Johnson Eziefula

Overview

Johnson Eziefula, Last Shuttle Home, 2022, acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 152.4 x 121.9 cm

Johnson Eziefula paints an expressionistic wonder. Each painting is a unique and captivating portrayal of the human experience, with its hidden autobiographical narratives borne out of memories, expertly rendered through Charcoal; black porcelain-like skin tones, imbuing the hazy textured paintings with a sense of personal history and identity. Through his art, Johnson Eziefula has created a space to process and express his feelings, using color, drama and symbolisms to add emotional weight to the works, resulting in a compelling and moving body of work.

Eziefula has created a deeply personal yet universally resonant body of work by exploring memory, pain, and loss. This therapeutic process has allowed him to capture memories of self and oneness, a full cathartic release of emotions. Amidst the complexity of modern life, Eziefula's recent works also reflect his desire for a simpler, more nostalgic time. He seeks to capture the emotions and memories of a time that seems distant yet ever-present in his mind. He laments the short-lived time spent and rush of experiences all the while through his child-to-early adulthood following the loss of a loved one. Thus, this longing for a more straightforward way of life adds another layer of meaning to his deeply emotive works.

As viewers experience Eziefula's paintings, they are engulfed with a feeling of absence and vacancy, almost as if the paintings say, "it was once here but no longer here." These works are both a reminder and testament of the artist's experiences and emotional state, a true reflection of his journey.

Overall, Johnson Eziefula's present body of work is a tour de force of contemporary art, showcasing his creative and emotional depth, through dramatic paintings impregnated with muted colors together with moody human figures engrossed in the moment, often within familiar domestic settings. Through his visual perspective and brilliant illustrations, Johnson invites viewers to reflect on their experiences and emotions, creating a powerful and moving encounter that is not to be missed.

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Biography

I find my major inspiration as an artist in a mix of my environment and its components. Environment in this case goes beyond my immediate physical environment. But as far as a totally different region or space, the world as of today has grown smaller and we’re much more interconnected than ever before. — Johnson Eziefula

Johnson Eziefula (b. 1998) found the earliest influences for his art through illustrations in works of canonical African literature, such as Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, Chike & the River, and various anthologies of African poetry. He is a self-described naturalist painter who aims to capture the essence of the human condition. Blurring the lines between figuration and expressionism, the artist's works explore themes of identity, cultural hybridity, and the human psyche. Eziefula has created a dark, monochromatic painterly style of his subjects that has come to be a signature of his work.

In 2021, he obtained a Bachelors degree in Pharmacy at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. Eziefula has exhibited his works widely across major cities including London, New York, Miami, Brussels, Paris, Lisbon and Stockholm, among others. In 2022, he had his debut solo exhibition at MARUANI MERCIER. His works appear in several important collections including Pérez Art Museum, Miami, FL, the Xiao Museum of Rizhao, China, Onassis Collection, Athens, Greece, Buxton Contemporary, Southbank, Australia, and Salon 94 Private Collection, USA, among others.

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Works