Ed Cross is delighted to present Broad Streets, new portrait works by British-based Nigerian artist Abdulrazaq Awofeso (b. 1978, Lagos, Nigeria) at 1-54 Marrakech from 9 to 12 February 2023.
Ed Cross announced sole representation of Awofeso in November 2022, and 1-54 Marrakech marks his first presentation with the gallery. In spring 2023, Awofeso will present a solo exhibition in Ed Cross’s London space (19 Garrett Street, EC1Y) from March 29 to May 6 2023, building on concepts explored in his Marrakech presentation.
Broad Streets is a series of new portrait works of sculptural figures collaged from discarded wooden pallets, ranging in size from 35 by 50 cm to 70 by 100 cm. Based on characters observed and encountered by the artist on two roads with the same name – one a hub of nightlife and socialising in Birmingham, UK, and the other a commercial centre in Lagos, Nigeria – Broad Streets draws parallels between the cities and the people who inhabit them.
Used for the transportation of goods around the world, Awofeso's pallet portraits are loaded with connotations of human migration, as well as referring to the artist's own frequent journeys through Africa and Europe. Dismantling the pallets, Awofeso uses the timber to represent human figures in wall reliefs, freestanding sculptures and installations. Individually carved and painted by hand, their physical traits and vibrant colours are inspired by encounters with people in different cities and subcultures.
Any suggestion of uniformity – or a kind of universal portrait – is contradicted by the distinctiveness of each figure, conveying the artist's resistance to simplistic cultural or racial categorisation. In Broad Streets, Awofeso collapses the distance between two bustling thoroughfares, all the while underscoring the unassailable specificity of the individuals who comprise the subjects of his portraits. Shown en masse, the effect is of encountering a crowd; considered singularly, each figure reveals their own impossibly specific traits, tied to time, place and circumstance. Counterintuitively, it is this infinite variability that Awofeso’s Broad Street patrons have in common.
Ed Cross, Director, said: “We are really excited to be presenting our first exhibition of work by Abdulrazaq Awofeso at 1-54 Marrakech this February. Like many great ideas, his merging of painting with sculpture, and his elevation and expansion of portraiture towards installation, are disarmingly simple — truly one of the African continent’s brightest young art stars.”
Abdulrazaq Awofeso (b. 1978, Lagos, Nigeria) is a sculptor and installation artist. He lives and works between Birmingham, UK, and Lagos, Nigeria. Recent exhibitions by Abdulrazaq Awofeso include Dakar Biennale (2016), STEVENSON, Cape Town (2016), Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (2017–18), MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts Rome (2018), Museum Arnhem (2020) and Ikon Gallery (2022). Forthcoming exhibitions include Museum Arnhem, Arnhem (2023) and Ed Cross (2023). Awofeso's work features in prestigious private and institutional collections including Benetton Imago Mundi, Laurent Perrier, Deborah Goldman and Yemi Odusanya.
Ed Cross works with emerging and established artists across and beyond the African diaspora. The gallery seeks to stage conversations – between practitioners, international audiences and as guided by its artists – to amplify voices historically silenced, and to create space for their independent development. Since launching in 2009, Ed Cross has held exhibitions across the world: from New York to Paris, and London to Lagos, the gallery continues to build on its values of cooperation and curiosity in its new permanent space at 19 Garrett Street, London.
