“The Gaze” (2021), acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches. All images © Patrick Akpojotor, shared with permission
Combining a love for African masks and the people and buildings of his hometown of Lagos, Nigeria, Patrick Akpojotor (previously) merges the figurative details of faces, shoulders, and arms with the geometric forms of hallways, doors, and staircases. “My surface becomes a playground where forms, colours, perspective, and space comes to play and interact,” he says in a statement. “The use of geometry and architectural elements highlight the influence of the built environment in shaping our memories, experiences, and identities in the world.”
Akpojotor draws on the art historical legacies of Cubist painters who devised a way of breaking up the picture plane into “cubes” or fragments to show multiple sides of an object or figure at the same time. His compositions utilize skewed perspectives, contrast, and color to explore the dynamic relationship between internal and external human experiences, paralleling the interiors and exteriors of architectural spaces and the transformative ways we move between them. He has recently experimented with sculpture, producing steel forms of abstracted arches and steps.
Akpojotor is currently preparing work for a solo exhibition at Allouche Gallery in September. Find more of his work on his website and Instagram.
“Oga boss” (2020), acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches
Left: “Gaze to The Beautiful Sunlight (i)” (2022), acrylic on canvas, 195.5 x 152.5 centimeters. Right: “Terracotta wall” (2022), Autobase coated steel, 51 x2 3.5 x 19 centimeters
“Within Time and Space in History (ii)” (2022), acrylic on canvas, 195.5 x 152.5 centimeters
“GIRL WITH RED RIBBON V (Reproduced)” (2022)
Left: “Meeting Point” (2022), Autobase coated steel, 40 x 46 x 25 centimeters. Right: “Step to The Infinite (iii)” (2022), acrylic on canvas, 122 x 91 centimeters
“Man of Influence III” (2022), acrylic on canvas, 77 x 60 inches
“Witness to the Times II” (2021), acrylic on canvas, 122 x 91.5 centimeters
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Source: thisiscolossal.com