Rites of Passage
Rites of Passage curated by the amazing @pejuoshin at the @Gagosian Gallery opened earlier this week and will be on for another month. The Gagosian is the biggest and most influential gallery in the world so I’m deeply honoured to be given space to show the work.
The work showing is from my new series ‘New World Giants’ which examines cultural evolution of the diaspora through the iconography of the west African masquerades. In the artwork I explore the presence of Yoruba culture in a diaspora land of the U.K. and the juxtaposition between the two. For me the work is a metaphor my existence in the U.K. and how the community occupies space and navigates self in a foreign terrain.
Images from the opening night by @raziajukesphoto
#artistlife #ritesofpassage #Gagosian #asiko #exhibition
Very excited to announce my work will be exhibiting at @gagosian in London - 16th March to 29th April.
The new work from the series Manifestations delves into the evolution of cultural mythology in light of migration and the space of evolution. The introspective work uses the iconography of Egun masquerades in representations of diaspora identity living in the U.K.
The work will be exhibited as part of ‘Rites of Passage’ is a group show curated by the very talented Péjú Oshin @pejuoshin featuring work by contemporary artists who share a history of migration. I am in good company with my brothers and sisters @adelaidedamoah@enamgd@london_artist1@ayeshasarthouse@phoebe.boswell and my chairman @victorsozaboy
“The exhibition examines the status of postcolonial Black identity, specifically the “triple consciousness” experienced by members of the African diaspora when encountering counterparts who identify with local majority populations. The artists in the exhibition are further grouped together according to themes of tradition, spirituality, and place.” - Gagosian, official group exhibition press release.
Thank you @mokosomokow for this amazing collaboration, it was a dream to create this piece of work with you guys.
Thank you bro @wacfoo for the #btsimagines
Looking fwd to this amazing show.
#Asiko #MTArtAgency #Gagosian #egun #mokojombo #culturalevolution
Very excited to share this beautiful piece celebrating the work in partnership with Ogilvy, a campaign for Vuse worldwide.
In the piece I share thoughts and impressions about my work, my practice and motivations.
Many thanks to my agency @mtartagency
People can sometimes think the life of an artist is a romantic world of creating beautiful things and living your best life but there’s more to it than that. As artists we are always creating, grinding, networking, researching, exploring, experimenting, project managing and off course hustling.
#artist #asiko #artistlife #africanculture #yoruba #africanart #artwork
Thank you all to everyone that came to the screening last night of ‘Lost Songs’ at @art_tafeta it was beautiful to share the piece with you.
I have been thinking about breathing and breadth and cycles and hence this meditation visual.
Breathe.
#Meditative #asiko #breadth #breathe
Some images from Lost Songs of the Middle Passage.
A meditation on memory, ancestry and the echoes left behind by those who crossed the Atlantic and never returned.
Over the past months I’ve been building this work as moving image, sound and fragments of suspended histories.
Not documentary.
Not fantasy.
Something in between memory, spirit and dream.
This Wednesday, the film will be shown as a special presentation at @art_tafeta , London, as part of Late Spring.
For those whose names were never recorded, yet whose spirits still sing.
Come down if you are in London.
#LostSongsOfTheMiddlePassage #Asiko #ContemporaryArt #AfricanDiaspora #blackart
The Adorned Series began with a memory.
Many years ago, at my grandmother’s funeral in Ijebu Ode, I saw a tall dark woman covered in layers of jewellery.
She moved with presence and authority.
There was reverence in the air.
As a child, I didn’t fully have language for what I experienced—but I understood power when I saw it.
That memory stayed with me and became the starting power for the Adorned Series.
A series about beauty, identity, status, femininity, ancestry and the silent authority women carry.
This month, I’ll be revisiting the series and opening a chance to collect selected works.
The woman is not just divine, sacred, and powerful — she is the origin of life, the keeper of memory, and the force that shapes worlds unseen and seen.
#divinewoman #asiko #storyteller #womanhood
