Rele Gallery, Los Angeles is pleased to present its summer show Present Minded a group exhibition featuring works from contemporary African artists: Ameh Egwuh, Kenny Maro, Sabrina Coleman-Pinheiro, and Sedireng Mothibatsela.
Running from August 5th 2022 through September 3rd 2022, Present Minded is a reflection on being; amidst life's continuation. Each of the artists uses personal narratives to discuss their relationships with life's permanence and foibles, with themes ranging from memory to the afterlife. This is Rele Gallery's 5th group show in the Los Angeles Space.
Ameh Egwuh showcases work from his series Fantasies of the Other Side, which can be described asa meditation on death and the afterlife. Egwuh uses color and spatial compositions to present vivid scenes of the otherworldly filled with metaphorical imagery and expressionless figures. His paintings feature illogical, surreal scenes lending a dreamlike yet decidedly materialist feel to his works. Egwuh situates his characters in serene, fantasy spaces echoing his belief in the afterlife as 'a happy space;' as well as a site of remembrance rather than a singular place or narrative.
Exploring elements of Surrealism and Afrofuturism, Kenny Maro creates sci-fi landscapes that critique the communications disconnect often present in today's technology use. His series 'Emoji Assimilation' appropriates emojis as a commentary on the difficulty that arises in deciphering real-time emotions when communicating digitally. Kenny Maro combines this critique with reflections on struggle and resiliency to depict pursuits of success.
Voyeurism and mental illness are explored in Sabrina Coleman-Pinheiro's series Fragmented Versions of Self. Her textured paintings contrast silhouetted spectral bodies with achromatic vacuous space; representing personal mental health struggles and the accompanying "pain, madness and trauma." Fragmented Version of Self invites viewers to revel in their own vulnerabilities whilst critically examining the societal practice of looking, observing and disregarding.
Sedireng Mothibatsela combines Abstract Minimalism and Realism in her series We Need More Memories, as she juxtaposes reality against imagination. Mothibatsela uses layered and intricately textured compositions to create a hybrid space for activating memory; her work presents objects as containers and repositories of memories and personal histories. Mothibatsela works across diverse mediums and stylistic forms, interrogating both materiality and technique.
