All for an Artist’s Mother and Universality

Yinka Olatunbosun

Following a successful career in architecture, Abe Odedina, born in 1960, has followed a new career path since 2007 while on a trip to Brazil. In a quest to release his artistic energy and honour his mother, who has just turned 96, he is showcasing his body of work for the first time in a Lagos gallery. Inside the carefully lit O’DA Gallery in Victoria Island sat the bespectacled artist, who was excited to be showing his unique paintings in Lagos, albeit for the second time.

Flashback to 2019, his works were first received in Nigeria at the Art X Lagos, West Africa’s largest fair, with warmth and enthusiasm. Buoyed by that experience, he began to work on the next project. Thankfully, he found a kindred spirit in Obida Obioha, the founder and creative director of O’DA Gallery, who unearths the richness embedded in Odedina’s tableaus for the Lagos audience.

Odedina, who bestraddles London and Brazil, drew largely upon his background in architecture to define his style. Self-trained, he has unapologetically captured composition elements of Renaissance portraiture and pop art framed from both classical Haitian and African mythologies in this show titled Walk Like a Champion.

“I paint acrylic on plywood possibly because it was a material I was used to working as an architect. I like the solidity and practicality of working with plywood. If we are honest and historically accurate, images on board happen several hundred years before painting on canvas. In a funny way, I’m going back to the roots. I simply do what I would to plywood and it gives me the sort of response that I felt comfortable with. That’s how my technique has evolved. I suppose my works are figurative paintings that explore abstract concepts. I am exploring ideas about our common humanity.”

Though far from being biographical, his works are deeply personal even as their subject matters resonate with every viewer.

“For me, I explore human concepts and the triumphs of daily life,” he continued. “I am looking for universality; the things that unite all of us. Why do I do this? We tend to forget these things and are so happy to celebrate our differences. I love the things we share.”

On why he had dedicated the show to his mother, Odedina recalled what it feels like to have been raised by a strong woman. 

“I am the fourth child. At some point, all my siblings had gone to university or lived somewhere else. Actually, we got very close. She is giving me tools to be the kind of person that I have become. She has handed me the compass that allows me to go through life with a certain confidence in terms of making decisions.”

In explaining the idea behind the title Walk Like a Champion, Odedina said that it is about being one’s true self and being comfortable with that ever-changing self. With about 25 paintings, he evokes the African spirit and worldview. For instance, in the work titled “Significant Silence,” he extols the virtue of being discreet.

“The work with a man whose mouth is padlocked is not about restriction. As a Yoruba man, and more importantly as an Ijebu man, there is something called discretion. We are in a world of sharing and oversharing and people are not sure what to say, when to say and how to say it. And it seems we all want to be part of the conversation. That’s just a reminder that there is such a thing as a significant silence. Pa enu e de. You have to know when to shut up.”

This piece is perhaps particularly relevant in our world that is dominated by social media usage. The platform, though empowering, has made silence far from being golden. Odedina explained further how this work is different from the others at the show.

“The power of knowing what not to say and not saying things is as powerful as constantly saying things. I’m not interested in verbal diarrhoea. My paintings are about questions. I am not interested in preaching to anybody. I am interested in provoking dialogue. You must also know when to talk. 

In another piece rendered in monochrome, Odedina projects the barber’s shop image as a symbol of communality.

“When you are of a particular age, you start to follow your dad to the barber’s,” he explained. “And that is when you begin to learn about the important aspects of humanity. You begin to meet different people different from those you meet at home. They could brush your hair in a harsh way but then you could hear conversations, different from the conversations at home. You begin to understand that the world is bigger than you could understand.”

For him, the barber’s shop is a meeting place for the community, not different from where women plait their hair.

With colours that allude to Orisha, Odedina weaves through the threads of human existence—along the lines of the triumphs and tragedies of life—to tell a truthful tale with universal appeal.

The show runs till November 18.