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Into the Deep: A Solo Exhibition by Chika Idu

Past exhibition
13 May - 14 June 2023
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Chika Idu Breath I, 2023 Oil and saw dust on canvas 61 x 77 cm
Chika Idu
Breath I, 2023
Oil and saw dust on canvas
61 x 77 cm
View works

"The energetic flow between the suspended figures and textured water is a means to connect the optimism of the people who live in destitute water-communities in Southern Nigeria".

O’DA Art is pleased to present Into the Deep, a solo exhibition by multidisciplinary artist, Chika Idu. 
 
In this new body of work, Chika Idu’s dynamic compositions are a direct response to the livelihood of destitute water-communities in Southern Nigeria. From studying the every-day life of its people, where children and adults swim, bathe and eat from the same water supply that is populated with waste and sewage, he was inspired by the expressed normalcy and joyfulness these individuals exhibited– especially living under such burdensome conditions. 
 

Using a hazy rendition technique he calls ‘light against visual distortion‘,Idu recreates fantasy-like underwater moments that juxtapose the dull and muddy waters of these communities; and sheds light where hope is not lost. Hovering between hyperrealist representation and poetic abstraction, he depicts an energetic flow between the suspended figures and the textured water as a means to connect the optimism of the people who live in these communities and the hope for the betterment of the spaces they inhabit.  

 

Idu invites us into a renewed connection with what lies beyond the views of the normalised African rhetoric, and expose the core of human experience in all its beauty and raw representation.


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  • Chika Idu

    Chika Idu

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