The palette of Uzoma Samuel

By: Mathew B. Oyedele

His studio walls were barely empty except for a painting that drapes a corner of the studio. He was working on a portrait of two women who wore bright expressions on their faces. I was about to ask him why his works were not on display when he delved into a corner of his studio and took me on a voyage of ankara interaction. I could not refuse the captivating rhythm that encapsulated my mind from his artistic oeuvre.

I came across his works through the social media and I was attracted by his intricate use of Ankara as a medium of expression. I studied his works as he uploaded them at intervals and made an appointment to visit him in his studio. “My use of ankara is something that came from the blood. It was a gift from my mother. I think she passed that gift to me indirectly. Instead of me becoming a tailor, I see myself sewing those clothes on canvas”; this was his response when I asked him about his discovery of the medium.

Uzoma is not a social commentator or a voyeur. He positions himself as a poet of materials who synthesizes his medium with his figures and tells stories with the faces of people. His models are either facing a spectator directly, looking outside the frames or backing a spectator and they are usually female figures. Mostly executed in portrait form, his figures are individualistic- each model is presented in a world of her own.

He reduces the distance in time between a spectator and his work. The model offers the spectator her taste, will and her person; the spectator on the other hand observes the model with keen interest in who she is, what she has, and what she represents. The role of colour in his works cannot be over-emphasized. He has no way of diluting the rigid colours of his medium but he carefully selects his colours to create an engaging chiaroscuro. He places sharp bright colours against the dark to create depth and emphasis and pays much attention to details with his treatment of intricate lines in his works.
 

One work particularly caught my attention in his studio; “Adaobi”, a portrait of a young lady who sits against a dark background while facing an illuminating light that reflects on her body. Her expression is neither truculent nor stern but vividly centered on the focused perspective. The granules of patterns, colours, and shapes that cohered on the canvas to breathe life into the work got me communicating with myself. The content of the work is literal but the form is attractive.

Uzoma confides that he was exposed to the world of art properly in the University. He attended the University of Port-Harcourt where he unconsciously found himself employing the use of collage technique in his assignments. It was at this decisive period that he got close to his lecturer, Ike Francis who is also a collage artist. He worked with him and took some lessons from him. Ike Francis later took Uzoma to George Edozie who saw his future in fabrics and widened his understanding.

He has participated in joint and group exhibitions in Nigeria, South-Africa, Mali, London and China. His solo exhibition in 2016 was a live procession of Chinese terracotta warriors in Lagos, Nigeria after his sojourn to China.  

  

The Nigerian art scene has witnessed an influx of mavericks and traditionalists who softens conventional boundaries through the exploration of diverse media and constant interrogation of aesthetic principles. Uzoma Samuel is one of those artists. He is a Nigerian contemporary artist whose works penetrate the boundary between Africa and Asia through his exploration of Ankara as a viable medium of artistic expression. He is currently the Nigerian representative for World Contemporary Artists (WCA), a rapid growing arts association that aims to unite the diversities of the world with contemporary arts and connect artists in a cultural dialogue.