Ogirikan Art gallery, a boutique of arts for medium and miniature paintings and drawings by emerging artists hold a solo art exhibition to showcase Judah Jibrin’s visual notation on culture, unity, and identity themed “Riches of the Land” in collaboration with Iwalewa Gallery of Arts in Lekki, Lagos between June 12th -26th, 2021.
Judah Jibrin, a Nigerian artist and graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, who specialized in paintings from the prestigious Zaria Art school has participated in several group exhibitions.
Inspired by the need to tap from elements of Nigeria’s cultural diversity, the solo exhibitionist, Jibrin Judah creates works of arts that illuminate Nigeria’s culture to celebrate life and beauty, work and play, love and harmony through the visual configuration of ideas and beliefs within the conceptual boundaries of Nigeria’s unity in diversity.
In a recent interview, the paint specialist and artist expressed delight in the exhibition reality and stated that he sees it as an opportunity to express and showcase his creativity beyond rhetoric
In his word, “I have always been an artist from childhood. I went through scribbling and matchstick stages of my artistic development, passing through tests and experiments of formation. I was guided by that divine inspiration that all artists share in common as well as my personal drive”.
Continuing “I am only interested in showing the grandeur of my country in historical festivities, women and children and local hawkers. I attribute little success I have to this fact. My works are series of colorful circles and I love them” he said.
Commenting on Jibrin’s creativity, Mrs. Adeolu Tahouf, Managing Director, Ogirikan Art Gallery said “we are pleased to present a solo exhibition by Judah Jibrin whose remarkable attributes of art emanating from Nigeria is the multiple art styles that ranged from naturalism to abstraction and his single-minded devotion to creating good and quality artworks. Nigeria is known for its multiple and diverse artistic voices coming especially from its young contemporary artists and Judah is one of such young artists. It is with people like him that Nigeria is spreading its artistic language through authentic creations across the continent and the world”.
The exploration of media is also an area where Nigerian artists have excelled, resulting in a variety of artistic creations that are nothing but exciting. Judah’s experiments with acrylic, a western media in terms of its usage, he manipulates it to make beautiful artistic statements”.
Also speaking during the exhibition, Angwu Enekwachi, an art critic and culture writer noted that “our art and culture is our heritage; in contemporary times, Nigeria in its diversity has gained much currency globally, to the extent that it has become globally respected. Our artists and art creations constitute a potent soft power that has brought Nigeria a lot of respect and our cultural heritage such as movies, music, and craft art is being consumed across Africa and beyond. This will continue to be as artists like Judah Jibrin keep elucidating their visions of culture, unity, and diversity”.
Riches of the Land captures the element of our unity and diversity under the theme of “Durbar” a colorful northern royal event that celebrates the majesty and power of the Emir in several northern cities in Nigeria, “ A City of Dreams and Stars” portrays the magnificence of the city of Lagos among several other creatives.
