Olu Amoda "Template"

Skoto Gallery

poster for Olu Amoda "Template"

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Skoto Gallery presents Template, an exhibition of recent found-object sculptural work by the Nigerian-born sculptor Olu Amoda.

Death and the King's Horseman, a play written by the Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka is the inspiration for the body of work in this show. The play, based on an actual incident that took place in Nigeria in 1946, explore the cultural conflicts between Yoruba traditions and western colonialism during the 1940s. Ritualism in Yoruba traditions becomes the focus of that conflict when Elesin, the king's horseman, must kill himself the night before the king's funeral so that he may accompany the king into death. The conflict occurs when the District Officer in Oyo tries to prevent the ritual killing from taking place. Set against the conflict of indigenous and the invader, Wole Soyinka’s extraordinary play uses Elesin’s transition from the living to the dead to examine the essence of corruption and the power of the human will.

Replacing the actors with his found metal and wood sculptures, Olu Amoda has created an interpretation of the play that delivers an emotional impact that is perhaps, true to Wole Soyinka’s intent. By imaginatively handling of his material within a formalist sculptural framework, and awareness that major traditional forms of African sculpture contained the basic tenets of universal sculpture tradition, Olu Amoda has created a compelling and significant sculptural ensemble that extend the range of sculpture-in-the-round as expressive poetry, and challenge the viewers’ for their interpretation of the play by expanding a cultural experience that foster the notion of artwork as multivalent narratives crafted from multiplicity of approaches that express big ideas about humanity.

Olu Amoda Amoda was born 1959 in Okere, Warri, Delta State of Nigeria He obtained an HND in Sculpture from Auchi Polytechnic, Nigeria and an MFA (Sculpture) from Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Ga. He is a faculty member in the sculpture department at Yaba College of Technology, Lagos since 1987, and has also maintained an active studio practice for over 25 years. He is a well traveled and exhibited artist, presently in a 2007 traveling exhibition Out of the Ordinary: Spectacular Craft, Victoria and Albert Museum, London. He is in several collections including the Newark Museum, New Jersey, USA and has executed numerous public and private commissions in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Media

Schedule

from December 17, 2009 to February 20, 2010

Reception For The Artist on 2009-12-17 from 18:00 to 20:00

Artist(s)

Olu Amoda

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