“I am deeply honoured to be opening a new space in Lagos – my first home, the city where I was raised, and still have strong ties to and where I first fell in love with art many years ago. Following crucial dialogues with and encouragement from mentors, old friends of the gallery and our artists, I am excited to finally make happen a dream I had ten years ago when Tiwani Contemporary first opened in London.” says Maria Varnava, Founder and Director, Tiwani Contemporary.

Tiwani Contemporary, Lagos will comprise a white cube exhibition space measuring over 2000 sq ft, purpose-built for expansive presentations and commissions by artists. The gallery also plans to develop a sculpture garden. The new space will partner with local and other West African institutions and cultural organizations to develop projects and opportunities for exhibiting artists alongside public programming and educational activities to activate exhibitions including screenings, talks and workshops.

Maria Varnava adds “Given the gallery’s focus, it was vital to demonstrate our commitment to the African continent and to allow our artists the opportunity to work, engage and exhibit in this region. Beyond our roster, as we plan to mount exhibitions by internationally known artists in the new space, we hope to provide wider in-person access to art to local audiences who would have only been able to view the work of such artists either abroad in galleries and museums or in books or online. With Tiwani Contemporary, Lagos, we hope to participate in the already-sophisticated arts ecosystem being developed by our peers in Lagos and the rest of West Africa. As such, we hope we can contribute to helping to expand the story, significance and possibility of art.”

The gallery’s expansion to Lagos, its second space outside of London, UK – marks a major milestone in Tiwani Contemporary’s history as it celebrates its 10th anniversary this month onwards.

Founded in London in 2011 by Maria Varnava, Tiwani Contemporary exhibits and represents international contemporary artists, focussing on Africa and its diaspora. Since its establishment, the gallery continues to showcase new and established talent – mounting landmark and critically-acclaimed exhibitions in a series of firsts. Among renowned artists we can mention Mequitta Ahuja, Virginia Chihota, Theo Eshetu, Joy Labinjo, Gareth Nyandoro or Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum among others.

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The deep, blue pigments used throughout both artists’ works conjures references not only to jazz and the blues, but the Atlantic ocean and the deeply interwoven histories of Black people on all sides of it, as well as the literal colour blue. Indigo dye has been traditionally used in textile making in both the Caribbean and West Africa, and appears here in paint and ink, along with gentle washes of lighter shades of blue. 

Of the two artists in this exhibition, Andrew Pierre Hart directly makes reference to music in his work, exploring “the symbiotic relationship between sound and painting”. Hart’s large scale paintings have a dense layering of frenetic brushstrokes and white marks which appear to be a scratching or scraping away.

The artist only begins work after being inspired by a piece of music, and refers to his painting process as a ‘release’ onto the canvas. I could feel a one-ness between the rhythmic brushstrokes and the music playing in the gallery. Human figures also appear in vividly coloured nightclub scenes in the paintings bass experiment (sisters) it works in our town (s1:e1) and bass experiment, the blue night sequence (s1:e1), the latter also featuring a shadowy figure holding a gigantic speaker. Hart seems to be as interested in nightlife culture as in the sonic aspect of the music itself.

While Hart’s paintings have a vigour and spontaneity to them, the detail in Watkiss’s illustrations suggests a slow and intentional process of art making. The female figures in each drawing are modelled on Watkiss herself, and are repeated without being identical. They are adorned with garments decorated intricately with unique designs, which include geometric and floral patterns, as well as symbolic references to various West African spiritual and cultural practices.

The World Has Four Corners features a bowl similar to vessels used in the religion Ifa, while the head of the figure in Knowledge Keeper is crowned with a headdress decorated with carvings resembling Nok sculptures. Watkiss is the daughter of a dressmaker, and her work brings to mind a lineage of Black women artists working with textiles and garments, including those as notable as Jae Jarrell and Faith Ringgold. In this case, the clothing is rendered on paper rather than on fabric.

The works together with the musical backdrop, serve to create an imagined, alternate Black existence outside of conventional notions of reality. What is initially a serene atmosphere, builds in intensity with closer observation of the work; the music seems to crescendo as the viewer approaches the installation at the rear of the gallery, where the speakers are located. Traces of Memory is a series of eleven cyanotypes on paper, mounted directly onto the gallery wall which has been painted a deep blue.

Each cyanotype features a blue silhouette of a female figure with hair styled in bantu knots – a figure who is first seen in The Empress, another piece displayed in the exhibition. Each rendering of this figure varies by the patterns with which it is decorated, which appear to be constellations. The music soars, inviting you to gaze deeply into the starry sky within each silhouette, a nod to the multitudes of magic and possibility within each of us. Stepping away from the mesmerising combination of sound and visuals was like blinking my eyes open from a daydream. I felt for a moment that I had travelled through space and time.

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Bringing together 45 galleries from 19 countries, 1-54 will be presenting 16 galleries from Africa and over 140 artists of both emerging and established profile. 15 galleries will be welcomed to the London fair for the first time including, Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, Claire Oliver Gallery, espace d’art contemporain 14N 61W, Galerie Ernst Hilger, Galleria Anna Marra, Guns & Rain, The Hole, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Luce Gallery, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Nil Gallery, Sakhile & Me, SMITH, Tabari Art Space and Ubuntu Art Gallery.

Building on the success of the expanded programme of non-profit Special Projects, 1-54 will once again present a number of collateral projects, including including Mary Sibande’s first solo exhibition in the UK, I Came Apart at the Seams presented in partnership with Somerset House running through the 7 January 2020. 1-54 is also proud to renew the partnership with the Kamel Lazaar Foundation (KLF) to commission a large-scale installation in The Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court at Somerset House.

Curated for the first time by curator Kerryn Greenberg, Head of International Collection Exhibitions at Tate, 1-54 FORUM returns over four afternoons. Dedicated to the late Nigerian curator Bisi Silva, the programme will convene leading cultural practitioners to discuss the questions at the core of Silva’s practice.

Full list of exhibitors

• 50 Golborne (London, United Kingdom)
• Addis Fine Art (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)
• AFRONOVA GALLERY (Johannesburg, SouthAfrica)
• AGorgi (Tunis,Tunisia)
• Catinca Tabacaru Gallery (New York, USA)
• Circle Art Gallery (Nairobi,Kenya)
• Clare Oliver Gallery (New York, USA)
• Ed Cross Fine Art (London, United Kingdom)
• espace d’art contemporain 14N 61W (Fort de France, Martinique)
• Galerie Anne de Villepoix (Paris, France)
• Galerie Cécile Fakhoury (Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire / Dakar, Senegal)
• Galerie Ernst Hilger (Vienna, Austria)
• Galleria Anna Marra (Rome, Italy)
• Gallery 1957 (Accra, Ghana)
• Gallery Nosco (Marseille, France)
• Guns & Rain (Johannesburg, South Africa)
• The Hole (New York, USA)
• HUBERTY & BREYNE GALLERY (Paris, France / Brussels, Belgium)
• Jack Bell Gallery (London, United Kingdom)
• James Cohan (New York, USA)
• Kalashnikovv Gallery (Johannesburg, South Africa)
• Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery (London, United Kingdom)
• L’Atelier 21 (Casablanca, Morocco)
• Lawrie Shabibi Gallery (Dubai, UAE)
• Loft Art Gallery (Casablanca, Morocco)
• Luce Gallery (Turin, Italy)
• MAGNIN-A (Paris, France)
• Mashrabia Gallery (Cairo, Egypt)
• Mindy Solomon Gallery (Miami, USA)
• Nil Gallery (Paris, France)
• October Gallery (London, United Kingdom)
• Primo Marella Gallery (Milan, Italy)
• Sakhile & Me (Frankfurt, Germany)
• Selma Feriani Gallery (Tunis, Tunisia)
• SMAC (Stellenbosch / Cape Town / Johannesburg, South Africa)
• SMITH (Cape Town, South Africa)
• SMO Contemporary Art (Lagos,Nigeria)
• Sulger-Buel Gallery (London, United Kingdom)
• Tabari Art Space (Dubai, UAE)
• TAFETA (London,United Kingdom)
• Tiwani Contemporary (London, United Kingdom)
• Ubuntu Art Gallery (Cairo, Egypt)
• Vigo Gallery (London, United Kingdom)
• WHATIFTHEWORLD (Cape Town, South Africa)
• Yossi Milo Gallery (New York, USA)

1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair 

3-6 October 2019, Somerset House

London Somerset HouseStrand, London WC2R 1LA

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Tiwani Contemporary presents Theories for Cosmic Joy, Leo Robinson’s first solo exhibition in the UK. Leo Robinson (b.1994) is a multi-disciplinary artist who graduated from Manchester School of Art in 2016. He is also the founder and singer-songwriter behind Cult Party, a Manchester-based band noted for music that combines pastoral folk with experimental lyricism. His artistic practice runs parallel to his explorations in spirituality, self discovery and folklore. His work begins from meditations upon his own attachments and ideals, before questioning how they mirror the wider external human world. Robinson’s visual symbols range from the deeply personal to the referential, scientific and historical. His current body of work presents the prophecies of a society split into frenzied technophiles and naturalist-purists, exploring ideas related to capitalism, the internet and environmentalism.

Theories for Cosmic Joy showcases new, previously unseen work developed by Robinson over the past two years. Robinson produces diverse and symbolically rich work, spanning drawing, collage, watercolour, sculpture and video. The exhibition focusses on works on paper which illuminate the philosophical and mystical explorations of his practice.

In his work, Robinson narrates the origin stories and founding myths of a fictional micro-civilisation, whose knowledge, beliefs, art, morals and customs echo real-world cultural constructs. This world-building exercise allows the artist to explore and critique fundamental ideas relating to the blocs of thinking that make up civilisation, such as progress, religion and aesthetics. Referencing Plato, and the birth of conceptual thought, Robinson is interested in studying how humans deal with the prospect of transformation through abstract belief formation, and observes the human tendency to cling to ideas with the expectation of transcendental or transformative outcomes.

“Both the desire to indulge in abstraction and to cleanse oneself of it are presented on equal terms, as a constant battle between two extremes. The extreme dualities that exist not only in the mind but in external circumstances, such as current socio-political conflicts and religious debate also played a part in the conflict that exists within the work.”

Leo Robinson

The works on paper in the exhibition are inspired by folk-tale illustrations, scientific drawings, illustrated teaching books and the visionary work of William Blake. In Newton with Horse Christ (2019), Robinson pays homage to William Blake’s portrait of the English scientist. Echoing the original watercolour, which questioned the relationship between science and religion, Robinson’s Newton is depicted following the rules of his compass, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings. Meanwhile a black horse, a symbolic deity whose thigh is tattooed with a cross, stands besides him. Technology and science often feature as tangible, propelling forces within Robinson’s fictional world, and recurring elements, such as grids and surreal machines, which are analogous to pixels or nets, attempt to capture and abstract the world from its sensible reality. The artist often counterbalances the propelling forces of progress with their opposites: thus a society which worships technology is also embattled in violent and recurring ideological clashes with obscurantist, anti-science and anarcho-primitivist factions.

Presenting such oppositions is a way for the artist to explore the Buddhist concept of the ‘middle way’ or moderation, a path which reconciles or transcends the duality between asceticism and indulgence.

Leo Robinson

Theories for Cosmic Joy

5 July 2019 – 13 September 2019

Preview 4 July 2019 6-8 pm

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