Raimi Gbadamosi was born to Nigerian parents in Manchester, England in 1965. He studied at Staffordshire University and Manchester Metropolitan University, before earning a doctorate in fine art from the Slade School of Art in London. As a conceptual artist, Gbadamosi delves into topics such as race, language, and power through various media, including multiples, music, websites, writing and audience participation, frequently employing a distinctive palette of yellow, black, and white. He has curated several exhibitions, including <em>Mixed Belongings</em>, Crafts Council (2005), featuring the creations of both UK-based and African-based artisans whose diverse work challenged preconceived notions about art from Africa.
Artist, writer and curator, Raimi Gbadamosi was born to Nigerian parents on 6 April 1965 in Manchester, England. He studied fine art at Staffordshire University (1991–94) and Manchester Metropolitan University (1994–95), later earning a doctorate in fine art from the Slade School of Art (University of London). His thesis, titled The Use of Black People in British Advertising or A Man Should Be Judged By The Colour Of His Shirt, explored ‘the use of those defined (politically, socially and chromatically) as Black people in British advertising’ (Gbadamosi 2001, p. 3).
As a conceptual artist, Gbadamosi explores topics such as race, language, and power through various media, including multiples, music, websites, writing and audience participation. He frequently employs a distinctive palette of yellow, black, and white, exemplified by his most enduring project, initiated in 2000, titled The Republic. Gbadamosi described The Republic as ‘an independent state […] It's a real country, and it functions as a critical space. So, on one hand, it's a nation state that anyone can become a citizen of. But like any artwork it's also autobiographical, so it says things about me […]’ (Glasgow Guardian). This self-sustained universe allowed him to investigate the prominent themes of his work, while exclusively using shades of yellow, black, and white. In his essay To Be Wrapped in Love (Four Corners Books, 2021), he recounted experiences and connections with flags, which, whether displayed, draped, or flown, signified both acceptance and exclusion, wondering whether it was time to hoist a new flag and stake a claim in a new cultural territory when there was not one that represented him. Gbadamosi recalled that when he first unveiled the flag of The Republic in public, someone asked what he was doing to the British flag. He wrote, 'I should have been pleased that my objective was achieved, challenging the established order, raising a flag capable of expressing something about me, questioning the flag that presumed it could represent me […] If only flags could remain untainted by the human craving for supremacy they embody' (Gbadamosi 2022). Gbadamosi's work titled Nine Flags (2000, British Museum) featured flags designed in the pattern of the Union Flag, but with different colours. Each flag symbolised a specific geographical region and its inhabitants, as opposed to a singular nation-state. As Chris Spring observed, the work ‘extends our notions of Britishness and British‐associated identities by offering a decolonisation of the Union Jack. Far from mocking the Union Jack, the work suggests a new kind of respect for this sometime symbol of imperial dominance in the diverse society of Britain today’ (Spring 2020, p. 157).
Gbadamosi curated the Crafts Council's travelling exhibition Mixed Belongings (2005), encouraging a more authentic perspective on contemporary African art, displaying creations of both UK-based and African-based artisans, aiming to challenge preconceived notions about art from Africa. Gbadamosi explained that, for him, ‘the identity of African art relates to the identity of Africa itself, and all of a sudden Africa has become a viable topic […] If we are going to talk about African art, we do not need to predicate it with outdated notions of primitivism’ (Bennett 2005, p. 18). Gbadamosi sought to address another widespread cultural misconception about Africa, which assumed the continent comprised only the black nations south of the Sahara. As a result, he included an exhibitor from Arab North Africa, Tunisian ceramicist Khaled Ben Slimane. Interested in cultural diversity within the British art scene and the development of cultural hegemony surrounding English social classes, Gbadamosi also curated When in Rome III at Castlefield Gallery, Manchester (2004) which explored questions such as whether contemporary art should strive to engage all members of the community; the role of contemporary British artists; and whether today's art is a fusion of history and demography, combined with sociology and politics.
Gbadamosi's other curatorial projects include: What's Going On?, Usher Gallery, Lincoln (2013-15), New Art Exchange, Nottingham (2011), and Belfast Exposed, Belfast (2010). He has collaborated on several projects with the Tate Britain Learning department, including Tate Shift (2009). This project investigated time (anthropology and real-time), space (architecture and geography), and mobility (the movement of culture in relation to the physical, media, and technology) as a means to define culture. He is on the Editorial board of Third Text, a groundbreaking journal for Postcolonial art founded in 1987 by Pakistani artist and curator, Rasheed Araeen. In 2006 he was a judge for 50 over 50 the first national visual art prize for older artists, hosted by the University of Brighton. Gbadamosi participated in the British Library conference: 'Caribbean In/Securities and Creativity: Diasporic Dialogues' (2017) and was consultant for the Tate Britain exhibition Hogarth and Europe (2021-22). Raimi Gbadamosi currently lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he teaches Fine Art at Wits University. Gbadamosi’s work is represented in UK public collections, including the British Museum.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Raimi Gbadamosi ]
Publications related to [Raimi Gbadamosi ] in the Ben Uri Library