In Wonders shall never End! Anedu surveys our society’s cultural landscape and the abundance of art therein. Where does it come from, and why does it never run out? He describes this body of work as an adventure, a journey that explores what makes us art.
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Curatorial Statement
By Sabo KpadeCombined with his distribution of asymmetric colours and geometric rigour, Anedu’s distinct graphic language marks him out as one of the most promising, emergent painters on the continent.Edozie Anedu is a lyrical modernist whose spirited colour palette the artist subjects to exhilarating experiments which draw from diverse, design principles. In Wonders Shall Never End — his first solo exhibition in South Africa — the Nigerian born artist has furthered his obsessive recombination of sources to critique the totalising effect of digitisation, religious observance, self reflexivity and art historical ordinance.The Angelus paintings make up a triptych whose preoccupation with solitude, devotion and catholic religiosity is demonstrated by formal ebullience in Anedu’s approach to perspective, spatial coherence and colour action. This inquiry is continued in Les Comediens Presents the Last Supper (2022), a metamodernist interpretation of Eucharist ritual vividly rendered in the artist’s signature scrawls and sketches.In previous iterations, Anedu’s recurring motif of an outsized sketched head was revivified with abstracted palace wall plaques from ancient Benin and the skeletonised base plate and armature of luxury watches. In three specially created works for Melrose Gallery — Abacus Head, Search Engine I and Search Engine II — this abiding motif has been retooled as avatars of the digital age and its endless perfection of problem solving systems. Screensaver 2022 and Counter Attack 2022 are dramatic self-portraits densified with zestful brushwork and a true sense of mischief, as is true of the majority of Anedu’s figural dissolutions. Combined with his distribution of asymmetric colours and geometric rigour, Anedu’s distinct graphic language marks him out as one of the most promising, emergent painters on the continent. -
Search Engine
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Edozie AneduAbacus Head, 2022Acrylic and oil on canvas190 x 180 x 5 cm$ 8,230.53
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Abacus Head, Search Engine I and Search Engine II — this abiding motif has been retooled as avatars of the digital age and its endless perfection of problem solving systems - Sabo Kpade
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Angelus
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Edozie AneduAngelus; finally Christian Dior for Christians I , 2022Acrylic and oil on canvas176 x 147 x 3 cm (triptych)$ 7,080.53
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The Angelus paintings make up a triptych whose preoccupation with solitude, devotion and catholic religiosity is demonstrated by formal ebullience in Anedu’s approach to perspective, spatial coherence and colour action - Sabo Kpade
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Counter Attack
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Edozie AneduLes Comediens presents the Last Supper, 2022Acrylic and oil on canvas147 x 190 x 3 cm$ 8,230.53
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As he reviews his own relationship to art as a viewer and consumer rather than a creator, Anedu invites you on his journey, investigating art in all its forms as a perpetuation of memory and of culture, a glowing example of the endurance of humanity itself
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In Studio
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Artist Statement
This series encapsulates his wonder at the resilience of the mind, and the endurance of art and of humanity, in our capacity for reflection, abstraction, and creation.
In Wonders shall never End! Anedu surveys our society’s cultural landscape and the abundance of art therein. Where does it come from, and why does it never run out? He describes this body of work as an adventure, a journey that explores what makes us art.
This series encapsulates his wonder at the resilience of the mind, and the endurance of art and of humanity, in our capacity for reflection, abstraction, and creation.
The oldest art known to have been made by early man dates as far back as 73,000 years ago. Despite the circumstances of life, in a time when all available human resources went towards surviving a daunting subsistence, our distant ancestors made time to create art. This happened simultaneously and independently, across thousands of diverse cultures, across the globe. In a similar appraisal of our contemporary society, permeated by socio-political turmoil, economic hardship, and neoteric phenomena like the covid19 pandemic, one would predict artistic decline, yet we have seen the contrary to be the case.
The implication is staggering: art has never been optional for human society.
The artist recalls strong feelings of relief and reassurance in his childhood. Hope for continuity manifested itself in the persistence of innovation; new music, street anthems, fashion trends, video games, new movies, and home videos even despite hard times.
As he reviews his own relationship to art as a viewer and consumer rather than a creator, Anedu invites you on his journey, investigating art in all its forms as a perpetuation of memory and of culture, a glowing example of the endurance of humanity itself. This is a call to unpack and appreciate the profound beauty of an abundance in art that is self renewing, increasingly complex, and increasingly beautiful with every passing year.
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In Wonders shall never End! Anedu surveys our society’s cultural landscape and the abundance of art therein.- Sabo Kpade
