Buying and Selling
The work of Ojo Olaniyi reflects a richly decorated narrative style depicting everyday scenes in the kaleidoscope of Nigerian life. Olaniyi’s art comprises vignettes of social and commercial life in a technique known as epoxy etching. While each image relates to a particular action of daily life—teaching a child, buying fish at a market, or engaging in money matters—a swirl of graphic decoration is embedded in each print creating a density of pattern and linear description.
Ojo Olaniyi
Olaniyi’s prints are grounded in real time, yet they depart from a more classic realism. The figures in each print are not identified, but to the viewer they appear familiar.
In the exquisite Tray of Knowledge (one of the eight images in this feature), Olaniyi comments on the evolution of knowledge acquisition by replacing the traditional use of slate and chalk that children used to scribble on (before advancing to paper), with computers of all sizes. Neither ironic nor sentimental, Olaniyi conveys with aesthetic clarity and vision, a method of learning that has changed over time.
-Visual Arts Editor, Mary Behrens
Mary Behrens is a Canadian visual artist. Behrens moved to the United States in 1981 where received degrees in visual art from the University of Massachusetts in Boston, and Vermont College. After completing her studies, Behrens was the recipient of several residencies from programs like Yaddo and The Fine Arts Center in Provincetown, MA. Additionally she worked as an editor for ArtsMedia magazine, and published essays and art reviews in Art New England where she served as the regional editor. Behrens has taught and lectured at numerous institutions, including Montserrat College, the Rhode Island School of Design, Suffolk University, Vermont College, and the University of Massachusetts in Boston. Behrens work has been reviewed in several publications, such as Boston Globe, Art New England, The Boston Herald, and an essay of hers was included in an Art in America publication. Behrens is currently a visiting guest artist at the Ottawa School of Art in Ottawa, Canada.
