Ade Adekola was one of the participants in the Lagos Photo Festival 2014
The Sand Dredger.
About:
Ade Adekola is a conceptual artist living in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was born in Nigeria and raised both there and in the United Kingdom. He graduated in 1992 from the Architectural Association in London specializing in architecture, and design.
Ade uses photography in many of his pieces. His photography experience spans two decades of experimentation, however the theme of capturing images with an emphasis on looking beyond what the eye would normally see has been a constant.
Broom Vendor at Empire State.
Looking at the works, it takes only an artistic mind to appreciate how
Gerad at Helm.
Using juxtapositions and often pairing distant cultural environments Adekola creates a dichotomy that makes for visually striking images. Street environment and architectural landmarks highlight a myriad of global differences and complexities; the resulting work is compelling and pulls the viewer into the image.
Madrass in the Square.
Of course, if you were told that Adekola’s works beautifully capture transitory scenes that the ordinary passer-by may fail to register, those who were at the exhibition witnessed it. Beyond that, his works ask questions about identity, culture and the social zeitgeist.
Prais Crier.
“What l, try to do is to change people’s perception about photographs. What inspires me is to offer visual imageries in a way that makes you change your perception. If I make you change your perception, I can make you change the way you behave, the way you see things and the way you understand things”, Adekola explained.
The Okada.
He also uses his photography as means advocacy. “If I can make you change the way you behave through the images, hopefully one day, I can encourage people to do something positively to change the world”.
Despite the fact that there are photographs on face-book, newspapers, cell phones, and everybody is familiar with photographs, but Adekola does something to the image to arrest people’s attention.
Adekola’s inspiration looks ordinary but unique. “My inspiration comes from what happened in one ideal environment. I use my work to engage people and re-orientate their values for a better society”, he said.
Beyond the inspiration, when you look at his works, you wonder how a trained architect who never went to an art school does better in the arts than trained visual artists.
Egungun at Chapel.
“I have been in a few exhibitions in the UK, USA, and Germany. I started painting as a hobby. I am an architect by profession. I did not go to Arts School. For me, I work with ideas. I studied philosophy and cybernetics. For me it is the ideas that I find a way to express”.
Yet, his creativity calls for the need for a group of people to re-awaken on appetites and consciousness of Arts. “And that has to be done by doing something different”, he insisted.
(from an article in Business Day, July 20, 2014, written by Obinna Emelike).