Omofemi’s work has a strong identity and message. To see a work by this artist is to be struck by a strong visual presence of the person painted and to instantly be drawn in realizing the artist has a wider message.
Oluwole Omofemi was born in the ancient city of Ibadan in Nigeria. He grew up and has lived in Africa, moving from the inner streets of Ibadan to a fishing community in a coastal area called Etsako, Agenebode. He was of humble origins and like many artists before him, his family wanted him to go into a safe and practical trade rather than to pursue art. It has been noted that he hawked beer to be able to buy his drawing pads. He received his High National diploma from Polytechnic of Ibadan.
With living artists which is what we refer to as contemporary art, we see so many artists and in the past five years or so a proliferation of artists exploring black identity and culture. This artist stood out to us from several perspectives. One being the technical quality of his work which is strongly academic and yet has slight evidence of the use of flatness and broader painting techniques. The other is an undercurrent that comes through in all his works. A message that is a celebration of beauty, identity, femaleness and what that embodies in a broader perspective. And then, what is always markedly present, the sense of hair or no hair.
In Tough Time the afro of the person depicted is large and seemingly a strong part of the portrait. It is a metaphor for strength, liberation, and power. In taking the title into consideration here we wonder if the artist is referring to the fact that the person is going through a tough time or that she is tough and he is playing with words or if he is making a general nod to “tough times” in the outer world. Whichever way it is, the woman like many of his women, is defiant, proud, and unwavering with her gaze.
Omofemi has been known to say that women are loving, and they are forgiving which are two qualities he finds very attractive and compelling. Art often stems from a person that feels a strong emotion that they find a deep well of content to draw from over and over. We feel his work will stand the test of time as one of the best that explores Afrocentric themes that draw from the past but are taken from current culture today.
A final note about this work is the deep color which he has noted he often uses in his works as a parallel to the darkness of the skin. The painting feels personal as we can tell this is someone he knows. He has shared that he often paints friends and family, and it is evident in his work that these are not sitters who have hired him to their “portrait”. He uses the word “beauty” often and with each of his sitters we feel that he finds and pulls out the innate beauty of these women.