Affinity Art Gallery presents Coalesce: a duo exhibition by two contemporary artists from Africa whose works exist in the space between realism, figurative and abstract expressionism: Damilola Onosowobo Marcus and Daniel Pengrapher Oshundaro.

The exhibition mirrors the transience of time and is a meditation on drawing out the strains between isolation and contact. The word Coalesce means to unite, to come together, to form a whole. This definition creates the starting point for this exhibition.

The artists explore themes around Solitude, Waiting, Isolation, Rest, and taking into consideration what was, what is and what is to be. Recently, conversations about time have dominated discussions within our communities, and these conversations border on the realms of what is familiar and unfamiliar. Coalesce inspires dialogues on the concepts of isolation, contact and considers the emotional and physical effects this has on us.

Created during this period of unprecedented uncertainty and vulnerability, this selection of works reveals both artists’ ability to draw from a nexus of ideas to produce a distinctive and experiential body of works.

Damilola Onosowobo’s work uncovers questions bordering on perceptions of reality and lived experiences. Through the subtle use of tropes, composition, colours, light, and subject, she pulls together her artistic configurations and reconceptualises them within a modern cultural setting. Her works intend to initiate discourse that asks the question, “What memories are triggered by isolation?”. She looks to capture an obvious candidness in her subjects while permitting much room for translation and interpretation from the viewers.

The figures in Daniel Pengraphers canvases are bound within abstract and textured flourishes of paint leaning towards the abstract expressionism movement. His latest body of work presents classical compositions of balanced polychromatic sequences that are imaginative and adorned with symbolism. Encountering the work of Daniel Pengrapher is a peculiar, unsettling experience as if the viewer has intruded into a space and a moment to which they are alien yet familiar.

Coalesce examines the fusion of private and public memories, challenging the human mind capacity to recollect and remember experiences.

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