Arthouse Foundation Hosts Panel Discussion with Resident Artist Victor Ekpuk
Arthouse Foundation hosted a panel discussion for Victor Ekpuk at the Goethe Institute, Lagos in conjunction with Ekpuk's solo exhibition Coming Home, on March 19, 2016 3 PM.
Panelists included Mrs. Chinewe Uwatze, Mr. Toyin Akinosho, Dr. Jerry Buhari, and Dr. Kunle Filani.
Coming Home is the first major solo exhibition of Victor Ekpuk’s work in Nigeria in over a decade. After a four month residency with the Arthouse Foundation in 2015, this exhibition features his newest project using the city of Lagos as inspiration. In a departure from his normative practice, Ekpuk’s works in the exhibition experiment with three-dimensional forms, adopting the human head as a symbol for the physical and psychological experiences of daily life in Lagos.
Victor Ekpuk is a Nigerian-born artist based in Washington, DC. Ekpuk came to prominence through his paintings and drawings which reflect indigenous African philosophies of the Nsibidi and uli art forms. Ekpuk reimagines graphic symbols from diverse cultures to form a personal style of mark making that results in the interplay of art and writing. His work frequently explores the human condition in society, drawing upon a wide spectrum of meaning that is rooted in African and global contemporary art discourses.
During his residency with the Arthouse Foundation in 2015, Victor Ekpuk participated in public programmes as he interacted with the local community. From his artist talk at the Kia Showroom to his interactive workshop with emerging artists, and open studios, the art community in Lagos was able to get intimately acquainted with Victor Ekpuk’s unique bodies of work.
