City Scape and City Dwellers II
Chike Obeagu, Nigerian, born 1975
2015
Mixed media; painting and collage
Overall: 94 7/8 × 72 1/16 in. (241 × 183 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Hazen, by exchange
2015.16
Geography
Place Made: Nigeria, Western Africa, Africa
Period
21st century
Object Name
Painting
Research Area
Africa
Painting
Not on view
Label
Chike Obeagu uses collage to explore human interaction and urban politics in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja. According to the artist, the city acts as a microcosm for the country, bringing different people, ideologies, and classes together in a common space. In City Scape and City Dwellers II, Obeagu layers the canvas with various textual and photographic newspaper and magazine fragments, creating a complex and contorted scene. Figures huddle on the left side of the composition, each a fusion of images from different printed media. One woman in the center of the composition looks directly out at the viewer. She wears garments pasted with magazine texts relating to beauty ideals: "Asking for it"; "All you Need is Great Hair"; and "Great Expectations." What does this language imply about social constructs of beauty on a global scale? What does the text suggest about the role of race in different beauty markets? From the 2020 exhibition A Space for Dialogue 98, Vision 2020: What Do You See?, curated by Devon Mifflin '21, Levinson Intern for Campus Engagement
Course History
SART 31, SART 72, Painting II, III, Colleen Randall, Spring 2015
Exhibition History
Inventory: New Works and Conversations around African Art, Friends Gallery/Owen Robertson Cheatham Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 16-March 13, 2016.
Vision 2020: What Do You See?, A Space for Dialogue 98, Devon D. Mifflin, Levinson Intern, Class of 2021, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 11-March 1, 2020.
Publication History
Devon D. Mifflin, A Space for Dialogue 98, Vision 2020, What Do You See?, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2020.
Provenance
The artist [through Expressions Art Place, Abuja, Nigeria]; sold to present collection, 2015.
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