The exhibition with the title, “Optic Nerve – between line and colour, shape and form.” by Ade Adekola, which opened on Saturday, November 2nd att 57 Bishop Oluwole Street, Lagos Nigeria, continues to November 30.
According to the organiser, photographs are historically subject matter specific and in this exhibition of new works, the artist offers the viewing public electrifying “transformations” that depart from subject matter.
Adekola, the statement announcing the exhibition said, is fascinated with perception and how we as people come around to altering our spaces for the better.
“He says the philosophy behind Optic Nerve was borne out of contemplating a myriad of challenges endemic in Nigerian society. He believes that change within a society must first come from change within the mind of its citizens. To effect change in society he says, we must learn first to change the way we look at things. Playfully he adds: ‘we must learn how to tickle our Optic Nerves to fool our brains’,” the statement continued.
The artworks in the exhibition are optical inventions that explore new processes of image making and beckons the viewer to look between line and colour, shape and form in order to make perception change a more comfortable endeavour.
Ade is an experimental photographer. He uses digital tools as his locus of creation. He works with technologies that allows him to explore new photographic representations. He creates contemporary representations influenced from traditional and urban Nigerian culture.
Many of the pieces in the show are magnificent objects for sustained contemplation. When hung in groupings, they produce an array of unusual and striking combinations. They are as commanding as visual expressions as they are statements which allow the connoisseurship of contemporary photography to thrive.
Ade’s oeuvre helps to question how we perceive and define photography and perhaps offers a glimpse of how we as Nigerians need to change the way we look at things to inspire how we can build a transformative society.
Please join the conversation with Gallery B57 via the hashtags #GalleryB57 #opticnerve #adeadekola.
Gallery B57 is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am—5pm.