North Carolina-based Wole Lagunju is best known for his large-scale allegorical works, which combine images from Western visual culture with various Nigerian themes, including Guèlèdè masks, typically used by male dancers to disguise themselves as women.
Echoing the strange thoughts and characters previously extrapolated in “We All Live Here“, an exhibition of his ink drawings with Ed Cross, “Cut From The Same Cloth” attempts to overcome any barrier between two undeniable strands of artist Wole Lagunju‘s practice: thoughtfully, and furthermore, authentically.
Visible through September 28, 2022, in close proximity to new works on canvas that chip away at the material, recognizably contradictory faces indeed appear; delivered with similar oil paint to their neighbors on a similar material surface, their subjects and sensibilities share more with their ink-based ancestors.
Applying shades with a range blade to pieces of material, Wole Lagunju new series is, in a sense, real, virtually the same as his larger works – shown together, each illuminates parts of itself in a different way: they’re not so different, all things considered.