The Dance of People and the Natural World / Nengi Omuku.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Omuku, Nengi, 1987- artist.

Contributor:

Gilmore, Elizabeth, writer of foreword.

Nwagbogu, Azu, writer of supplementary textual content.

Hastings Contemporary (Art gallery), host institution.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Omuku, Nengi, 1987---Exhibitions.

Omuku, Nengi.

Painting, Nigerian--21st century--Exhibitions.

Painting, Nigerian.

Painting--21st century--Exhibitions.

Painting.

Nature in art--Exhibitions.

Nature in art.

Human beings in art--Exhibitions.

Human beings in art.

Genre:

exhibition catalogs.

Exhibition catalogs.

Physical Description:

62 pages : chiefly color illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Hastings : Hastings Contemporary, 2023.

Summary:

"Displaying more than ten pieces​, the show spans five of Hastings Contemporary's eight galleries, and includes works made between 2021 and 2023 that explore Omuku's love of nature and the ways in which it provides her with a sense of safety and serenity. From 2021's Lighthouse through to her latest, as yet to be titled work made this year (2023), the series focuses on a sense of re-immersion in nature. As Omuku explains: "This comes from both a personal place, telling my story as a gardener and florist, as well as what I feel is a collective leaning, and re-communion with nature today." Born in Warri, Nigeria, Omuku spent several years in London, studying at the Slade School of Fine Art. She has subsequently developed a distinctive style, which involves applying oil paint to gesso-prepared composite strips of the Nigerian fabric sanyan; a tightly-woven, hand-spun material that is an important aspect of Nigeria's cultural history. A further highlight of the exhibition at Hastings Contemporary will be the chance to see two new works (made this year), along with her largest piece to date, Eden (2022). This monumental painting (measuring 224 x 520cms) is an invitation to pause and relax, and to enjoy a moment of quiet reflection and respite. In Eden, Omuku invokes a sense of the biblical paradise and a longing for a pre-fall state of tranquility, alongside a sense of the solace to be found in nature. Welcome Home (2022) and Lighthouse (2021), both feature her signature spectral figures set in a dreamlike landscape. Still Life (2021) alludes to the time Omuku spent working as a florist and horticulturalist under her mother, while the foregrounds of Repose (2022) and Swing (2022) suggest the influence of Monet's garden at Giverny on her work and the artist's own research into Impressionism." -- Hastings Contemporary website.

Contents:

Foreword / Elizabeth Gilmore

Emerging Above the Surface / Azu Nwagbogu

The Dance of People and the Natural World

Exhibition

List of Works

Biography

Acknowledgements

Imprint.

Notes:

Published to accompany exhibition held at Hastings Contemporary, 7 October 2023 - 3 March 2024.

ISBN:

9781916066533

1916066534

OCLC:

1470989723