Art House: Chamberlain Ukenedo Displays Uniqueness In Silent Voices Exhibition

Follow the petals, where do they lead? They usher the art lover into the quintessence gallery in Lagos and stop at ‘I rise, I shine’ a 36 by 48 mixed media painting done by Chamberlain Ukenedo, which is one out of the many other works of art seen in this hall.

In this show, this artist looks at the unsaid, what people convey through their expressions instead of making a meal about it with words.

Chamberlain works mostly on pastel and mixed media and he focuses on individuals in his painting.

The features in most of his pieces are exaggerated, depending on the message they are trying to convey for instance in ‘all eyes on me’ a lady is striking a pose with her hands on her chin, while in ‘will you marry me? ’ The eyes are a bit subdued, the mouth pensive and the hands folded together like someone who is expectant.

The twist here is that it’s the lady who has the question on her mind but the words can’t come out because she’s not expected to do the asking.

Those are the things this artist is trying to unravel. Sometimes people have a lot to say but words fail them, but the artist tries to encourage people to read between the lines, as not everyone can say the words and it may not be their fault.

Don’t come out or can’t come out, that is the case in save me and I am fine two different painting with shades of blue and green, the blue painting reveals a gloomy picture while the green is showing someone who wants everything to be fine but she is far from fine as tears flow down her cheeks.

Bringing all these emotions is chamberlain’s way of adding spice to the Shakespearian theory that one cannot tell the art’s construction on the face, society should learn to listen more and stop loving the sound of their voices.

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