kó is pleased to participate at Untitled Art Fair 2024 in Miami Beach, Florida. This presentation presents five contemporary artists in Nigeria working across painting, ceramics, and textiles.
Bunmi Agusto (b. 1999, Lagos, Nigeria) explores the inhabitants of a surrealistic wonderland in her mind called Within, using this world as an exploratory site for how psychological and cultural theories contribute to the construction of selfhood. Working predominantly with pastel pencils, her mixed-media works on paper depict indigenous hybrids influenced by objects integral to her sense of self and culture. Human family members, friends and passersby are also present in Within as cross-reality migrants who were subsumed into the world after encountering the artist in her waking life. In Irunoji Visits the Spiritual Realm (2024), we see one of Agusto’s recurring characters Irunoji floating in a boat made out of a large gourd as she floats on the waters of the Spiritual Realm. This body of water exists in a lineage of rivers that are believed to separate the land of the living and the land of the dead across several cosmologies. The concept exists in Yoruba cosmology, Ancient Hebrew cosmology and in other examples such as the River Styx in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome and the River Nile in Egypt. Irunoji is a hybrid character that was born in the artist’s image but with a mutation where braids come out of her eyes. Like the other hybrid characters in Agusto’s work, Irunoji represents a certain fragment of the artist’s persona, specifically her creative mind. Agusto holds an MFA from Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford, an MA in History of Art & Archaeology from SOAS University, London and a BA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins. She was selected as one of the Bloomberg New Contemporaries in 2023.
(L) Bunmi Agusto, Irunoji visits the Spiritual Realm, 2024, Pastel pencil, ink and acrylic on pastel paper, 90 x 90 cm | 35.4 x 35.4 in. (R) Tofo Bardi, How to hold an Omen I, 2024, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 122 x 122 cm | 48 x 48 in.
Tofo Bardi (b. 2001, Benin City, 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. In 2024, Bardi was included in the exhibition Self-Pleasure at Thomas Erben Gallery, New York, and was exhibited by kó at 1-54 New York.
Ngozi-Omeje Ezema (b. 1979, Nigeria) creates sculptural installations made by suspending hundreds of terracotta pieces that form the shapes of amorphous vessels. Ezema represents a 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 works explore the motifs of vases and leafs as expressive visual elements rich in affective metaphors, taking inspiration from the forms and materials of the natural environment. Using her personal experiences as a point of departure, her work addresses issues relating to identity, family and womanhood. The terracotta fragments are connected by translucent fishing wire and hung as free floating or wall-mounted works. Ezema serves as a lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where she teaches ceramics. She participated in the First International Biennale in Centra China and Le Pinceau De L’Integration in Senegal, during the Dakar Biennale in 2016. In 2019, she won the High Excellence Award at the Cheongju International Craft Biennale in South Korea. Ezema has participated in artist residencies with the Centre for Contemporary Art/ Trianglar Art Trust (Lagos), Goethe-Institut Nigeria (Nsukka), Sevshoon Art Centre (Seattle), Goethe Institute Ghana (Kumasi), and the Trianglar Art Trust (Jos). In December 2024, Ezema’s works will be presented at the Pinathotek der Modern in Munich.
(L) Ngozi-Omeje Ezema, Beautification I, 2024, Ceramics, acrylic, monofilament, fishing line, metal, 91 x 213 x 45 cm | 36 x 84 x 17.7 in. (R) Yadichinma Ukoha-Kalu, Familiar Territory 002, 2023, Linocut print and embroidered thread on cotton.
Yadichinma Ukoha-Kalu (b. 1995, Nigeria) adopts a mixed media practice that centers on explorations of line, form and boundary. Her recent projects investigate Igbo folk traditions and indigenous artisanal practices, delving into an introspective journey that probes her identity through the prism of folklore, textiles and performance. The series "In a language of my own" is inspired by Uche Okeke's "Manifesto of the Zaria Art Society", Natural Synthesis of 1960, where the Nigerian modernist argued for the fusion of the best indigenous artistic traditions, forms and ideas with those useful from Western cultures to create a uniquely Nigerian aesthetic perspective. Centered around Ala, the Igbo deity symbolizing earth and creativity, this body of work serves as a gateway to understanding the culture through the connection to materials, threads, and cloth. The series, incorporating embroidery, pays homage to the historical role of textiles in preserving cultural narratives through storytelling.
Modupeola Fadugba, Stargazers, 2023, Acrylic, graphite, ink, and metal leaf on burned canvas, 188 x 114.3 cm | 74 x 45 in.
Modupeola Fadugba (b. 1985, Lomé, Togo) is a Nigerian multimedia artist working in painting, drawing, and socially-engaged installation. Her works explore cultural identity, social justice, game theory, and the art world within the socio-political landscape of Nigeria and the greater global economy. Her continuous body of work over the past decade delves into the concept of water and the swimming pool as a contested dialectical site full of possibilities for liberation and community-building. Originally trained in Chemical Engineering, the artist employs a unique technical skill-set to bring her surfaces to life, activating material science as a form of storytelling. Through the delicate burning of paper and incorporation of a variety of materials such as gold leaf, graphite, ink, acrylic, and oil, Fadugba explores the spatial composition and geometric patterns of swimming pools, experimenting with ideas of time, texture, and the tension between a work’s surface and the ideas lurking beneath. Fadugba was born in Togo and grew up in England and the United States as a child of Nigerian diplomats. A self-taught artist, she holds a Bachelors Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware, a Masters in Economics from the University of Delaware, and a Masters in Education from Harvard University. Her work is included in the collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Minneapolis Museum of Art, the University of Delaware, Chicago Booth School of Business, the Sindika Dokolo Foundation and the Liberian President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Fair Venue:
1200 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach, Florida
Fair Hours:
Tuesday, December 3 | 10 AM- 7 PM (VIP Preview; by invitation)
Wednesday, December 4 | 11 AM - 7 PM
Thursday, December 5 | 11 AM - 7 PM
Friday, December 6 | 11 AM - 7 PM
Saturday, December 7 | 11 AM - 7 PM
Sunday, December 8 | 11 AM - 5 PM
