Chibụike Ụzọma (b. 1992, Port Harcourt, Nigeria), is a multidisciplinary
artist working with painting, photography, drawing, text, and video,
living and working in New Haven, Connecticut.
Documented here are sixteen of the artist's large paintings rendered in
oil and acrylic or acrylic spray paint on canvas, made in 2022.
Accompanying an exhibition of the same name at Simon Lee Gallery,
London, the first solo exhibition of his work in the UK, this
publication is the fourth pillar of a collaborative project by the
artist, setting his own paintings in relation to video and audio works
by Edward Owens and João Orecchia respectively. Ụzọma works with
non-linear narratives, using a mix of painting languages that dodges and
weaves the liminal spaces between representation and meaning. Fragments
of stenciled letters jolt against textured pools of paint, and
diaphanous figures are cropped by cinematic horizons. Comprising
colorful, abstruse portraiture against stark black and white
backgrounds, the paintings in "To Kick a Stone" are deeply suggestive,
but ultimately formalist explorations of shape and composition.
An introduction by Kat Sapera, Director of Simon Lee Gallery, draws upon
her first encounters with the artist and details the influence of
philosophy and the act of looking. Sapera brings the collaboration with
Orecchia and Owens to the forefront of her discussion while touching on
Ụzọma's making processes.
In an essay by Ụzọma, the artist himself writes lyrically upon subjects
including poetry, religion, good and evil, in order to bring a number of
key concepts that circle his work into the field of view.
Essays by Bishupal Limbu, Associate Professor of English at Portland
State University, and by Carlos Valladares, writer and critic, help
amass a portrait of an artist whose inquiry is informed by film,
philosophy, and pictorial language--with the layering, unraveling, and
opening-up of narrative as a core focus. Their writing brings key art
historical figures into dialogue with Ụzọma's work.
Lastly, the artist appears in conversation with writer and curator Ekow
Eshun. This frank and illuminating conversation provides insight into
the artist's painting practice, previous series of works and intentions,
while also discussing issues of identity and Blackness. Their interview
further reflects on past exhibitions, connections with other key
artists, and Ụzọma's recent MFA studies at Yale.
Published on the occasion of the exhibition Chibụike Ụzọma - To Kick a
Stone, 19 January - 25 February 2023, Simon Lee Gallery, London.
Edited by Kat Sapera, designed by Joe Gilmore, printed by Pressision,
Leeds and co-published in 2023 by Simon Lee Gallery and Anomie
Publishing, London.
