Yinka Olatunbosun
The culture-centric visual artist, Ademola Adesina is ready to show his new body of works in an exhibition titled, “Whispering Colours.’’ This is his first show following his international show in Nairobi, Kenya last June with the theme, “Beyond Borders.’’ The show which enjoyed rave reviews was held at Banana Hill Art Gallery, Nairobi alongside great artists such as the Kenyan post-war and contemporary artist, Alan Githuka and one of the founding fathers of Eastern African contemporary art, WanyuBrush.
It is against this backdrop that Adesina returns to Hotel Mercure, formerly known as MoorHouse in Ikoyi tomorrow, September 28 with works that pop with colours. In a statement, Adesina explained the rationale for this new attitude to painting and expressing self.
“Colours speak to us in ways we cannot put in writing,’’ Adesina explains in a press statement. “Colour enhances our longing and clears a path for our appetites to be satisfied. It does not lie but resides in truth always. We are offered layers upon layers of truth in varying magnitude”.
There is no gainsaying that he had moved by his Nairobi experience, the way his multi-racial audience engaged with the works and are attracted by the power of colours in each painting.
“I discovered that colours speak only one language but every individual hears it differently. There is a common colour that binds both old and young as well as black and white,’’ he argued.
Adesina is deeply philosophical in this body of works made up of 22 pieces of paintings in oil and acrylic including “One Voice,’’ “The Gladiators’’ and “Legacy”. His last show at Moorhouse was in April 2018 with the title, “New Possibilities’’ at the Weave & Co Gallery domiciled in the luxury hotel. His works are highly influenced by rich Yoruba culture and textile designs.
