Mariane Ibrahim gallery is currently presenting the exhibition “The Poetics of Space” until October 07, 2023. This is Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze‘s second artistic presentation with the gallery and her first in the Parisian space. The contemporary artist has chosen to explore the universe of space and experiment with different modes of presentation. To offer visitors an immersive experience in a powerful three-dimensional dimension, Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze has personally designed the frames and pedestals for her artistic presentation.
The title of the exhibition, “The Poetics of Space“, was inspired by Gaston Bachelard‘s book “La poétique de l’espace“. This choice reflects the idea of living with all possibilities, a poetic suggestion that evokes a certain stability. Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze seeks to strike a balance between the objective and the subjective, showing how they intertwine like the Ouroboros, an ancient symbol of a snake biting its own tail. This representation symbolizes cyclicity, renewal and other narratives.
In his drawings, the artist uses seven iterative elements: the audre (a hybrid leopard), ada (an alien), birds, bicycles, architecture, swimming pools (also an architectural element) and paper. This set of elements defines the artist’s work, and each drawing appears as an interactive whole. In a sparse arrangement, she positions each of her elements in such a way as to create a perceptible link between these characters. In a random positioning, Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze explores real or imagined space, the relationships between characters and their various forms of proximity.
Without visualizing the precise form of her drawings, the contemporary artist allows herself to be guided by movement and her relationship with the support of the drawing, once in front of the paper ready to receive her representations. Experimenting with different configurations around the paper, changing direction and testing different angles, she seeks to establish a subtle balance in her drawings. According to her, this working method enables her to clearly perceive the point of convergence in her creations. Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze chose her seven elements in particular, for their allegory to legend and myth, presence and representation, art history and a non-specific yet perceptible spirit of place. From these materials emblematic of her art, she creates a living space whose mortality has yet to be defined.
The majority of the works exhibited at the gallery are large-scale, accentuating the flexibility of the elements that make up the canvases and creating an immersive effect in this striking three-dimensional world. Like an orchestra conductor, Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze directs the variously shaped and silhouetted figures in her works according to a constantly evolving, unstructured flowchart. By simply observing these works, the public is invited to participate in their creative process. The drawings admired are the result of the artist’s work, but behind this realization lies an artistic practice that involves other elements such as photography, architectural observation and dance. It is the combination of all these elements that lends a gentle harmony to Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze‘s drawings, offering a malleable, flexible and open experience to viewers depending on the organizational structure they perceive.
To be in space is also to be in time. To be immersed in the space of the works is to be immersed in reflection on all the possibilities open to us. The works in Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze‘s exhibition “The Poetics of Space” are the result of days spent in her studio, of her feelings and emotions, of the time that has passed. However, this is not frustrating, but rather similar to the cycle of the seasons, present in a gentle way, always there, deeply felt.