It takes a certain kind of artist to fill the dauntingly large Art Twenty One space with such grace. And Olu Amoda is that artist. At his most recent exhibition – larger than life art works adorn the larger than life walls and it was as if the works were made specifically for the space. Between the beautiful clusters of leaves in contrasting colors, free standing and imposing sculptures and miniature but profound pieces sitting on mantle pieces – there was a variety of opinion and thought everywhere you looked and you felt like the artist was trying to tell you something new and something different with every single work.

The exhibition, titled; ‘Index Season ii’ is Olu Amoda’s brave attempt to draw his audience’s attention to the “crisis of political gridlock” in our society today. By creating attractive and beautiful sculptures, the artist attempts to showcase positive images that “projects hope rather than fear and despondence”.

In an exclusive conversation with the artist, he speaks about his past themes on exploring immigration, displaced persons and occupation – saying how the objects he works with fit into this metaphor because objects move from place to place. With this new exhibition however, Amoda explores a new theme; the political season. He says;

[epq-quote align=”align-center”] “With this theme, I’m dealing with seasons, which are a metaphor for the political season and of course the changes in the world right now. I used to think there was truth and a lot of people can agree but that doesn’t seem to the case anymore. There is an alternative truth now and that I find very disturbing. The way I work is to go through the internet, listen to the radio to inform myself – and my entire way of thinking changed after the American election and also with everything happening here to. There is tension, even though it is not visible. I use leaves to talk about that”.[/epq-quote]

Why leaves, you may ask? Well, according to the artist, leaves are the perfect analogy to describe the verve of people.

“Leaves can come together to form a shade, they can protect you, you can eat from leaves. They fall down, they regenerate. I see people like leaves”.

Beautiful. Index Season ii will be at Art Twenty One until June 25^th, 2017. Do yourself a favor and stop by.

Photography by Joshua Asiegbunam @j.asieg