Eniwaye Oluwaseyi presents, “The eye never has enough of seeing, Nor the ear its fit of hearing”
9 February – 25 March 2023
Image courtesy of the Gallery
Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery is thrilled to announce the opening of The eye never has enough of seeing nor the ear its fit of hearing, artist Eniwaye Oluwaseyi’s first solo exhibition in Europe.
Born in 1994 in Kwara, Nigeria, Eniwaye Oluwaseyi investigates the crucial social transformations influencing his community. While combining modern techniques and traditional portraiture,
Oluwaseyi moves his first steps in art during his studies in bioengineering, thanks to YouTube tutorials. While practicing traditional strategies employed by classic painters, the artist develops a presence-absence dialectic, defining his own style. Oluwaseyi primarily works with oil-painting, applying textured layers of material that gradually reveal sculptural and luminous tableaux.
The eye never has enough of seeing nor the ear its fit of hearing unveils modern Africa’s characters,
through the representation of the artist’s family and friends circle. Eniwaye Oluwaseyi’s narrative
draws from personal observation and aims to lead the spectator through an existential questioning –
in light of matters such as the increase of structural social inequalities, rarefaction of primary
resources and power dynamics throughout his continent – translating his quest of social equity.
Image courtesy of the Gallery
His intention to explore spiritual connections that transcend territories and nationalities is reinforced by the presence of religious figures and motives. Rejecting any potential prophetical connotation, Oluwaseyi’s scenarios aim to confer a spiritual and visual breach to the viewer: a piece of sky replacing a wall rather than an unfinished dress. The artist’s life experience and insightful imaginative aspirations translate into semi-functional realities, inviting the spectator to dive into an idealised universe through his vibrant and colourful composition, requiring a form of attention and alert and
invoking youth’s right to dream.
Image courtesy of the Gallery
Biography
Eniwaye Oluwaseyi was born in 1994 in Kwara, Nigeria, where he currently lives and works. In 2018 he obtained a B.Eng. in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. In 2020 his work was featured in a solo exhibition which took place at ADA\ contemporary art gallery, in Accra, Ghana. Eniwaye Oluwaseyi has taken part in numerous groups shows in venues such as Galerie Ron Mandos (Amsterdam, Netherlands), AKAA fair (Lyon, France), Christie’s (New York, USA). His work is also exposed at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), Miami, FL and the Xiao Museum of Rizhao, China, as well as the Espacio 23, within the Jorge M. Pérez Collection’s group exhibition WITNESS: Afro perspectives. Eniwaye Oluwaseyi’s work is currently exposed at Zeitz MOCAA, as part of the group exhibition When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, with artists of the calibre of Akinola Lasekan, Kehinde Wiley, Michael Amitage, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Lynette Yiadom-Boaky and Amy Sherald.
Press release submitted by Jeremy Longo – Communications & Press Officer
