Ken Nwadiogbu Nigeria, b. 1944

Selected Works:



George Condo, Linear Portrait, 2019, Wax Crayon on Paper, 76 x 56 cm

For nearly four decades, Condo has held a central position in the landscape of American painting. His distinct and imaginative visual language pays homage to a wide range of art-historical traditions and genres, combining elements of Old Master portraiture with references to contemporary American culture. Condo creates portraits that deal with the idea of deconstruction and creates a new image of the classical portrait, an alternative representation of the reality of the human figure.



Ken Nwadiogbu, Sweet Memories, 2021, Charcoal, and Acrylic on Canvas, Diameter 75 cm

Ken Nwadiogbu creates innovative conceptual drawings on various surfaces as he engages in multidisciplinary modes of storytelling. Gender equality, African culture, and Black power are a few aspects of his current research and artistic practice. Popularly known as KenArt, Nwadiogbu is credited for introducing the “Contemporealism” movement and was recently named by Guardian Life as one of the most “Outstanding Personalities of 2019” in recognition of his contributions to the Nigerian art community. Mixing together hyperrealism with contemporary elements, he creates ingenious, politically charged visual illusions that deploy a singular outlook, daring the audience to question their own, for “value lies in the perspective”.



Cristiano Mangovo, La Couvreuse, 2019, Acrylic on Canvas, 120 x 120 cm

Angolan artist Cristiano Mangovo’s work is inflected with Impressionist and Surrealist methods. His work is urgent; it tackles contemporary social issues with both national and global resonance. In his paintings and collages, Mangovo has developed various styles and symbols over the years, but always with a surrealistic twist. Recently, his work is dominated by deformed figures, painted in an expressionist style, with multi-faceted faces and double mouths. Characters are assembled with multiple faces and reality is skewed, the figures have lost their realistic appearance and are rather a reflection of their personal character, feeling, or movement.



Philip Colbert, Milk Splash III, 2020, Oil on Canvas, 149 x 198 x 5 cm

Colbert has created a global following for his cartoon lobster persona and his masterful hyper-pop history paintings. His work strongly explores the patterns of contemporary digital culture and its relationship to a deeper art historical dialogue. His works are narrated via the eyes of the Lobster’s alter ego, by crossing high art themes from old master paintings and contemporary art theory with everyday symbols of contemporary culture. Colbert relies on the superficial and fast vanishing culture of the virtual age, not only being aware of it but also using and resisting it by transforming pictures taken from there into a frantic world of pop culture packed with symbolism and sarcasm. By that, he creates his own new reality.



Ilit Azoulay, Mirror Stage, 2013, Inkjet Print, 144 x 288 cm

In Azoulay’s work, no element is simply found, but its origins are traced and sensed. None of her work is photography in the straightforward sense of the term. Each element in her highly constructed images, even the most banal-looking piece of concrete or dust, is carefully considered and (dis)placed. Her composite and multilayered images allow for a parallax view of several layers across time and space and are inscribed in the record of a duration. In Mirror Stage, Azoulay combines images of a building taken at various angles and vantage points to create a new, digitally fabricated interior. Azoulay’s recreation merges elements of past, present, and future, to fabricate a never-to-be realized photographic plan. This year, Ilit Azoulay is representing Israel in Le Biennale di Venezia.