OSI AUDU

Statement

I explore the light sheen of graphite, the matte, light-absorbing quality of pastel, the white of paper and canvas, and the interactions of color, investigating how all of these optical attributes can be used to create something evocative of the shape of the head. I am interested in the dualism of form and void, the tangible and intangible, something and nothing, light and dark, body and mind,  the self in portraits. The title Self-Portrait  in my work is about the intangible self rather than a literal portrait of the artist.

 My drawings, described in The Village Voice, by the art critic - R.C. Baker as, "shape-shifting..., space-warping geometric abstractions", are about blackness - not as an absence of light, but as light that is not perceivable by the eyes. Thus my work speaks to all that is unseeable and unknowable about the nature of the self.

My paintings celebrate color, the excitement and brightness of color, and its ability to take us to places in our psyche that are full of energy. My compositions, often inspired by the abstract geometric possibilities I see in African art and cultural objects, focus on the head as a center of waking and dreaming consciousness.

My Creative Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic

 My Masked Head series in pastel and yarn on paper investigates mask-wearing (a newly prevalent aspect of global culture, used as a preventative against Covid-19), and the broader role facial coverings have, including in traditional contexts, particularly the Egungun Masquerade culture in Nigeria.

My Happy Dance Series is anticipatory of the end of the pandemic; and a desire to engage with happy thoughts, rather than the doom and gloom precipitated by the global health challenge.

Biography

Osi Audu (born 1956, Nigeria) is a Nigerian American artist whose work has been shown in numerous international exhibitions, including the Kwangju Biennale, South Korea; La Biennale di Venezia; Africa Africa, Tobu Museum, Tokyo; and Museum of the Mind, British Museum, London. His work is in numerous museums and corporate collections, including Newark Museum; The National Museum of African Art – Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.; British Museum, London; Horniman Museum and Gardens, London; Hood Museum of Art, New Hampshire; Mott–Warsh Collection; and Fidelity Corporation Art Collection.

Osi Audu is a recipient of a number of awards including a 2020 New York Foundation for the Arts award (NYSCA/ NYFA Artist Fellowship); Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant 2018/2019; a Wellcome Trust Commission and purchase award, 2002; and a South East Arts Grant for a Mural, Maidstone, England, UK, 1997. Audu received his art educated at the University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA (M.F.A. in Painting and Drawing); and at the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria (B.A. in Fine Art).