‘Trashing' opens in Lagos

An exhibition of new mix media and painterly installations by Osahenye Kainebi titled “Trashing” opened at the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Yaba, Lagos, yesterday (September 12). A collaboration between the CCA and Osahenye Kainebi Studios, the exhibition will close on October 10.

The Lagos-based artist, who has been practicing for over 20 years, uses this new body of works to further his breaking into new frontiers with his paintings. The works indicate an exit from his usual neo-expressionist paintings to conceptual art that leans towards an installation-oriented route.

Themes and purpose

In “Trashing,” the artist, whose works usually have political, religious, existential and everyday themes, explores new suggestive art. Kainebi expands his theme to cover issues such as globalisation, consumerism, inhumanity and the environment, the central focus of the exhibition.

As the title suggest, the exhibition artistically explores the different implications of the infinitive “to trash,” including destruction, abuse, rejection and waste. The exhibition also aims to serve a reawakening reminder of man’s disregard for others and his environment.

Style and commitment

The artist uses a variety of materials which include newspapers, spray paint, charcoal, flattened cans and enamel for his mix media works. He uses cans, cut plastic bottles, flags and fishing-hook line in creating his installations.

The most ambitious work in the exhibition, a ceiling to wall installation titled “Casualties,” made of thousands of burnt cans, is less about the importance of recycling than the thought such sights could evoke.

Kainebi said this of seeing the burnt cans near a refuse site close to a hotel in Auchi, Edo State: “I was instantly confronted with thoughts of war, cruelty, pain, anguish, displacement, melancholy and deformity, and I started conceiving ways to install this large scale work to express the force and the power I felt.”

Kainebi was born in Agbor, Delta State, and studied painting at Auchi Polytechnic. He lives and works in Lagos and maintains a studio in Auchi. His 20-year career includes group and solo exhibitions and residencies in Nigeria (Harmattan Workshop in Delta State) and the US (School of Visual Art, Vermont).

His works have featured in exhibitions in Nigeria, Germany and Senegal.