The much-anticipated exhibition Irinke Rindo, showcasing recent paintings by two leading Nigerian artists, Dr. Bolaji Ogunwo and Segun Aiyesan, will open on 30th August 2025 at the Faie Afrikanart Gallery. The exhibition runs through 20th September 2025.
Titled Irinke Rindo, meaning “Revelation and Unveiling,” the show is a visual journey that navigates the complexities of the soul and social space through powerful artistic languages. The exhibition’s title draws inspiration from the popular Yoruba radio program Irinke Rindo Akolawole, historically known for uncovering new discoveries. In this case, the painters channel that spirit through their canvases.
Yusuf Durodola, art lecturer at Federal College of Education, Akoka, Lagos, who provided a preview of the exhibition, emphasises that Irinke Rindo brings together two seminal Nigerian painters whose distinct yet complementary styles enrich the contemporary Nigerian art narrative.
Dr. Bolaji Ogunwo’s signature style involves a cubic impasto technique, layering thick pigment to create textured, relief-like surfaces. His work delves deeply into human figures and social experiences, inviting viewers to both see and feel the materiality of memory and corporeality through tactile paintings. Ogunwo’s canvases become immersive sites where form and memory intertwine.
In contrast, Segun Aiyesan’s paintings are marked by dynamic expressive figuration, charged with gestural energy and vivid color. His work negotiates the fragile tensions of identity and psychological states, blurring lines between realism and abstraction. Aiyesan’s works probe contemporary existence through figures that are at once resilient and vulnerable.
Together, Ogunwo and Aiyesan’s works resonate as parallel narratives of humanity’s navigation in an ever-unstable world. Their collaboration reflects art’s dual role: to reveal and to transform. Ogunwo’s textured surfaces carry the weight of collective memory, while Aiyesan’s expressive forms capture the fluidity and transience of modern life.
As Durodola notes, Irinke Rindo is more than an exhibition; it is an invitation for curators, critics, and audiences alike to engage in a dialogue between tradition and innovation, materiality and emotion, individual and society. It underscores art’s enduring power to witness and inspire change.
The event promises to be a significant highlight on the calendar for lovers of Nigerian contemporary art in the United States, affirming Dr. Bolaji Ogunwo and Segun Aiyesan’s status as visionary artists. It also serves as a compelling demonstration of art’s vital role in exploring and revealing the deeper currents of human experience.
Irinke Rindo officially opens Friday, 30th August 2025 at Faie Afrikanart Gallery, Chicago, and will run till 20th September 2025.
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