Until 16 November, the Goodman gallery is hosting ‘Light Blue Violet’, the new solo exhibition by Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze. Through her art, the contemporary artist unveils an immersive universe, highlighting the originality of her drawings, where space, movement and architecture blend harmoniously with the distinctive characters and details that enrich her practice.
Ruby Onyinyechi Amanzeis a Nigerian artist living in Brooklyn, who devotes herself to a range of creative practices, mixing mixed media, drawings and works on paper. Her inspiration comes from a variety of artistic disciplines such as photography, textiles, architecture and printmaking, enabling her to broaden her field of interpretation.
Recognisable by its spatial approach, her exhibition ‘Duets’, presented in 2022, was the first to reveal this particular dimension in her work. The pieces in this series offer a singular interpretation of space, positioning Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze as a choreographer of place, manipulating perception to explore its full richness.
The exhibition ‘Light Blue Violet’ at the Goodman Gallery embodies an ongoing exploration of the representational potential that emerges from this choice of creative dimensions. Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze develops her artistic practice around fundamental questions, such as the creation of drawings that preserve the essence of the weightlessness of paper. Her works, which are both vast and multidimensional, form part of a continuous, albeit non-linear, narrative in which the malleability of space plays the role of principal antagonist.
Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze invites the public into a chimerical and imaginary universe, situated at the confluence of nowhere and everywhere. With a carefully restricted visual palette – including elements such asAda the alien, windows and birds – her drawings evoke an open, non-narrative world. The conception of this world is based on an interrogation of the spatial negotiations found in three-dimensional practices such as dance, architecture and design.
In ‘Light Blue Violet’, the Nigerian artist presents space as an accessible canvas, anchored in drawings that oscillate between intrigue and clarity. Characters and objects cohabit within compositions that divert and question a pre-established perspective. Although these changes may seem minor in isolation, their cumulative effect creates a striking disorientation or reorientation. The disruption of the drawing plane influences the way in which the works engage with each other in the exhibition space and shape the visitor’s experience.
Drawing on her extensive experience as acontemporary African artist, Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze has recently participated in residencies at the Queens Museum and as part of the Drawing Center’s Open Sessions programme in New York. Her work has been shown internationally, notably in Lagos, London, Johannesburg and Paris, as well as nationally at the California African American Museum, the Drawing Center and the Studio Museum of Harlem.
Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze ‘s exhibition “Light Blue Violet” at the Goodman Gallery transcends the traditional boundaries of art, inviting the viewer to navigate a multi-dimensional space charged with emotion and reflection. Through her innovative works, the artist explores the interactions between drawing, architecture and three-dimensional practices, creating a world that is both chimerical and palpable.