If you are feeling like spring is lazy to start in London, go for this beautiful inspiring exhibition at October Gallery and you will feel refreshed.
Primavera is the latest steel scultpure effort by Sokari Douglas Camp CBE (b. 1958), the wordwide famous Nigerian artist working and living in London, who often in her work recalls elements of Nigerian culture(s), interwining them to a critical discourse on international matters.
She does so even in this show, where you will find fine sculpture groups reminiscent of the Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), widely known for his blooming paintings Allegory of Spring (Primavera) and The Birth of Venus (La Nascita di Venere) among others. Fully quoting the Italian master, Douglas Camp creates vibrant pieces, where the flowing movement of the figures is well matched by the brilliant colours of the substaining natural background.
The floral theme in fact suggests the artist’s ongoing engagement with enviromnetal issues. Particularly significant form this point of view is Europe supported by Africa and America, a contemporary revisiting of William Blake’s 1796 engraving. In Douglas Camp’s version, the luxuriant garland held by Europe turns into a petrol pump heavily hanging from the sides of the sculpture. It is a strong metaphor for the exploitation of oil resources both in Africa and the Americas by international companies and it makes you look at the garlandwith different eyes, as it were cuffs trapping the three continents in a strangling embrace. In the same piece she also references Nigerian high fashion by choosing to enrich the figures with a stylish contemporary apparel.
19.4 x 14.1 cm. Image credits: https://uk.pinterest.com/ohornypony/history/
Other pieces explore the delicacy you may find within violence. I was specifically attracted to Posing with a gun, a powerful composition showing a fighter standing beneath fragile trees in a very scenic posture, while casually carrying a rifle on her shoulder. The only added colour to this steel piece is the pink string supporting the gun. This made me think of Richard Mosse’s video installation The Enclave (2012-2013), where the artist makes use of a pink film originally developed by the US army during WWII. I think both artists were thinking of the dreadful conditions of the relevant African countries but they were at the same time displaying the endurance of locals as well as creating an aesthetically appealing, quaint image out of a devastated scenario, thus putting forward a paradox.
A delightful exhibition, Primavera will be on display at the October Gallery until May 14th. Entry is free.
Useful links:
October Gallery’s official website: http://www.octobergallery.co.uk/exhibitions/2016sok
Richard Mosse: The Impossible Image, short documentary on the making of The Enclave: https://vimeo.com/67115692
Diotima in the Gallery 