Frieze Abu Dhabi
kó is pleased to participate at Frieze Abu Dhabi, presenting a dual-artist presentation featuring Nigerian sculptor Ben Osawe and Ghanaian-American artist Ato Ribeiro.
This intergenerational dialogue centers on West African traditions of woodcarving, including Osawe’s iconic modernist sculptures and Ribeiro’s contemporary wood assemblages. Drawing on the carving traditions of Benin and the geometric structures of Ghanaian Kente cloth, both artists develop symbolic languages rooted in abstraction, reimagining inherited forms and systems of knowledge through wood. Placed in dialogue, Osawe and Ribeiro trace a conversation between modern and contemporary approaches to sculpture, repositioning longstanding artistic traditions in Nigeria and Ghana.
Ben Osawe (1931-2007, Nigerian)
Benson G. Osawe (Ben Osawe) was a pioneering sculptor of Nigeria’s post-independence generation whose practice brought the woodcarving traditions of Benin, known for its ancient tradition of artistic production, into dialogue with the formal concerns of European modernism. Moving between figuration and abstraction, Osawe developed a distinctive sculptural language characterised by fluid contours, simplified forms, and an expressive treatment of the human figure. Working with a range of indigenous hardwoods, including ebony, camwood, apa, masonia, and iroko, he explored the natural properties of each material through carving techniques that emphasized its grain, texture, and contours.
Born in 1931 in Agbor, Delta State, Nigeria, Osawe was the son of a traditional carver who worked as a sculptor at the court of Oba Eweka II of Benin. The Kingdom of Benin developed a rich sculptural tradition over several centuries, with hereditary guilds of artists producing works for the royal court. Osawe was introduced to these traditions through his father, from whom he received his earliest training in woodcarving. He recalled modeling figures in mud along the banks of the Niger River as one of his earliest artistic experiences. Early in his career while at school in Benin, he concentrated on wood carving and clay, and he would come to incorporate wood, bronze, stone, and cement in his sculptures. In 1956, at the age of twenty-five, Osawe moved to London, where he studied at the School of Graphic Arts (1956–1959) and Camberwell School of Art (1960–1965), including a year of post-graduate work, specializing in sculpture. During this period, he began exhibiting internationally, with early presentations at the International Association Gallery, London (1962), and the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh (1963). In 1965, he was selected to represent Nigeria at the Commonwealth Festival in Glasgow. His work was included in Contemporary African Art at the Commonwealth Institute, London (1968). In 1969 edition of African Arts, Juliet Highet wrote that Ben Osawe was "perhaps the most important contemporary artist Nigeria has produced."
Ben Osawe’s Motherhood (1972), carved from tiger ebony wood, reflects his engagement with techniques of abstraction encountered during his studies in London. Drawing upon the symbolic significance of motherhood and fertility in African sculptural traditions, he reinterprets the female figure through a series of interlocking geometric forms. The circular opening in the head and contours of the body suggest the maternal figure, while angular transitions introduce a sense of movement. The sculpture reflects a broader artistic dialogue in which Osawe drew upon his inherited African sculptural traditions while engaging with European modernism, which had itself been profoundly influenced by African art.
In Sacred Union: Black Madonna (1991), Osawe depicts a standing female figure with an elongated neck, narrow shoulders, and a slender torso. Her head turns in profile, revealing delicately articulated facial features. The figure’s upright posture, stillness, and elongated proportions convey a sense of dignity and contemplation. The dark central section of the torso contrasts with the warmer tones of the surrounding wood, creating a layered, double silhouette. The title introduces a spiritual dimension, suggesting associations between femininity and the sacred. Ben Osawe’s Untitled (1992) takes the form of an elongated, mask-like head, with sharply defined planes and angular features. Its stylized form recalls the visual language of traditional African masks. The textured surface of the flattened crown, traditionally associated with prestige and status, contrasts with the smooth, polished planes of the face.
Ben Osawe's sculptures were inspired by the social and cultural fabric of life around him. Osawe explained: "All my sculpture is concerned with human problems, people and their reactions. I like to see people in different situations. I go out a lot, particularly to night-clubs, where I study the types of personalities behind facial expressions. Often I wander around the markets, where a small incident will start me off." Osawe was interested in practices of Yoga and total meditation, which influenced the philosophical symbolism in his work. He cast many of his wood figures in bronze, which was historically reserved for the Kingdom of Benin's finest guild artisans.
Following his return to Nigeria in 1966, Osawe briefly taught at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, before the outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War forced him to relocate to Lagos, where he shared a studio with sculptor Felix Idubor. He held his first solo exhibition in Nigeria at the Goethe-Institut, Lagos (1969), and participated in the Second Indian Triennial, New Delhi (1971). In 1976, Osawe settled in Benin City, where he continued his artistic practice and taught at the University of Benin. He participated in the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC ’77), Lagos (1977). Osawe’s work was subsequently featured in The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945–1994, curated by Okwui Enwezor at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York (2002), and Nigerian Modernism: Art and Independence at Tate Modern, London (2025). Osawe’s work is represented in several public collections in Nigeria, including the National Gallery of Modern Art, Lagos; Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art, Lagos; Federal Ministry of Information, Cultural Division, Lagos; Yusuf Grillo Museum, Lagos; and University of Lagos Library Museum.
Ato Ribeiro (b. 1989, Ghanaian-American)
Ato Ribeiro transforms the visual traditions of West African textiles into intricate geometric wood assemblages that explore histories of cultural exchange, migration, and identity. Born in Philadelphia and raised between Accra and Atlanta, Ribeiro draws upon his transcontinental upbringing to examine the intersections of African and African American artistic traditions. His practice considers how cultural knowledge, histories, and systems of meaning are transmitted across generations and geographies, using abstraction as a means of connecting inherited traditions with contemporary experiences. Working with found and discarded wood, Ribeiro repurposes salvaged fragments into complex compositions that translate traditional patterns and symbolic forms into a contemporary sculptural language.
Using techniques of wood inlay, Ribeiro draws inspiration from the intricate patterns of Ghanaian Kente cloth, a traditional form of strip weaving in which narrow bands of fabric are woven and assembled into larger textiles. Historically associated with the Asante and Ewe peoples of Ghana, Kente incorporates geometric arrangements of lines, shapes, and colours that convey social, historical, and cultural meanings. Ribeiro also integrates Adinkra symbols, a visual system associated with the Akan peoples of Ghana that communicates philosophical concepts, proverbs, and values. His work further references African American quilting traditions, particularly their use of geometric patterns, repetition, and the assembly of individual fragments into larger compositions.
Geometry plays a central role in Ribeiro’s work, reflecting the mathematical principles of repetition, symmetry, proportion, and spatial organisation that underpin traditional weaving, architecture, and craft practices. Through the careful cutting, arrangement, and inlay of individual wooden fragments, he constructs compositions in which contrasting grains, colours, and textures form intricate patterns. The precision of these arrangements transforms discarded materials into highly ordered visual systems, connecting the material histories of the wood and the cultural traditions embedded in the compositions.
Ato Ribeiro received his BA from Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia, in 2012, and his MFA in Print Media from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, in 2017. In 2026, his work is featured in several institutional exhibitions, including Hardwork 2026 at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; Collective Geometries at the Bernard A. Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, Georgia; Labyrinth/Laboratory: Selections from the Cranbrook Collection at Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; America Will Be! at the David C. Driskell Center, Maryland; and Georgia Wood Artists at the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art, Georgia. In 2026, Ribeiro was featured in the PBS series Craft in America. In 2025, his work was presented at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Texas, and Museum for Art in Wood, Philadelphia.
Ribeiro was a finalist for the ADAMA Seeds Award at the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta and the Sovereign African Art Prize in 2026. In 2024, he received the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Grant and was a finalist for the Society 1858 Prize for Contemporary Southern Art, awarded by the Gibbes Museum of Art. He received the Atlanta Artadia Award (2022) and the Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Emerging Artist Award (2017). Ribeiro has participated in numerous artist residencies and fellowships, including Fountainhead Residency, Miami; the MOCA GA Working Artist Project Fellowship (2022–2023); MASS MoCA Residency (2021); Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (2017); Santa Fe Art Institute (2017); the Ox-Bow LeRoy Neiman Foundation Fellowship, Saugatuck (2017); Vermont Studio Center, Johnson; and Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Maine.
His work is represented in the permanent collections of the Arizona State University Art Museum; Phoenix Art Museum; Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum; Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA); Cranbrook Art Museum; Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library; Mercedes-Benz USA Headquarters; TD Art Collection; and the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art, among others. Ribeiro lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia.
