It was a beautiful evening and a wondrous opening yesterday Sunday October 13 at Freedom Park in Lagos when ‘BEAUTIFUL: The exposition’ curated by the talented Kenii Ekundayo opened to the public with critical acclaim.
The three-in-one event featured a display of paintings and drawings by Chidynma Ochu and Ronke Komolafe; the prelude book presentation by Prof. Wole Soyinka and, the premiering of the documentary film, ‘Eye of An Artist.’
‘Beautiful: The Exposition’ interrogates the artist’s perception of beauty as well as its interpretation in their artistry. While the Soyinka book, BEYOND AESTHETICS: Use, Abuse and Dissonance in African Art Traditions is a poetic, provocative and humorous affirmation of the power of collecting to reclaim tradition. In it, the Nobel Laureate urges African artists and the intelligentsia class to engage with their aesthetics and cultural values.
Miss Ekundayo, the curator of the exhibition, says BEAUTIFUL: the exposition is simply “A showcase of the artists’ interpretations of the beautiful – especially formed by their duration of practice and as posited in their works.”
What does the artist visualise as beauty? She asks; adding, how do they relay this definition to their audience?
The exhibition proper runs till Sunday Octover 20, 11am – 6pm daily.
