Inner Circle

Daniel Raphael Gallery is excited to present Inner Circle, curated by Tima Jam, a solo exhibition featuring 15 new paintings by Nigerian artist, Olamide Ogunade Olisco, who explores and empowers black identities through his manipulation of artistic media.

This lens into Ogunade Olisco's personal experiences is an embodiment of the voices of the African diaspora, revealing the 'hum of utopian dreams and diasporic aspiration' (Campt, 2017). His art acts as a catalyst to amend the "inferiority complex suffered by Africans" across the world; an outlet for anti-racist activism to interrogate the problematic, hierarchical, western art paradigm.

The artist's use of painting for this cause speaks further to his wish for social action. Paintings have the fascinating ability to transcend time and space. They paradoxically represent the transitory state of life and the ephemeral presence of the spectator, while remaining in the present, past, and future. Ogunade Olisco conceives the simultaneity of painting as a constant in our transitory contemporary world. The scenes which the artist depicts are vivid and alive, complimented by his bold use of colours on the canvas. This is noted in the work titled Between the Lines (2022), where the top half of a purple vase stands out on the backdrop of a lime green wall. These paintings attest to the finitude and ephemeral quality of everything in life - especially its challenges, pressures, and obstacles. As the artist captures fleeting moments in his life, his subjects are people around him. Although undeniably depictions of others, these portraits combine the artist's perception and representation of the persona with self-representation. Mediated through the personal experiences of the artist, scenes of ordinary life become inspiring and empowering. Each piece conveys the strength and resilience which embodies the continent of Africa. Each figure painted reminds their viewer to live with pride and their heads held high.

The way colours are used in these works create a sharp contrast between the figure and their surroundings. Historically, people of colour, especially people of Africa, have been segregated, and continue to suffer prejudice and societal judgement based on their outward appearance. Powerfully, Ogunade Olisco works against this negative conception of the skin and its colour in his works. Defiant, the artist empowers his figures despite their contrast to their surroundings in a way that inspires pride and confidence. The use of vibrant colours and hues in his paintings represents the equally abundant potentials and individuality that Ogunade Olisco believes his home continent possesses. The manner in which the artist masterfully unites contrasting elements on the same canvas both critiques the divisive judgement apparent in our society, and encourages social change to remedy this divide.

Inner Circle features 15 new artworks by Ogunade Olisco. Each created in the artist's signature style. Against vibrant, colourful painted backgrounds are figures of Ogunade Olisco's contemporary world sketched with charcoal.