By Udemma Chukwuma
Look first at the figure on the ground. At the entrance of Arami Lagos, a young man crouches on a low black plinth, a bubble wand at his lips, and from it, a stream of terracotta-toned spheres climbs toward the ceiling. Above him, two more figures leap through the air among bubbles suspended on fine wires, with the spheres growing larger the higher they rise.
Titled: Love in the Air. The
eye starts at the crouching figure on the black platform, follows the stream of
bubbles from his wand and climbs through the expanding spheres until it reaches
the two leaping figures near the ceiling. The wires holding the bubbles fall
like fine rain, making the composition read as one continuous gesture, from the
breath at the bottom to the reach at the top. The single terracotta tone ties
the figures and bubbles together, echoing the atrium's warm timber panelling, while the black ceiling and plinth frame the work at both ends.
One tension, however, is that the
bubbles are solid, glossy and weighty, carrying more gravity than the lightness
of soap bubbles suggests. At the top, where the spheres crowd thickest, the
figures are partly lost among them, and this busyness works against the clarity
of the lower composition. Even so, the idea comes through at a glance: one
person's breath fills the air for everyone else.
The piece by sculptor Adeniyi
Adewole Wasiu was unveiled on Thursday, 5 November 2026, at the start of Lagos
Art Week. Curated by SMO Contemporary Art and commissioned specifically for the
space, it fills the double-height entrance of Arami Lagos, a fine dining and
hibachi restaurant in Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria.
For Adewole, who was born in Ibadan
in 1994 and trained at Yaba College of Technology, the bubbles represent love.
They drift wherever the wind takes them and cannot be held, and any child may
catch one, regardless of background. He wants viewers to consider love as
something that should neither be guarded nor owned. At the unveiling, he
described it as “free and uncontrolled.”
The sculpture is intended to take
visitors back to their own childhood, recalling the simple pleasure of playing
with bubbles.
The idea draws from Adewole's
upbringing in the familiar “face me, I face you” tenements, where several
families shared one compound and any child was everyone's child. Set against
today's more enclosed urban life, the work recalls the idea that raising a
child takes a village. The growing bubbles carry a similar thought: a small act
of love expands when shared.
The commission also marks a significant
step in the artist's practice. His largest earlier works stood around six feet,
while this is his first above-life-size sculpture featuring multiple figures.
It began as a single form, but Adewole soon recognised that children rarely
play alone, and the work developed into a three-figure composition, his first
completed compositional sculpture.
The bubbles proved the most
demanding part of the process. So many were needed that they had to be moulded
repeatedly. After experimenting with silicone and fibreglass, he settled on
plaster of Paris, which allowed him to produce them more quickly.
Sandra Mbanefo Obiago, founder of
SMO Contemporary Art and Arami's art curator, says Adewole spent six months
working on the commission. Her platform specialises in placing art in
unconventional settings, bringing it to audiences who might not ordinarily
visit museums or dedicated art spaces.
Diana Nwandu, director of Arami
Lagos, described the installation as the “first of its kind in our
custom-designed gallery space”. She said the restaurant hopes to bring
contemporary art and culinary creativity together within Lagos' dynamic
cultural scene.
Reflecting on the commission,
Adewole described the experience as one that stretched him professionally.
He hopes it will encourage younger African artists to explore larger works for
bespoke spaces and bring “our generation's perspectives into mainstream
conversations.”
Adewole's exhibition history
includes Crossroads at The Wheatbaker in 2022, the Young Contemporaries
Residency Exhibition at Rele Arts Foundation in 2023, Art Miabo in 2023, Art X
Lagos in 2025 and 2026, and Celebration at Arami Lagos in 2026.
Images: courtesy of SMO Contemporary Art. All rights reserved.
© Arts and Culture Place
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