We visited the small & Iconic Miniature Art Exhibition at the Art Hotel in Lagos, Nigeria this past Sunday to see the works displayed in this all female exhibit. small & Iconic is a series of miniature art exhibitions intended "to boggle the mind and spark memorable and inspiring conversations through bite-sized artworks." They describe themselves as a collective and thinktank where "the collecting community to get together and rub minds over an evening of contemporary African art."
small and iconic, The Art Hotel, March 2023
Nathalie Djakou Kassi (L) and Vishal Dalamal (R)
The exhibition was curated by Keturah Ovio. She is a Director at Patrons Modern & Contemporary African Art and the Editor of Art Index Africa which is a weekly art digest syndicated on BusinessDay's weekender newspaper that profiles contemporary African art, artists, collectors and their collections, and market indices.
The Art Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria
Nathalie Djakou Kassi
Born in Cameroon in 1975, Nathalie has been inspired by art since her early childhood. She has been a clay addict since 1992. An award winning ceramicist, Nathalie is a globally collected artist. She is also a member of the Sculptors Association of Nigeria (ScAN).
We were very impressed by the intricacy of her work and loved that her style is very distinct. I was told "every collector must have a Nathalie Djakou Kassi’s work in their private collection." :)
"Woman Planning Her Diary" (2021) by Nathalie Djakou Kassi
"The Family" (2023) by Nathalie Djakou Kassi
"Tribals" (2022) by Nathalie Djakou Kassi
"Infinity" (2023) by Nathalie Djakou Kassi
Bola Obatuyi
Bola Obatuyi is a fast-rising painter who combines fabric and acrylic paint to create a rich representation of gentleness and the gift of femininity. Born in 1992, Bola uses her art to show appreciation to women in Nigerian society and beyond as she addresses body positivity, sisterhood, and defiance of socially constructed notions of womanhood. She has been exhibited in the UK and the US several times in the past two years.
"Adedamola" (2023) by Bola Obatuyi
Omoyeni Arogunmati
Omoyeni Arogunmati is an award-winning visual artist, and currently a board member of the Blkarthouse Artist Advisory Board. Like most artists, her love for art can be traced to her childhood. Omoyeni is a graduate of Fine Arts from the Ibadan Polytechnic, Nigeria.
She expresses her art through a series of identical portraits which are painted in an impressionist style employing various degrees of abstraction. Her artwork reveals fundamental human emotions, exploits, and events - both exterior and intimate. She focuses closely on representing human facial gestures using abstraction and simplification, thus her work serves as a reference point for both impressionist and abstract art trends
Throughout her career, she has been recipients of art awards. She just had her first solo exhibition and has also participated in several group exhibitions. Her works are permanently in the collection of Irish Embassy Abuja (Nigeria). She was also commissioned to create a work of Betty Holbeton.
"Small Village Romance" (2023) by Omoyeni Arogunmati
Ejiro Fenegal
Ejiro Fenegal is an up and coming figurative sculptor based in Lagos, Nigeria. Ejiro attended the school of arts, design, and printing at the Yaba College of Technology. With an academic background in sculpture, her works involve modelling in clay which is then finished in Bronze and bonded stone.
Her sculptures stand as a connection between humans and the divine through her primary medium, appreciating the beauty and perfection of God’s creation.
"Boy with a Rose I" (2023) by Ejiro Fenegal
Links:
Small & Iconic Art Exhibitions - Official