FIELDNOTES FROM A MASTER: ARGUNGU SERIES 10 | Lagos, Nigeria
15th June - 14th July, 2023
Curated by Asibi Danjuma
For almost three decades, Moses Oghagbon has concentrated his efforts towards painting Argungu, an emirate wedged upon the Sokoto River in Kebbi, Northern Nigeria. Historically, depictions of Argungu rarely veered further than the singular lens of its renowned fishing festival, paying little regard to its visual ethnography. With his sharpened sense of colour and atmosphere, Oghagbon has countered convention, by bringing to the fore, the customs of this civilization, in relation to its landscape.
Reminiscent of prominent English painter John Constable (1776-1837), who earned respect by revisiting Dedham Vale, the landscape he knew best throughout his lifetime, Oghagbon developed an affinity for Argungu, his wife Fatima’s birthplace, which he started compulsively visiting in 1999, also engaging in its ways of life.
Through his work, the ephemeral qualities of light are observed. From the sun breaking through clouds and filtering the barren branches of baobab trees, to the way it casts long shadows on laden donkeys, as they journey towards the town of Kamba. Arguably, Oghagbon’s most alluring trick, is how he conjures within the viewer, the moral feelings of nature at sunset. Employing acrylic and oil, he achieves a depth of colour that enhances the transient mood of his paintings.
Oghagbon’s constancy has stretched the poetic possibilities of his technique, to a threshold that combines abstract impressionism with figuration, solidifying his stature as an artist of prominence.
Location: 10 Sir Samuel manuwa street, Lagos Nigeria
Date: 15th Jun- 13 Jul, 2024
ABOUT MOSES OGHAGBON
Moses Oghagbon was born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1972 and he received a degree in Fine Art (with a major in Painting), from Yaba College of Technology in 2003.
His artistic inclination is socio-anthropological, employing documentary photography and
primarily painting, in rendering his observations on environmental conservation and historical
cultural practices. He works from the position of an outsider, astutely observing and executing
painterly depictions of man’s relationship with both the metaphysical and physical nuances of
his origins and the natural world. To that effect, he founded Argungu Series and Colours of
Uhola, projects that chronicle the vast cultural heritage of the Argungu and Zuru Emirates of
Kebbi State, Nigeria.
Comments