Dimeji Onafuwa, a Nigerian-native and Charlotte-based artist, talked with Creative Loafing about his new solo exhibition, The Significant Line, at RedSky Gallery in Dilworth. See what he had to say below.
Creative Loafing: When did you start painting?
Dimeji Onafuwa: I’ve been painting ever since I was a little kid. Every time I got a little extra change, I would go buy one tube of oil paint. I grew my collection, one tube of paint at a time. When I felt like I had a good set, I went and bought a brush and started working. I had done some collage work as a teenager using African fabrics/textiles. I was doing that back home. I was also in school studying medicine in Nigeria and then I decided I wasn’t cut out for that. I decided to pursue my passion.
What inspires you to paint?
For me I think it’s a natural reaction. There’s not anything specifically, but more of everything really. As an artist you see something and it’s your natural inclination to either represent it or replicate it. I think life as a whole has inspired me to do that. I remember when I was a little kid, my brother and I used make Christmas cards together and then sell them. We just had that creative sense and we enjoyed doing it. In terms of an individual, I think the person who inspired me the most was my high school art teacher, who was a prominent Nigerian artist who has pasted away now. Her husband was a prominent Nigerian artist as well, so being taught by someone you read about in the textbooks inspired me to be an artist. She was an excellent teacher as well.
What made you call you exhibition, The Significant Line?
I see lines on two levels: On a very physical level and on a very spiritual/supernatural level. I feel that there is always an invisible line everywhere you go. The horizon is a line. I feel that there are lines the separate God or anything spiritual, from man or anything physical, and that in order for man to better understand the nature of God, lines need to be broken. I felt that the whole concept of lines needed to be explored. I’d still love to take it even further than that. I usually have a single figure on an indeterminate space, just to signify man and how he struggles through life, either in search of God or in a fight against God.
What do you hope folks take away from your exhibition?
I just want people to be able to go there and enjoy it. For an artist, painting is a gift to the audience. I want them to pull their meaning from it, to have a good time, and to enjoy the works. I hope they can think about my philosophy a little bit deeply and come to their own conclusions as well.
The opening reception of the Dimeji Onafuwa: The Significant Line exhibition is tonight from 6 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. at RedSky Gallery in Dilworth. Exhibition continues through Nov. 12.
This article appears in Oct 6-13, 2009.
