by established artists who collectively drew inspiration from the vibrant city. Through his developing body of work, he has gained a reputation for his dazzling depictions of female subjects, typically set against luminous backgrounds such as the zingy red and cool blue floral motif of the present work.

Omofemi arrives at the composition of his paintings through a carefully considered process. He first determines the mood that he wishes to convey through a work and selects the corresponding colour palette and clothing of his subject. He then takes numerous photographs of a model which are narrowed down to one or two images from which he paints. Working in acrylic and oil, he introduces an imaginative element that transcends the photographic image as he stylises the figure, often exaggerating elements such as the model's hair. The realist approach taken to depict the subject are juxtaposed with the flatness of the background which, as in Lost in Thought 1, often feature flowers as a dedication to the artist's mother.

While the models for the paintings are typically friends and family of the artist, Omofemi believes they accrue a spiritual quality when transferred to canvas. He understands women to be close to God as he associates the qualities traditionally associated with femininity, including love, acceptance, and forgiveness, with the Divine. As Omofemi explains, 'I don't want to just paint a picture. I want a picture that captures the soul. I want a picture that captures personality. These are the things I want people to see' (Omofemi quoted in P. Laster, 2021).

Lost in Thought 1 belongs to a body of work in which Omofemi explores the politicisation of hair to assert a powerful Black subjectivity. He explains, '[i]n my paintings, I try to tell black people to accept who they are; accept their identity; accept their beauty' (Omofemi quoted in P. Laster, 2021). He looks back to the transnational Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s when natural hair was valued as a means to eschew European styles and assert a strong Pan-African identity. In the present work, a woman is presented in profile and her oversized afro dominates the canvas. Entwined, in places, with the floral motif of the background, her hair is presented as a sign of beauty, strength, and power. Reflecting on the symbolic qualities of his subjects' hair, Omofemi notes '[a] surprising capillary effect of Black hair which fills me with awe is no matter how we comb or treat our hair, [it will] never fall down, [but will] rather stretch or rise. To me, hair is a pole or antenna which gives us the power to connect with the Divine' (Omofemi quoted in M. Mobengo, 2021).

In the last two years, Omofemi's work has garnered significant critical attention. Since his debut on the secondary market in June 2020, his paintings have incited a string of record-breaking results at auction. He has received two solo exhibitions at Signature Art Gallery in London; The Way We Were (12 March - 9 April 2020) and In Our Days (1-30 September 2021). He has also exhibited work elsewhere in the UK and in Nigeria, Ghana, Italy, Belgium, and the US, asserting his place as one of the most sought-after emerging artists today.

Bibliography
Paul Laster, 'Reclaiming Identity: Oluwole Omofemi's Paintings Reflect His African Roots', Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art, May 2021, online

Murielle Mobengo, 'Art Talk with Oluwole Omofemi', Revue {R}évolution, 27 April 2019 (updated September 2021), online.