Month: May 2016

Arthouse Contemporary is pleased to announce the online auction of Nigerian artist Olumide Oresegun, June 23-26, 2016, on our website, www.arthouse-ng.com.

Olumide Oresegun is a figurative artist who is best known for his hyperrealistic and emotional oil paintings. Inspired by his immediate environment and people from his local community, including his neighbors, friends, and siblings, Oresegun calls attention to the quiet moments of childhood. Whether reading, writing letters, or sleeping, Oresegun’s subjects are caught off guard in a tranquil moment of reflection.

A graduate of distinction at the Yaba College of Technology, Oresegun received international media attention with a recent CNN article that lauded the hyperrealism of his art. Since then, he has become an Internet sensation for the attention to technique and detail in his paintings, with over 3.2 million views on Youtube and over 44,000 followers on Instagram.

These portraits combine technical precision and minute details to suggest tangible presence and dimensionality. Oresegun uses water as a central motif in his paintings, with water droplets falling in arrested motion off bodies and in mid-air. He also pays particular attention to the flowing creases and folds of the fabrics, blankets and sheets that surround the subjects. In other works, he focuses on occupational scenes including metal workers and market sellers. Through these portraits of childhood and kinship, his work elevates the routine environment to reveal the transcendence of the everyday.

Arthouse Contemporary will hold a live online auction of his paintings for three days, beginning on June 23, 2016, 12 PM, and ending on June 26, 2016, 6 PM. Clients will have the option to bid live on the website.

Arthouse Contemporary will host a reception to launch the online auction on Thursday, June 23, 2016, 6 PM at the Renault Showroom, 43B Akin Adesola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos. The original works of art will be on display during this launch event in the presence of the artist. The works will be available for public viewing on Friday, June 24th (10 AM-6PM) and Saturday, June 25th (10 AM-4 PM).

Founded in 2007, Arthouse Contemporary is an international auction house that specialises in modern and contemporary art from West Africa. With auctions held twice a year in Lagos, Arthouse Contemporary aims to create awareness of the scope of contemporary art in the region, encourage international recognition towards its talented artists, and strengthen the economy of its art market.

For more information, please contact Sumbo Biobaku at 08055099096 or Joseph Gergel by email at joseph@arthouse-ng.com.

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The 16th edition of Arthouse Contemporary auction, coming in less than three months after introducing Affordable sales, is set to prove the resilience of Lagos art market, even in a troubled economic environment.

With Affordable, held in March, the auctioneers added a third sale, making its auctions tri-annual. From May 7-8, 2016, the 16th edition takes off with viewing, which runs into the third day as the sale holds on Monday, 9 at The Wheatbaker Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Having separated the Affordable – works that sell below 500,000 – from the premiums, there is an indication that the volume of lots has dropped slightly in number for the coming event. However, the texture or class of lots on sale keeps going higher, so suggests the caliber of artists featured in the 16th edition.

In a preview statement, Arthouse notes that as contemporary African art moves to become one of the fastest growing global art markets, the 16th edition “will feature both master works from the modern period and cutting- edge contemporary art from the region’s most celebrated artists.” The auction house lists works as including “100 lots featuring modern masters such as Ben Enwonwu, Yusuf Grillo, Demas Nwoko, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Ato Delaquis, Kolade Oshinowo, Abayomi Barber, Gani Odutokun, Ablade Glover, Ben Osawe, and Akinola Lasekan.” Also on display for the auction are what has been described as leading contemporary artists, including Rom Isichei, Peju Alatise, Sokari Douglas Camp, Ndidi Dike and Modupe Fadugba.

As Lagos is fast becoming a hub for African art market, non-Nigerian artists whose works are featuring in the auction include, Dominique Zimkpe, Paul Onditi, Kofi Agorsor, Mohammed Abba Gana, Paa Joe and Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou.

Sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank, Wheatbaker Hotel and Veuve Clicquot, the auction retains its auctioneer, U.K-based John Dabney.
Among the works for sale viewed via soft copies are The Advent, oil on canvas classic of Abiodun Olaku; Isioma, oil on canvas portrait from Isichei; oil on board portraiture, Threatened Innocence by Grilo; Obitun Dancers, a 1990 painting by Enwonwu; and mixed media Purple Period by Alatise.

The auction, according to Arthouse, will also include three charity lots by artists Uchay Joel Chima, Obinna Makata, and Lekan Onabanjo, in support of Standard Chartered Bank’s ‘Seeing is Believing’, an NG0 that works to prevent avoidable blindness.

In recent years, Arthouse Contemporary has expanded beyond its bi-annual auctions to include the Arthouse Foundation, a non-profit organisation that aims to encourage the creative development of contemporary art in Nigeria, and Arthouse-The Space, which organises exhibitions of contemporary art. Arthouse-The Space recently opened a solo exhibition of Nigerian artist Victor Ekpuk, entitled Coming Home, in April 2016, the first solo exhibition of Ekpuk in Nigeria in over a decade. Arthouse Foundation opens its artist residency programme in a dedicated building in Ikoyi in April 2016, which will host artists with live/work studios throughout the year.

Founded in 2007, Arthouse Contemporary is an international auction house that specialises in modern and contemporary art from West Africa. With auctions held twice a year in Lagos, Arthouse Contemporary aims to create awareness of the scope of contemporary art in the region, encourage international recognition towards its talented artists, and strengthen the economy of its art market.