ALIMI ADEWALE: Figuring Presence

Shanghai—Pearl Lam, Shanghai is delighted to present Figuring Presence, the first solo exhibition in China of the Nigerian artist Alimi Adewale.

Bringing together emblematic works of recent date, this exhibition curated by Maria Rus Bojan describes a space of energy and visual complexity. The artist explores the intersection between ancestral African symbolism and iconography of the present, fostering a conceptual articulation that is both contemporary and universal.

Figuring Presence traces recurring subjects, privileging new readings of the rich influences contained in Adewale’s oeuvre, while emphasising the artist’s symbolic return to the originary “language of beauty” rooted in ancient African traditions. 

Prioritising the depiction of spiritual and human essences over their literal realism, Adewale’s figurative expression is just a pretext to build a transcendent symbolic imagery that fuses aesthetical categories, stylistic references, and media. The artist conflates African aesthetics with the emotional intensity of contrasting colour tones and figural distortion, translating his perceived reality into essentialised sculptural forms and gestural paintings. 

Like in the ancient African tradition, Adewale blurs the boundary between painting and sculpture, surface and structure, using found objects, carpets and different organic materials to create rich, textured narratives. 

Layering is therefore central to his work, both in the materiality of his paintings and sculptures and in his artistic process, which combines historical references and diverse influences into structured forms that are both physically present and visually rich. 

By addressing the need to “rescue” those figurative elements of ancestral African symbolism, Adewale reaffirms his commitment to grounding his work in a holistic framework that is deeply spiritual, though not religious. He approaches painting and sculpture as conceptual and symbolic tools for expressing his own cultural, spiritual, and social values. 

In terms of selected works, a distinctive material dimension runs through the exhibition: several works are painted on kilim rugs, whose woven patterns and earthy textures become active participants in each composition. The geometric motifs of the rugs resonate with the ancestral rhythms of the paintings, creating a layered dialogue between surface, heritage, and gesture. Works such as Timeless Gaze, painted on dhurrie rug, merge the tactile warmth of woven textile with the sculptural presence of African mask portraiture, while Threadsweaves together female figures on kilim to celebrate unity, resilience, and shared strength.

The exhibited works span several thematic registers. Portraits including Cubed Spirit and the Ancestral Gaze series transform African mask traditions through fragmented planes and geometric abstraction, bridging spiritual presence with formal experimentation.

The Strata series evokes the layered memory of human and natural history through prehistoric painting motifs—hunters, wild animals, flora, and symbolic markings—while Spatial Reverie captures the vitality and rhythm of African dancers, translating the energy of the body into dynamic, abstracted choreography. Collective Drift and The Living Water address migration and humanity’s elemental relationship with nature, while the Matriarchal Stance and Textured Being series explore the poise, presence, and resilience of the human form through thick impasto and gestural marks.

Drawing upon his personal history and exposure to an array of transhistorical influences, Adewale’s work questions tradition but offers a vision of a possible future. 

Across all works, Figuring Presence traces a visual and conceptual lineage: the marks we leave and the invisible threads that bind individuals, communities, and experience.