The Wheatbaker Art Collection

Almanac Series( Ifo and Tole-tole), Charcoal, digital print and letterpress
30 x 42cm each , 2017

“I am intrigued by how the past and present coalesce. I attempt to make a statement on the future that concedes the interdependence of different moments in time. I explore these themes through painting, photography and printing, using archival materials to highlight personal stories against the
background of social and political events frozen in time and memory.

I engage the use of technology with the printing press, which I use as a metaphor for obsolete materials, transporting them into modern relevance, usurping outmoded machinery and tools such as printing cases, letterpress types, metal plates, rubber blocks and the stamping tool to generate new contemporary narratives.”

Kelani Abass
Kelani Abass

Kelani Abass

Kelani Abass (b 1979) is a multi-disciplinary artist from Nigeria, who studied at the Yaba College of Art and Technology in Lagos state, graduating in painting with distinction. Since then he has had four solo exhibitions, has taken part in several group exhibitions in Nigeria and South Africa. Kelani’s works probe difficult relations of belonging and identity. In addition to acrylic, oil, pastel and charcoal, he also explores the possibilities inherent in painting, photography, and printing to engage time and memory. He has won several awards and prizes including 1st prize in painting of the Caterina de Medici/3rd Black Heritage Prize (2010), and the Yusuf Grillo Award for best painting student at Yaba Tech (2007). He has taken part in several residencies, most recent being at the Headlands Center for the Arts in San-Francisco in October – November 2018, and is a member of the Society of Nigerian Artists.

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