Oct 31

Victoria Erioluwa

Victoria Erioluwa is a figurative painter who has exhibited internationally in Lagos, New York, Paris, and London. Her most recent exhibitions include venues such as Soto Gallery in Lagos, Southampton Fairgrounds in New York, Harmer Contemporary Gallery in London, and Mitochondrai Gallery in Texas. Victoria has been published by System magazine and was proclaimed first place prize winner at MANI Art competition for Women Artists. Her works remain in collections in Lagos, London, and the United States.

These extremely expressive and impressive impasto acrylic paintings convey a bridge between impressionism and art nouveau interpretations. Victoria portrays flat compositions with texture and stylizes her figures with a sense of sophistication of design principles with elaborate but flatten backgrounds which theatrically integrate with the subjects. Ranging from bright colors to muted earthy tones, her paintings depict figurative faces with just hints of their form, usually with darkened sunken eyes or even just conveyed through abstract brush strokes.

Ranging from interiors to landscapes to integrative patterns, Victoria’s subjects integrate with the composition through shared hues and impasto application of the paint. Expressive and rejuvenating, the figures interact with their surroundings and engage the viewer with psychologically-driven postures. The contrast in the paintings remains high with shadows depicted with dark tones ranging from black to indigo blue, creating an effect which stands out to the viewer.

My Angle II (pictured above) depicts a woman with decorative braided hair in a white dress against an interior which blends between landscape and structure. Victoria depicts foliage of indoor plants through patterns of wallpaper and cropped in the foreground. She depicts a window with abstracted streaks and portrays sunlight through a bright peach color. At first glance the painting may appear abstract but in fact depicts an intimate interior scene of a woman standing by the sunlight of a window.

Victoria Erioluwa discovers and expresses new interpretations for the human figure through symbolic representation. She paints her subjects through hints of form with heavy slushes of paint through a dynamic impasto technique. With the wet on wet application, she creates holistic compositions with figures which seem alive and engaging. With intuition and cleverly composed subject matter, Victoria portrays the figure through subtle expressions of delight and robust form, not through direct representation, but through unique brushwork and a grand layout.