Frieze London: Booth AA6

For the 2024 edition of Frieze London’s curated Artist-to-Artist section, Nigerian artist Nengi Omuku has been nominated by Yinka Shonibare to present a solo project at the fair. Comprising three new paintings made on sanyan, an Aso-oke fabric traditionally crafted by the Yoruba people, Omuku’s work will be suspended within the booth so visitors can view the works in the round, thereby experiencing both the artist’s painting and the handspun quality of the cloth that is so integral to its meaning. The presentation immediately follows Omuku’s first solo institutional exhibition, The Dance of the People and the Natural World at Hastings Contemporary and Arnolfini, and is co-organized by Kasmin, New York and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London. 

Omuku’s new paintings abound with references to the natural world and horticulture, featuring portrayals of individuals and social groups set in spectacular landscapes. Melding representations of the world around her with expressions of her innermost thoughts, Omuku’s mesmerising perspectival shifts, instinctive brushwork, and luscious colours affirm the imaginative power of belief, reverie, and empathy. Inspired in part by the scenery of Perugia, Italy, where she undertook a residency at Civitella Ranieri earlier this year, Omuku’s works expand on the solace to be found in nature and its connection to themes of rest and sanctuary. The landscape has long proved to be a grounding force for Omuku, who attributes her embrace of plants as a primary subject in her paintings to her formative experience working as a gardener. 

The works on view represent a place of natural co-existence where hierarchies of subject and habitat are deconstructed. The figures that appear blend seamlessly into their environs, freed from perceptions of otherness or division. The universal resonance of Omuku’s works spills into their facture, expanding both oil painting and sanyan weaving traditions. As the artist has said: ‘Even when working with oils on sanyan, I’m aware that I’m bringing together western and West African heritage. I really enjoy being in the middle. It helps me have a broader view of the world’.