Tola Wewe displays ‘Sweet Sixteen'

Wewe

Renowned Nigerian artist Tola Wewe has revealed to Arts and Culture Place in an interview that he is set to have his solo art exhibition entitled Sweet Sixteen on Saturday 26 to 30, September, at Moorhouse, 1, Bankole Oki Road, Ikoyi, Lagos. 

Wewe states that the exhibition will be featuring 16 paintings and 16 terracotta pieces which look like painting. It is significant that this outing is coming exactly 16 years after the last exhibition of the artist at Alliance Francaise. He emphasised that figure 16 is playing a significant role in this show. “The last time I had an exhibition with them (Alliance Française) was in 1999, that is exactly 16 years ago, and when they asked me the title of the exhibition, I told them Sweet Sixteen.” 

Revealing the spirituality in the works, he said: “Figure 16 has a numerical significant meaning in Yoruba land. 16 is perfection. The figure 16 has great spiritual connotation in the Yoruba traditional religion corpus. Sixteen is 4 x 4 where 4 stands for perfection. When repeated in 4 places, Excellence is achieved. That is the numeric of the spiritual dimension.

From the images Wewe presented during the interview session, those coming to see the work will see lots of nudity, and the celebration of the finest in the artistic study of human anatomy. He curves, rich colours, and motifs, creating amazing tactile sensation and effects. 

Daughter of the River

“Be assured that the "Sweet Sixteen" depicted in tantalizing forms on canvas by Tola Wewe are ready to adorn the walls of public and private institutions in Nigeria and abroad. The artist is welcoming every art lover, art patrons, art collectors, gallery owners, institutional and private collectors to this auspicious event,” said Art Critic and Marketing Communications Guru, Wole Akinyemi.