Phases and Faces

Pacers Gallery is pleased to present Adulphina Imuede’s Phases and Faces, the sophomore solo exhibition by the Lagos based mixed-media painter. Her paintings reveal a skillful and sensitive approach to imaginative portraiture. Her composite figures are the result of line precision and free brushwork which incorporate elements of fantasy into self-effacing realism.

Phases and Faces continues the painter and watercolourist’s refinement of her inventive powers. Although there are stylistic similarities to her previous works, two things differ. One, the artist uses acrylic more generously, a departure from her primarily oil-based creations. Two, this series was borne out of uncertainty, digging into depths previously unexplored by Adulphina. Phases and Faces asks what audacious hope looks like in the face of unavoidable disruption.

Phases and Faces marks Adulphina Imuede’s entry into the unknown. The work takes inspiration from illustrative expressions through artists like Audrey Kawasaki and Florian Nicolle. She recontextualizes them by creating with traditional tools, while infusing them with a sense of whimsy.

With oil and acrylic, Imuede invites us all into the possibilities of self discovery within ourselves and within others. Inspired by uncertainty, Phases and Faces is Imuede refocusing the volatility of her physical environment into something clear, hopeful and even beautiful. The works are a tribute to grace. The audience is dared to look and find something they didn’t even know they needed.

Emotions take center stage. Equal importance is assigned to the need to be clear and open eyed, as it is to close one’s eyes and dream fiercely. Dreams after all are what push Imuede’s work, especially in times of unprecedented global uncertainty, where chaos has defined our realities for what feels like an unending time. Faces and Phases mines through the rubble as a quest, at once situating the personal with the universal desire for peace, beauty and clarity.

July 16 – August 3, 2022