Michael Igwe (b. 1994, Lagos, Nigeria) works primarily with painting. His approach to the body and form is one of devotion to the fluidity and expanse of inner life. Through his practice, Igwe paints a cartography of experiences so extensive in their range that they transcend particularity, often in reference to the nonlinear “Iko-Nke Annang”. He pursues primal gestures that contemplate, conjure, and engender in each image the conditions that constitute selfhood. Each of his paintings is a clear meditation on form and subjectivity.
Michael received his BFA degree from the University of Benin, Nigeria in 2018 and was a recipient of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture fellowship, in 2023. Later this fall, Igwe heads to Columbia School of the Arts for his MFA degree.
Recent Exhibitions Include: Ascent, in conversation with Jean Prouvé, Paris (September, Forthcoming), It Never Entered My Mind, Sean Kelly Gallery, LA, ( May, Forthcoming ), Shaping Grace and Disquiet, Era Gallery, Milan ( May Forthcoming ), Double Vision, Plato Gallery, NY ( March 27th, Forthcoming), Storage Archive, NY (Forthcoming) (2024), Tantrum - superzoom Paris, France (2023), Factory Reset Continued - König Gallery Berlin, Germany (2023), As The Sparks Fly Upward - Rele Gallery Los Angeles, USA (2022), INTI-PUNKU, Strouk Gallery Paris, France (2022), Grand Opening - superzoom Paris, France (2022), It’s A Wrap, Rele Gallery Lagos, Nigeria (2021), Young Contemporaries, Rele Gallery Lagos, Nigeria (2021), Sublime; Between Solid and Vapor, Rele Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria (2020), Next of Kin - Thought pyramid Art Center Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria (2020), Visual Art Festival Zanzibar, Hapa Hapa Now, Zanzibar, Tanzania. (2019), The Other Side - Life in My City Art Festival, Alliance Française Port Harcourt, Nigeria. (2019) Uncertainty and the Unknown - Institute of Mental Health/City Arts. Nottingham, UK (2019).