‘State of Mind’, an exhibition featuring over 50 paintings and photographs by Adeyinka Akingbade, has opened at the seven-month-old The Art Pantheon Gallery, 12D, Bosun Adekoya Street, Oniru, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The exhibition by the multi-dimensional artist opened on Saturday, June 26 and is ongoing till July 24. Remarkably, the show is on simultaneously at Grandeur Hotel, Block 120, Plot 2, Bosun Adekoya Street, Oniru, with which Art Pantheon has a partnership.
Exhibition’s theme, the gallery explained, “expresses the emotion behind reason and reaction.” Akingbade’s gathering of multiple art mediums, it further said, is an artistic expression, exploring the various fruits of the thing between two ears of everyone.
“Through our unique perspective, we observe the reality. We think and conjure emotions which in turn the brush and stroke our perception of reality with beautiful hues of emotions,” The Art Pantheon director, Nana Sonoiki, said during a preview.
“With the events of 2020 tilting the axis of our shared reality and altering our collective perspective of the boundaries of impossibilities, this exhibition conveys a new twisted view of possibilities with the assertiveness and dialogical musing of Akingbade’s vigorous brushstrokes and mixed media,” she added.
Some of the works showing include ‘Philanthropist Spoken Words series’ that uses the richness of multiple colours to create a mould-effect technique in painting. And flaunting his mastery in design is his choice of the red background that celebrates the bold multicolour face of the subject. The artist’s penchant for creative application of red in an aggressive mood is also noticed in ‘Self-endorsement.’
An award-winning painter, photographer, and graphic designer, Akingbade graduated with a Fine Arts degree from the Yaba College of Technology in 2008, specialising in painting. That same year, his eclectic and versatile style drew the attention of the African Artists’ Foundation’s ‘Unbreakable Nigerian Spirit Art’ Competition. He emerged as one of the finalists.
German magazine ‘Borriolah-Gha’ featured his experimental photography and mixed media works. In 2014, he exhibited at the 25th Annual Festival of the Arts in Chicago, USA. In 2016, the artist had a 6-week artist residency in Sweden that included a conference on contemporary art at Orebro Art College led by Peter Ekstron, Rector of Orebro Art College.
Akingbade also participated in a train the trainers’ art workshop in Orebro Graphic Studio led by Norman Sanden and a group exhibition at the Gallery Astley in Uthesberg. Many of his works are in collections in Nigeria and abroad.
Last December, Art Pantheon announced its entry into Nigeria’s art business with ‘Metala’, a solo exhibition by Dotun Popoola at The Grandeur.
Since then, the partnership between Art Pantheon and The Grandeur keeps growing. “We have a partnership with The Grandeur. That’s why we’re extending the show there,” Sonoiki disclosed.
Art Pantheon specialises in exhibitions, documenting private and corporate collections and offering appraisals and valuations for insurance and market evaluations.