RAQIB BASHORUN AND CHIKA IDU: EVOLVING CURRENTS
by Ladun Ogidan
From April 18 to June 16, The Wheatbaker, Lagos will play host to Evolving Currents, a joint exhibition of recent work in the varying media of sculpture, installation, oil and acrylic on canvas, and watercolour on paper by leading contemporary sculptor Raqib Bashorun and fast-rising painter Chika Idu. Curated by Sandra Mbanefo Obiago and Oliver Enwonwu, the exhibition “is suggestive of creative currents that continue to flow between consecutive generations of artists.”
Raqib Bashorun skillfully creates works with diverse found materials such as wood, steel, brass, aluminum, and plastic derivatives, often stretching the malleability of metal to create complex patterns with carefully crafted motifs. “What some of us refer to as waste or found objects are perceived by artists as ‘art forms’ since the original intention of the maker was to create something which met all the requirements of artistic forms.”
Raqib Bashorun, Eastern Dragon, 2014, Steel
Chika Idu’s vibrant canvases are strongly figurative and consist of narrative subject matter. Idu favours themes depicting children engaged in everyday activities, a result of the artist’s keen interest in observing them perform daily routines. He explains, “I spent a lot of time watching children play. Children are often brushed aside, not given the respect they deserve, and their voices are not heard.” “Due to our bad roads and traffic, I started taking the ferry to the Island. What I saw was defecation, waste, and refuse going into the water while in the same vicinity children swam and women came to fetch water. This really troubled me.”
Chika Idu, Peace Bellow, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 121x91cm
Ladun Ogidan
Ladun Ogidan is the Deputy Editor of Omenka magazine. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communication from Covenant University, Nigeria. Ogidan is also Assistant Curator at the Omenka Gallery, and Chief Operating Officer at Revilo Company Limited, a leading art publishing company in Lagos. She has co-ordinated several exhibitions at home and abroad.
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