FRIDMAN GALLERY

HAMMAN, 2022, Oil on canvas, 40 x 32"

Fidelis Joseph’s painting practice fuses his life experiences in Nigeria and the U.S. Moving from figuration to abstraction, he evades straight-line narratives, focusing instead on complex impressions and emotions embedded in the human psyche. The paintings, however, also reflect Fidelis’s personal history, one of terror born out love – separation from his native village, the loss of his father at a young age, and his brother’s prolonged service in the Nigerian army fighting Boko Haram. The distortion of the subject matter resonates with the emotional interplay of both familial pride and fear of loss.