Chibụike Ụzọma (b. 1992, Port Harcourt, Nigeria), is a
multidisciplinary artist working with painting, photography,
drawing, text and video, living and working in New Haven,
Connecticut. Documented here are sixteen of the artist’s large
paintings rendered in oil and acrylic or acrylic spray paint on
canvas, made in 2022. Accompanying an exhibition of the same name
at Simon Lee Gallery, London, the first solo exhibition of his work
in the UK, this publication is the fourth pillar of a collaborative
project by the artist, setting his own paintings in relation to
video and audio works by Edward Owens and João Orecchia
respectively. Ụzọma works with non-linear narratives, using a
mix of painting languages that dodges and weaves the liminal spaces
between representation and meaning. Fragments of stencilled letters
jolt against textured pools of paint, and diaphanous figures are
cropped by cinematic horizons. Comprising colourful, abstruse
portraiture against stark black and white backgrounds, the
paintings in 'To Kick a Stone' are deeply suggestive, but
ultimately formalist explorations of shape and composition. An
introduction by Kat Sapera, Director of Simon Lee Gallery, draws
upon her first encounters with the artist and details the influence
of philosophy and the act of looking. Sapera brings the
collaboration with Orecchia and Owens to the forefront of her
discussion while touching on Ụzọma’s making processes. In an
essay by Ụzọma, the artist himself writes lyrically upon
subjects including poetry, religion, good and evil, in order to
bring a number of key concepts that circle his work into the field
of view. Essays by Bishupal Limbu, Associate Professor of English
at Portland State University, and by Carlos Valladares, writer and
critic, help amass a portrait of an artist whose enquiry is
informed by film, philosophy and pictorial language – with the
layering, unravelling and opening-up of narrative as a core focus.
Their writing brings key art historical figures into dialogue with
Ụzọma’s work. Lastly, the artist appears in conversation with
writer and curator Ekow Eshun. This frank and illuminating
conversation provides insight into the artist’s painting
practice, previous series of works and intentions, while also
discussing issues of identity and Blackness. Their interview
further reflects on past exhibitions, connections with other key
artists and Ụzọma’s recent MFA studies at Yale. Published on
the occasion of the exhibition Chibụike Ụzọma – To Kick a
Stone, 19 January – 25 February 2023, Simon Lee Gallery, London.
Edited by Kat Sapera, designed by Joe Gilmore, printed by
Pressision, Leeds and co-published in 2023 by Simon Lee Gallery and
Anomie Publishing, London. Chibụike Ụzọma (b. 1992, Port
Harcourt, Nigeria), is a multidisciplinary artist working with
painting, photography, drawing, text and video, living and working
in New Haven, Connecticut. Ụzọma received his BFA from the
University of Benin, an MFA from Yale University School of Art and
was awarded the Francis Greenburger Fellowship in 2018. His work is
included in the public collections of Kistefos Museum, Jevnaker,
Norway; Didi Museum, Lagos, Nigeria and Fotohof Salzburg, Austria.
Recent exhibitions include Pace, New York, NY (2021); Lyles &
King, New York, NY (2021); Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
(2019); Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Florida, FL (2019);
Circa Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa (2017); and D-Contemporary
Gallery, London, UK (2017).
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