"Nuance" by Victor Butler

"Nuance" by Victor Butler

Art! Art! and more Art! It’s the unofficial Art week here in Lagos and we kicked it off at Temple Muse on October 30th with the VIP preview of the highly anticipated solo exhibition by Ghanian artist, Victor Butler. This is Butler’s first time showcasing in Nigeria and we’re proud to have SMO Contemporary curate and exhibit his stunning 26-piece collection at our store.

Victor Butler (born 1964) is a self-taught artist with over 30 years of studio practice. His works have been exhibited internationally including in Canada, England, France, and the United States. He studied medicine and has worked at the cutting edge of auto mechanics, information technology, and furniture design. His impressive painting technique and deeply philosophical approach to life are evident in his surrealist style and subject matter.

Nuance shows the breadth of his signature surrealist style, celebrating relationships on the personal, family, and community levels. Butler speaks to the soul and identity of African communities as they draw on ancestral roots within futuristic mindscapes which reference cultural identity and traditions vis-à-vis the need to preserve and conserve the natural world.

In Witnesses, Butler paints an abstract sea of faces with interwoven eyes, each fixing their stare on the same scene but with different interpretations, looks, and depth of reasoning; some faces appear complete, while others have either one or two eyes missing or cannot altogether speak in mouth-less faces. In Interrupted we see the subtle dynamics within a group of six women dressed identically, casting questioning looks in the same direction, as if disturbed in mid-sentence.

“We are excited to showcase Victor Butler’s work for the first time in Nigeria at two venues, Temple Muse and the ArtX Lagos fair,” said Sandra Mbanefo-Obiago, the Founder and Artistic Director of SMO Contemporary Art. “The complexity, sophistication, and subtle depth of Butler’s art set him apart as an African Master.”

The exhibition, which is sponsored by Access Bank and Veuve Clicquot, opened to the public on Thursday, November 1, and runs until December 7th, 2018.