Onwuka exhibits in Uk

My work is a marriage of beauty and decay.
My perception of the world is that it is like a
great
stage, with phenomenon of qualities or
attributes that range from beauty to decay.
My art tries to fuse these qualities together
by transmuting the viewer's observation
back and forth between extremes."
These are the words of Nyemike Onwuka, a
Nigerian painter who held an exhibition at
the Arc Gallery, London, last week.
Tagged 'Elegant Urban Decay', it is the first
in a series of exhibitions aimed at
celebrating Nigeria's 50th Independence
anniversary.
A report says the works draw extensively
from the "binary relationship/duality of
beauty and decomposition, a realm of
inspiration the artist is very eager to
reflect."
Among other recent engagements, Onwuka
participated at Bonham and Butterfields'
Africa Now auction, which held in New York
in March.
Women feature prominently in the artist's
works and, within the current collection,
they are used to create a disjunction
between the attractive subjects and artistic
techniques that are not conventionally
associated with beauty.
"Onwuka's traditionally beautiful and
elegant feminine bodies are juxtaposed
with a certain brashness and rusticity of
bushstrokes, and in parts, the burnishing of
the painted image to reveal the canvas
underneath," the report adds.