lawson oyekan

Nicht erst seit seiner Auszeichnung mit dem Golden Award bei der 1st World Ceramic Biennale in Korea genießt Lawson Oyekan mit seinen filigranen Kunstwerken Weltruf. Einige der bekanntesten Museen der Welt zeigen ihn in ihrer ständigen Sammlung, seine Manifestationen des eigenen Körpers aus Keramik und Ton führen den Betrachter auf immer neue, eigene Weise durch die Welt des Künstlers.

Tony Franks, Präsident der Internationalen Akademie der Keramik und Professor am Edingburgh College of Art sagte anlässlich der Preisverleihung:

"Den ersten Preis gewann der Nigerianer Lawson Oyekan mit einem monumentalen Stück aus gesinteter Terrakotta, das sowohl Hinweise auf eine organische Form birgt, als auch auf die landestypische Architektur seines Heimatlandes. Der Titel "Healing Being" suggeriert körperliche Anspielungen dieses großen, fein gebauten Stückes, denn die Lochungen und die Ritzungen , mit denen es verziert ist, führen den Blick des Betrachters und das Licht durch die Oberfläche ins Innere seines höhlenartigen, tönenden Brustkorbes. Diese Plastik hat eine eindringliche Präsenz, sowohl körperlich als auch mystisch.

Zu seinen Arbeiten lassen wir ihn weiterhin am besten selbst Stellung beziehen, allerdings im englischen "Originalton":

Outside - Coming Up For Air

My latest work, Outside - Coming up for Air, is an extension of the Trial with Light series. The work is a physical representation of the dynamic experience of coming up for air and is a symbol of human indestructibility, survival - and of the process of healing. Each piece is a constitution of elements that embody the rigours of survival. A kind of drama where all aspects relate to one another. The holes to the textural descriptions. The slabs to the whole form. The light shining through the perforations to the sound of wind whistling. A drama that relates my experience as a human being.

The pieces are self-portraits. They are derived descriptions of what it is to be human. The different elements of the pieces represent moments of experience - fragments of chaos, which I have captured and put together to form a whole, thus creating an experience of regeneration and healing.The holes represent sharp jabs of experience, yet they are also windows that allow essential light and air into the very core of the piece thus dissipating the darkness, giving clarity of vision and the ability to breathe. Starting a process of healing.

The construction of the work, using overlapping scales of flat slabs, conveys a sense of fragility, but actually creates a network that strengthens the structure of the pieces. My intent is to express human endurance and deliver a message of reassurance. That human suffering can be healed. Like the passage of light shining into darkness, the process of questioning and understanding helps us heal ourselves from the injuries of experience. Ultimately, it is that process I wish to trigger through my work. The Outside - Coming Up for Air series has been created on the Island of Fyn in Denmark between 2000-2002 at Tommerup Bygningskeramik. The series comprises both male and female pieces and includes the award-winning Healing Being. The pieces are more than 200 cm tall with a diameter of 68 - 80 cm. They are made of iron bearing German clay and are slab built.

vita

Geburtsort

1961 South London, England

Ausbildung

1988-1990 Royal College of Art, London. (Master of Art)

1985-1988 Central School of Art, London. (Bachelor of Art) 1st-class

Auszeichnungen

1989 Darwin Scholarship Award, Royal College of Art, London

1991 Fletcher Challenge Award of Merit, Neuseeland

2000 Membership International de la Ceramique, Genf, Schweiz

2001 Grand Prix Award, 1st World Ceramic Biennale 2001, Ichon, Korea

Ausstellungen

1994 The Raw & The Cooked, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford GB Taipei International Exhibition of Ceramics 1994, Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taiwan The Raw & The Cooked, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea GB Volle Runde, Galerie Achim Kubinski, Stuttgart D Oyekan, Kosuth und Steinbach, Galerie Achim Kubinski, Stuttgart D Asekun Se Kun Un, Galerie Herrmann, Stuttgart D (S)

1995 British Ceramics, Galerie L, Hamburg D Lawson Oyekan, Leicester City Gallery, Leicester GB (S) The Raw & The Cooked, Shigaraki Ceramic Sculpture Park, Japan Lawson Oyekan, Osiris Gallery, Botier Gallery 12, Brussel B The Raw & The Cooked, Musée d'Art Contemporain de Dunkerque Lawson Oyekan, curated Anthony Hepworth Fine Arts/ Gallery Brutton, Bath, Avon Around & Around, Espace Doual'Art. Pagode (ehem. Palast von König Manga Bell), Douala, Kamerun. Kuratoren: Herrmann & Achim Kubinski