Omenka Gallery is a Nigerian contemporary art gallery, which represents Nigerian and international artists at its exhibition space in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

History

Omenka Gallery was founded in Lagos in 2003 by Nigerian artist, curator and art administrator Oliver Enwonwu. Enwonwu's father,

Ben Enwonwu Odinigwe Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu MBE (14 July 1917 – 5 February 1994), better known as Ben Enwonwu, was a Nigerian painter and sculptor. Arguably the most influential African artist of the 20th century, his pioneering career opened th ...

, (1917-1994) was one of Nigeria's leading, 20th-century, modernist artists.

Exhibitions

Since 2003, Omenka Gallery's programme of solo and group exhibitions has introduced new work by established and emerging Nigerian and international artists. Exhibitions, like the 2009 show, ''A perspective on contemporary Nigerian photography'', focused public attention on developing trends in the Nigerian artworld by featuring new talents, like George Osodi (b.1974), alongside renowned masters such as J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere (1930-2014). Omenka gallery also hosted 'Insanity' the first

Hyperrealism Jean Baudrillard ( , , ; 27 July 1929 – 6 March 2007) was a French sociologist, philosopher and poet with interest in cultural studies. He is best known for his analyses of media, contemporary culture, and technological communication, as w ...

group exhibition in Nigeria which featured hyperrealists like Arinze Stanley, Ken Nwadiogbu and Ayo Filade. In the following decade, the gallery's programme developed its international profile, with exhibitions such as ''Having Travelled Far'', which showcased a group of established, Europe-based artists of African heritage:

Godfried Donkor Godfried Donkor (born 1964) is a Ghanaian artist, living and working in London, who has exhibited in Cuba, Mexico, the US, Europe and Africa. He is known primarily for his work in collage, and has been described as similar to Keith Piper (artist), ...

(b.1964), Owusu-Ankomah (b. 1956), Manuela Sambo (b. 1964), EL Loko (b. 1950), and Ransome Stanley (b. 1953). The gallery has also participated in international

art fairs An art exhibition is traditionally the space in which art objects (in the most general sense) meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhib ...

, including Art15 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Art Dubai Art Dubai is a leading international art fair that takes place every March in Dubai. Founded in 2007, Art Dubai is the pre-eminent platform for art from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. Each year, the fair features a globally diverse l ...

in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

, and

The Armory Show The Armory Show is an international art fair in New York City, known as New York's Art Fair. Established in 1994 as the Gramercy International Art Fair by dealers Colin De Land, Pat Hearn, Lisa Spellman, Matthew Marks and Paul Morris, the annua ...

in New York.

List of represented artists

Abass Kelani (b. 1979) Cedric Nunn (b. 1957) Dominique Zinkpè (b. 1969) Duke Asidere (b. 1961) Ebenezer Akinola (b. 1968) Gary Stephens (b. 1952) Ima Mfon (b. 1989) Joel Mpah Dooh (b. 1956)

Kimathi Donkor Kimathi Donkor (born in 1965) is a London-based contemporary British artist of Ghanaian, Anglo-Jewish and Jamaican family heritage whose figurative paintings depict "African diasporic bodies and souls as sites of heroism and martydom, empowermen ...

(b. 1965) Nathalie Mba Bikoro (b. 1985)

Nnenna Okore Nnenna Okore (born 1975 in Canberra, Australia) is an Australian-born Nigerian artist who lives and works in Chicago at North Park University, Chicago. Her largely abstract sculptural forms are inspired by richly textured forms and colors with ...

(b. 1975) Olufemi Oyewole (b. 1986) Wallace Ejoh (b. 1966)

References

External links

Official website for Omenka Gallery
{{Authority control Nigerian art Art museums and galleries in Lagos Tourist attractions in Lagos Cultural venues in Lagos Contemporary art galleries in Africa