Untitled

Tola Wewe studied painting at the University of Ife between 1979 and 1983. There, he began to locate his art in Yoruba history and culture, and then attended an MA program in African Visual Arts at the University of Ibadan. He was one of the five founding members of the Ona group (including UW-Madison graduate Dr. Moyo Okediji, PhD Art History 1995). His first solo exhibition was held in Lagos in 1990. His early work included naturalist scenes of daily life in Lagos, he later began simplifying his forms and making his subjects more conceptual. In 1999, he began a series inspired by Ifa shrine paintings. The patterns apparent in this work and others have different symbolism. “Rather than invite comprehensive analyses,” UW-Madison PhD Janine A. Sytsma wrote in her 2014 dissertation on the Ona group, “the work is designed to facilitate contemplation of the human condition broadly.” Motifs are based on Yoruba oral traditions and visual arts, along with “other West African ideographic systems, including Akan adinkra and Efik nsibidi.”