Wole Lagunju is a 1986 graduate of Fine arts and graphic design at the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. Lagunju’s hybrid paintings of traditional Gelede masks which are juxtaposed with images of the modern woman in the Western world redefine the forms and philosophies of Yoruba visual art and design. He reimagines and transforms cultural icons appropriated from the Dutch Golden, Elizabethan as well as the fifties and sixties, Euro-American eras.
6.00 ETH
Study of a Crested Figure
10% of Royalties to Artist
The work is inspired by a Gelede mask, which is morphed into the portraiture and torso of a man thereby creating the intangibility of a metaphysical being. You may of course know that my work borrows icons/iconography from Yoruba culture, West Africa. This particular mask is adorned atop with a python signifying the rainbow, or 'esumare'. Esumare is an Orisha or god of the rainbow who inspires the creation of the piece.
