kó is pleased to participate at 1-54 New York, the contemporary African art fairat the Starrett-Lehigh Building, Chelsea.
This presentation features artists working across painting and ceramics, including Kwadwo A. Asiedu, Tofo Bardi, Ngozi-Omeje Ezema, and Bisila Noha.
Kwadwo A. Asiedu (b. 1987, Ghana) is a painter who depicts highly impressionistic landscapes with a visual language of rich, textured layers and pulsating light, texture, and color. Asiedu examines the poetic and mysterious qualities of the natural world, channeling the idyllic world untouched by humanity’s corrosive tendencies. This focus, however, is anything but utopic. Asiedu highlights the spiritual and material interdependence between humans and their environment, creating an arresting homage to natural beauty and an urgent plea to preserve what’s left of it. Asiedu was born in Mexico and currently based in Lagos, Nigeria. He holds a Masters degree in Environmental Management from the University of Hertfordshire, England.
Tofo Bardi (b. 2001, Nigeria) draws inspiration from the liminal space of the human mind and the innate fear of the unknown. In her paintings, Bardi focuses on states of altered consciousness, rites of passage, and the representation of the intangible, blurring the boundaries between reality and the imaginary. Her practice is informed by her personal experiences with fear and loss. In narrative scenes, ghost-like figures take center stage. These spectral entities symbolize the intricate tapestry of human consciousness, imagined beings that reside within the depths of every individual's mind. These ethereal figures interact and engage with one another, inhabiting a realm entirely their own. Bardi is a graduate of the University of Benin, specializing in painting, and currently lives and works in Lagos.
Ngozi-Omeje Ezema (b. 1979, Nigeria) represents the new generation of contemporary Nigerian ceramists who infuse modernist sensibilities into an age-old traditional art form, radically challenging long-established notions that locate ceramics within the limiting frame of its utilitarian function. Her recent works explore the leaf motif as an expressive visual element rich in affective metaphors. Taking her personal experiences as a point of departure, her work addresses issues relating to identity, family and the female body. She often references the object of the vessel in various ways, taking inspiration from the forms and materials of the natural environment. In her works, the material properties of leaves are used as formal and narrative handles to address issues relating to womanhood. For the artist, the leaf motif represents a state of being; a transient element whose materiality symbolically dramatizes rites of passage and its associated conditions of liminality. Ngozi-Omeje Ezema trained as a ceramic artist at the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. In 2009, the same year she completed her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) programme in ceramics, she was offered a teaching appointment at the Nsukka art department. For the past decade, she has combined art teaching with a vibrant studio practice.
Bisila Noha (b. 1988, Spain) is a ceramic artist whose work explores overlooked craft traditions, particularly those led by women in the Global South. Her work is influenced by her Spanish and Equatorial Guinean heritage, examining multiple identities and challenging Western views on art and craft. Noha’s ceramics incorporate clay, plaster, and bronze, using processes of throwing, coiling, and craving. Noha’s work positions herself as a feminist activist, calling attention to forgotten women who have shaped the history of pottery. Noha’s work is in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Museum of Scotland. Her work has been featured in the Financial Times and the New York Times. Noha lives and works in London.