Red Door Gallery will on Saturday, November 14, 2015 play host to an exhibition by artist, fashion designer and politician, Sobayo Abolore.
Tagged ‘Room for Three’, the exhibition will showcase three sides of the painting graduate of the Yaba College of Technology and runner up at the 2006 Nigerian Fashion Show.
Abolore, whose quest for meaningful change inspired his emergence as Councillor representing Ogunoloko Ward in Oshodi/Isolo Local Government Area, believes every artist subjects him/herself to influences from existing norms, and subsequently, strives to create an identifiable personal signature.
Such a signature, he is convinced, redefines the artist: it is authentic, it is true to the artist, and represents a seamless amalgamation of technique, style and theme.
It is in the light of this that Abolore has dedicated endless passionate hours in order to create a world of beauty and reasoning.
‘Room for Three’ is a tale of three decades of expedition, driven by passion, creativity and active participation in three different professions – art, fashion and politics.
The artist’s cultural connection to his roots is emphasised by his use of one of the oldest forms of fabric – adire, whose origin can be traced to the south western part of Nigeria, an area which he hails from.
The artist’s paintings reposition the adire fabric, showcasing a different way it could be used asides wearables. This fabric serves as the background of most of his paintings. Some of his paintings also delve into our history and heritage, serving as archival materials for the future.
With fashion, he has successfully recreated some of the old styles of the Yoruba outfit into modern day wears, using adire fabric, blend of linen and unique African motifs to propagate his stunning designs.
That saw him create memorable costumes for Lagbaja’s ‘Dream Come True’ video, Afropop artist 9ice’s outfit for his Tradition album cover and the costume of a duet dance piece titled ‘City of God City of Man’ by Adedayo (Ijodee) & Qudus Onikeku which was performed at the opening of Jomba! 2015 Contemporary Dance Festival, Durban, South Africa.
Abolore also tries to use art in educating people about “the bottom up” approach to rebuilding our nation, by trying to explain the role of the government at the grassroots level, an area members of the community seem to be ignorant about. Here, his experiences as a Councillor come to play.
It is on record that the artist is the youngest ever Leader of Council at the Oshodi-Isolo Local Government.
Putting all these together to create his first solo show, the ‘Room for Three’ seeks to throw some light on the under utilisation of the adire fabric, as it can serve as a source of job creation, improve export and revenue generation.
Red Door Gallery is located on Bishop Oluwole Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The November 14 exhibition starts at 2pm.
