Artist: Collins Obijiaku

Roberts Projects presents Atlantic, a new series of portraits by Collins Obijiaku inspired by his first encounter with the Atlantic Ocean. Marking his second solo presentation with the gallery, these five works on paper feature core elements of the artist’s signature style—quarter-length portraits with unbroken eye contact and a shallow depth of field—against gestural renderings of the ocean at different times of day.

Born and raised in the Kaduna region of northern Nigeria, Obijiaku first encountered the ocean during an artist residency in Senegal’s capital city of Dakar, where the westernmost tip of Africa extends into the Atlantic. He describes the influence of this experience on his artistic perspective as nothing short of profound: “I aimed to encapsulate the essence of my first oceanic encounter in these works—the sense of awe, the recognition of life’s impermanence and the beauty of constant transformation.”

As the body of water connecting different regions of the Black diaspora to the continent of Africa, the Atlantic Ocean has compelled generations of artists to capture its enigmatic mutability. Canadian poet Dionne Brand articulates the formative impact of this ineffable fascination in A Map to the Door of No Return while recalling her childhood on the dual-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago: “Water is the first thing in my imagination…Turquoise, aquamarine, deep green, deep blue, ink blue, navy, blue-black cerulean water.”

In a departure from the artist’s previous works which depicted its subjects against ambiguous, monochromatic backgrounds, this distinct color palette represents the harmonious interplay between the natural world and the human figure—an aesthetic ebb and flow that mirrors the ontological relationship between water and Black subjectivity. Through a combination of oil wash and charcoal, broad brushstrokes and precise linework, the relative simplicity of Obijiaku’s compositions provides viewers with ample space to contemplate the transcendence of the ocean and its eternal horizon.

About the Artist

Collins Obijiaku’s (b.1995 Kaduna, Nigeria; based in Abuja, Nigeria) elegant portraits of Black men and women gaze directly at the viewer. The artist uses various materials, often mixing oil, acrylic, and charcoal to achieve soft gradients, seductive texture, and beguiling linework; seen up close, the arrangements of his brushstrokes are almost cartographical in appearance. His subjects are both people close to him and strangers he meets on the street, which allows Obijiaku to create intimate records of his home and surrounding community. Obijiaku has exhibited internationally, including New York, London, Lagos, and Accra. He was a 2020-2021 artist-in-residence at Black Rock Senegal, a multidisciplinary residency program founded in 2019 by Kehinde Wiley in Dakar, Senegal.