Windows for Forgotten Landscapes

 About the Artist

Born in the eastern part of Nigeria in the year 1991 Austin Uzor hails from Imo state. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2013 from the University of Nigeria Nsukka where he majored in drawing and painting. Shortly after graduation he kickstarted a studio practice which led to local and international recognition that set the groundwork for his first ever solo show in 2016 titled “Visitors” at the Rele gallery Lagos, Nigeria. Uzor, a skilled draftsman and experienced painter, explores the world of the unknown by means of psychological spaces, feelings, and alternate realities in search of existential truths. He moved to the US in 2016 and this move is now the subject of his most current body of work and narrative, focusing on the traumas of being displaced. He recently completed a Masters degree in Drawing and Painting from the University of North Texas, Denton where he was also a Teaching Fellow, teaching drawing and painting at the university. Uzor is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor teaching painting at Alfred University New York. Uzor has exhibited locally and internationally and as well had his works privately collected around Europe, Africa and the United States while being published frequently.

Artist Statement

This body of work addresses recurring imageries of windows and landscapes in my work. Through themes of religion and migration I am using intersectionality and duality as vehicles to navigate the complex reality of regularly being in a state of flux. These paintings specifically translate memories of personal iconographic moments and spaces through the years, both good and bad using windows as symbolic portals into old and new worlds. Sometimes holding on to the past is all that there is. This is an attempt to compress specific memories into landscapes using ambiguity and abstraction as tools to express liminality .

Curator Statement

Much like memories, the figures and spaces in Uzor’s work materialize then fade in to the background. The work is active, from the energetic brushstokes to the gestures of the people, from the saturate moments in a field of dark and muted color. Uzor’s paintings are the type of art in which the veiwer can discover new moments and details every day for years yet still not fully understand the curios landscapes and their cryptic inhabitants. This is the type of art you can live with but never “own.”