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  • Beyond Veils, Group Exhibition
    Tizta Berhanu, Shared Melancholy , Oil on Canvas, 47 x 45 Inches, 2022.

    Beyond Veils

    Group Exhibition 5 March - 6 April 2024

    Rele, Lagos is pleased to present Beyond Veils a group exhibition presenting works from Progress Nyandoro (Zimbabwe), Sedireng Mothibatsela (Botswana), Tizta Berhanu (Ethiopia) and Diana Ejaita (Nigeria/Italy).


    Beyond Veils is an examination of existence through an engagement with inner landscapes of the body, mind and the otherworldly. From the surreal to the spiritual, works in this exhibition transcends the corporeality of the body in engaging with the intimate, often changing and highly contested world of the interior narrating real-life experiences like intimacy, mutual relation, agency and the experience of knowledge.

     

     

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  • Mapping Structures: Across Worlds, Los Angeles
    Patrick Akpojotor, Sunset in Jumeirah, Acrylic on Canvas, 77 x 20 Inches, 2022.

    Mapping Structures: Across Worlds

    Los Angeles 27 February - 30 March 2024

    The three-dimensional space plays a fundamental role in our perception and understanding of the physical world. It establishes points of existence, movement and relation between objects. From different theories on its mode of existence — as an entity on its own, a relationship between entities, or part of a conceptual framework —  the three-dimensional space serves as the structural basis for the creation of tangible realities. Whole communities, economies and modes of living arise from the construction, organization and movement of objects within diverse spatial contexts. How then do we understand the multiple realities of being and existing, access and movement, within this three-dimensionality?

     
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  • Peju Alatise: We came with the last Rain, London
    Peju Alatise, This Other Side (V),Wood, plaster cast with resin, acrylic paint, mild steel, stainless-steel mirror. (Window size- 48 x 48 x 5 Inches), 2022

    Peju Alatise: We came with the last Rain

    London 21 February - 23 March 2024

    Dear Sim, 

    It rains in my dreams. Every time I close my eyes, I see rain. Big fat glistening silver droplets. 

    Do you remember when we asked our good witch how the clouds become rain? She said the clouds were wings of children that have never visited earth. She said when the children wash their dirty wings, it rains on us. But we didn't believe her; there is no dirt in the sky!

    SIM! She is not entirely wrong. Last night I dreamed of rain yet again. Wind swept me up sky high. And I saw it for myself. There are many types of clouds. There are special clouds that are floating babies sleeping in nests like smoke. 

    Orunmenitomala took me from Wind and walked me through Orun. Sim, the nests look like smoke but they are really music, strings of music tightly woven together. The music keeps the babies asleep. Orunmenitomala did not speak but I understood all. Orun's words are in the music. 

     

     
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  • What's in a Name?, Los Angeles
    IyunOla Sanyaolu, A daisy by any other name won't smell as sweet, Oil on Canvas, 42 x 66 Inches, 2023.

    What's in a Name?

    Los Angeles 20 January - 24 February 2024

    Naming forms a very complex and vital part of human culture and language. From its political uses in acts of erasure and reclaiming to its practical and intimate roles within private and public spaces, names serve to allude to and confirm the presence of a thing. The naming or re-naming of a thing helps to establish an existing identity or herald a new one. In several African societies, names often reflect cultural, religious and ethnic identity. Often designed as an elaborate ceremony that happens days after birth and involves contributions from extended family and community, the naming of a child is a sacred act that can reflect the family's hopes, beliefs, situations and values.


    To commemorate the opening of Rele’s new space in Los Angeles, the gallery presents work by represented artists in dialogue with the concept of naming, mainly by exploring their own names. 

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  • Young Contemporaries 2024, Lagos

    David Ngaji, Parable of the last man, Oil on Canvas, 48 x 48 Inches, 2023

    Young Contemporaries 2024

    Lagos 7 January - 10 February 2024

    The Rele Arts Foundation is pleased to present the 9th edition of the Young Contemporaries programme. Initiated in 2016, the programme identifies, mentors and promotes early-career artists from Africa, by equipping them with tools and resources for artistic development.

     

    Each year, the Foundation guides artists via its boot camp and residency programme in Ado-Ekiti towards the creation of critical projects, encouraging innovative explorations of existing inquiries as well as the birth of fresh ideas. This year, the artists received guidance under the mentorship of Dr. Ugochukwu-Smooth Nzewi (Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture at MOMA, NewYork).

     

     

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  • It's A wRap, Group Exhibition
    Marcellina Akpojotor, Dear Elizabeth, 2023, Fabric, Paper and Acrylic on Canvas, 60 x 48 in

    It's A wRap

    Group Exhibition 5 - 31 December 2023

    LAGOS (DECEMBER 5 - DECEMBER 31, 2023)

     

    The exhibition delves into the intricate interiority that characterizes sober reflections on endings and the cyclical nature of beginnings. This exhibition mirrors the nuanced and contemplative journey towards closure, inviting viewers to contemplate personal and collective conclusions and the aftermath–the conclusion of one phase emerging as a threshold and marking the inception of another.

     

    It features works that compellingly position figures–some in a stance of defiant retreat–creating a thought-provoking visual narrative that serve as focal points within the artworks, offering a nuanced exploration of human emotions and responses to endings. Endings, portrayed as reflective moments, unveil the transformative power that resides within farewells and the cycle that continues afterwards.

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  • Art Basel Miami 2023, 'An Attempt At Rest' - Ndidi Emefiele
    Ndidi Emefiele, Afternoon Shower III, 2023, Acrylic and Compact Disk on Canvas, 120 x 120 cm,

    Art Basel Miami 2023

    'An Attempt At Rest' - Ndidi Emefiele

    DECEMBER 8 - 10, 2023  |  NOVA BOOTH N3, ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH

     

    For Art Basel Miami Beach 2023, Rele Gallery will present a solo presentation of a new body of work titled An attempt at rest by UK-based Nigerian artist Ndidi Emefiele. 

     

    Primarily concerned with the notion of the Black woman at rest, the series presents layered scenes of relaxation and idleness in contrast to misogynist systems that allow for the exploitation and undervaluation of the work of women. Emefiele draws from her experiences growing up in Nigeria, in an environment where girls and women are overworked and held to higher standards than their male counterparts. 

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