Bruce Onabrakpeya Opening Reception, Didi Museum, December 6, 4-9 PM

Throughout his prolific career spanning over fifty years, Bruce Onobrakpeya has cemented himself as one of Nigeria’s most celebrated contemporary artists. Experimenting with diverse mediums including printmaking, serigraphy, painting, sculpture, and installation, Onobrakpeya’s artistic practice has been integral in developing the modern tradition of Nigerian art through a re-invigoration of indigenous cultures, beliefs, and iconographies.

This exhibition includes an installation of one hundred individual works that were created to commemorate Nigeria’s centenary. Using an invented form of etching called a plastograph, which the artist developed in 1967, these works are created through a process of engraving on a low relief surface. With each print symbolizing a year of Nigeria’s history, Onobrakpeya depicts references to traditional cultural values, from dances and ceremonies to masks, jewelry, and ornamentation.

Born in Agbarha-Otor in Delta State, Nigeria, Onobrakpeya’s career took a decisive turn during his university studies at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science, and Technology in Zaria in the 1960s. As a member of the Zaria Arts Society, popularly known as the Zaria Rebels, Onobrakpeya combined his training in the Western-representational style with a focus on Nigeria’s rich artistic history. Onobrakpeya has participated in artist residencies and professorships both in Nigeria and abroad and has exhibited in major international arts institutions, including the Tate Modern (UK), the National Museum of African Art of the Smithsonian Institution (USA), and the Malmö Konsthall in Malmö (Sweden). In 1989, Onobrakpeya founded the Bruce Onobrakpeya Foundation, which provides opportunities for artists to improve their skills. The foundation’s annual Harmattan Workshop has mentored many of the leading figures in the arts community in Nigeria today.

Onobrakpeya is the recipient of numerous awards, most recently as the honoree at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art’s fiftieth anniversary in Washington, DC. He has also received the UNESCO Living Human Treasure Award as well as the prestigious Nigerian Creativity Award by the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Monochrome: Nigeria at 100 is organised by Arthouse -The Space, a platform of Arthouse Contemporary that develops exhibitions of contemporary art outside of its annual auctions. This exhibition is sponsored by Zegna and Laurent-Perrier.