Osi Audu: Masked Heads

Press Release

SkotonGallery is pleased to present MaskednHeads, an exhibition of recent mixed media works

Innhis new body of work titled Masked Heads,nOsi Audu investigates the global phenomenon of mask-wearing as a preventive measurenagainst Covid-19, and the broader significance of facial coverings, including inntraditional contexts, particularly the Egungun Masquerade culture in Nigeria. Audunis interested in the duality by which masks, whilst concealing the identity ofnthe wearer simultaneously seem to reveal something of the subconscious. To thenartist; ?There is a Yoruba thought that consciousness, referred to as then’head,’ has both a physical dimension called the ‘outer head’ and annon-physical one: ‘the inner head.’ The visual implications of concepts likenthis are what I find intriguing?. The notion of the subconscious is a powerfulnone and can be very much seen in his work?s high originality. 

The fourteen mixed medianworks in this exhibition, each made with pastel and yarn on paper mounted onncanvas, are imbued with tonal subtleties that emphasize relationships not onlynwithin the work but beyond it, and openness to aesthetic vocabulary that is focusednon shapes and colors and the essential form of natural objects. By linkingnancient and contemporary concepts in his work, Osi Audu seeks to expand thenboundaries between art and consciousness..

Osi Audu’s worknhas been shown in numerous international exhibitions including KwangjunBiennale; Venice Biennale; The Africa-Africanexhibition at the Tobu Museum, Japan; and ThenMuseum of the Mind, at the BritishnMuseum, London. His work is in several public and private collections includingnthe Smithsonian Institution?s National Museum of African Art, Washington DC; ThenNewark Museum of Art, Newark, New Jersey; The British Museum, The Horniman Museum,nand Wellcome Trust Collection and Museum, all three in London; The Hood Museumnat Dartmouth College, New Hampshire; Mott-Warsh Collection, Flint, Michigan;nand The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz, New York. Corporate collections include SONY Classical,nNew York; Fidelity Investment Corporation, Boston, Massachusetts; Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft ArtnCollection), Redmond, WA;  and thenSchmidt Bank in Weiden, Germany. He was educated in Nigeria and the UnitednStates; and he presently lives and works in the Hudson Valley, New York.

MASKED HEADS: Towards a New Aesthetic 

Osi Audu?snwork is demonstrating how the Covid-19 pandemic has created a new aesthetic ?nthe simultaneous projection of our inner and outer selves, two identities ? thenmasked and unmasked. Like the Yoruba egungunn(masked ancestors from the other world), we are now all maskers with concealednpowers.  More than a function to protectnone from the pandemic, ?Masked Heads? hints at a level ofnartistic creativity never before encountered.

The artistndeals with oju-inu (inner eye,ninsight), and oju-onan(design-consciousness). Mask making requires oju-inu, a special kind of understanding of the person for whom thenmask is designed as well as the special pandemic situation that has triggerednits manufacture. It is with this intellect that the artist can perceive thenindividualized form, color, substance and texture of the mask which the Yorubancall oju-ode (outer perception).

Oju-ona (design-consciousness) is pivotal tonthe design/innovation resulting from this new aesthetic adventure. The masknmust be appropriate to the character of the mask wearer and not just innovationnfor its own sake. The mask-wearer?s ori-inun(inner spiritual head) and ori-ode (outernphysical recognizable head), the tangible and intangible, the conscious andnunconscious must fit.

Rowland  Abiodun

John C. Newton Professornof Art and Art History

 Amherst College, Amherst, MA 01002