UNITED States- based Nigerian painter and experimentalist, Wole Olagunju, is one of only three artists, whose works have been acquired by private museums at the ongoing Expo Chicago, one of the world’s major visual arts exposition projects.
His work Irawo II (2023) was acquired by the St Louis Art Museum, Missouri, in the Northern Trust Purchase Prize scheme, according to the news first shared by the artist in his Facebook page.
“Congratulations, Wole Lagunju, with the awarded Northern Trust Purchase Prize at this year’s EXPO Chicago art fair. His work, “Irawo II”, has been acquired by the St. Louis Art Museum for their permanent collection. So deserved 👏🏽”, Els Van Mourik, a visitor to the Expo reported.
The acquisition has since been confirmed by a report in the influential and authoritative ArtNewspaper titled: “Three US museums use prize funds to acquire works from Expo Chicago”, with the rider: “The institutions that won the fair’s Northern Trust Purchase Prize selected artwork by artists Mohau Modisakeng, Wole Lagunju and Claudia Peña Salinas for their permanent collections.”
Another Nigerian featuring in the Exposure section of the Expo is Ozioma Onuzulike, the ceramicist- experimentalist artist and University of Nigeria Nsukka-based professor of art history, whose six large ceramic works are on display courtesy Lagos-based Ko Gallery.
On Lagunju’s profile Mourik wrote further:
“Wole grew up in Osogbo, a town in Western Nigeria famous for its art movement. Osogbo is also known for the annual Osun-Osogbo festival, which is a celebration of the river goddess Osun. He graduated in 1986 from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) with a Bachelor’s degree in fine arts and a specialisation in graphic design.
“Wole Lagunju visually explores a form of Onaism, wherein he appropriates Western cultural artifacts and combines them with Yoruba cultural artifacts, to challenge the audience to consider how we often look at culture through a Western lens.
‘I am returning to my African roots to search for narratives and share knowledge that will hopefully transcend cultural boundaries and resonate with individual viewers as we all investigate and critique both personal and cultural relationships to issues of power, gender and identity.‘
******
Three US museums use prize funds to acquire works from Expo Chicago”
“The institutions that won the fair’s Northern Trust Purchase Prize selected artwork by artists Mohau Modisakeng, Wole Lagunju and Claudia Peña Salinas for their permanent collections.”
CURATORS and directors from three US museums acquired new artwork by underrepresented artists for their collections free of charge at Expo Chicago this week, thanks to a programme in which a Chicago financial services company foots the bill for the institutions to acquire a piece of their choice from an emerging art gallery at the fair.
The Northern Trust Purchase Prize, sponsored by Chicago-based wealth management firm Northern Trust, was awarded to the Seattle Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in St Petersburg, Florida, and the St Louis Art Museum. Each recipient institution selected a work from the fair’s Exposure section, reserved for galleries operating for ten years or fewer. Northern Trust will put up the funds for the institutions to purchase the works for their permanent collections.
The Seattle Art Museum selected Phahamong III (2023) by South African artist Mohau Modisakeng from Martin Art Projects, a gallery based in Cape Town. The St Louis Art Museum acquired the large-scale painting Irawo II (2023) by Nigerian artist Wole Lagunju from New York-based gallery Montague Contemporary. Representatives from both museums said Friday (14 April) their respective collections would benefit from having more representation of contemporary African art.
The Museum of Fine Arts, St Petersburg selected a mixed media sculpture Ahau Can (2023) by Claudia Peña Salinas, a Mexican artist who attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, through Embajada, a gallery based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. “It’s very meaningful to also have this acquisition happen in Chicago, the city where my family still lives and where I went to school,” Peña Salinas said in a statement.
This year’s Exposure section featured 41 stands curated by Aimé Iglesias Lukin, the director and chief curator of visual arts at the Americas Society in New York.
During the early years of Expo Chicago, the prize was limited to Chicago-based institutions, like the Museum of Contemporary Art, Block Museum of Art, Smart Museum of Art and DePaul Art Museum. Last year marked the first time the prize was expanded to accept nationwide candidates—the 2022 winners included the Portland Art Museum in Oregon, Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky.
The fair’s organisers also announced the inaugural Barbara Nessim Acquisition Prize on Friday, whereby a work from the fair is acquired for the permanent collection of the DePaul Art Museum. Auto-da-Fé (Act of Faith) (2021-23), a sculpture by the Spanish artist Selva Aparicio (who earned her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago), was donated to DePaul Art Museum.
“Selva defies any categorisation,” DePaul Art Museum associate curator Ionit Behar said in a statement, “creating artwork from the deepest place of herself, with profound sensibility for materials and what they project into the world.”
Further reading:
Three US museums win prize to fund acquisitions at Expo Chicago fair
Museums in Seattle, St Louis and St Petersburg will make purchases at the Chicago fair next year thanks to the Northern Trust Purchase Prize
