For the 3rd consecutive year Transcending Boundaries will showcase some of the best Modern and Contemporary Art from West Africa, and this year Lacey Contemporary Gallery is proud to be partnering with Aabru Art on the exhibition program.

The return of Transcending Boundaries highlights the growing importance of contemporary African Art in a year when La Biennale di Venezia is curated by its first African Director - Nigerian Okwui Enwezor. Exhibitions such as last year’s Pangea: New Art from Africa and Latin America at the Saatchi Gallery have raised the profile of African art, which Aabru Art has been championing for the past 3 years with Transcending Boundaries.

Transcending Boundaries 2015 will feature new and unique artworks by 34 West African artists; Abiodun Olaku; Ade Ogundimu; Adebanji Alade; Alex Nwokolo; Abraham Uyovibisere; Ben Ibebe; Ben Osaghae; Bunmi Babatunde; Diseye Tantua; Duke Asidere; Ebenezer Akinola; Edosa Ogiugo; Emenike Ogwo; Fidelis Odogwu; Francis Uduh; Gab Awusa; Gbenga Offo; Gerry Nnubia; Joshua Nmesirionye; George Edozie; Juliet Ezenwa Maja-Pearce; Kehinde Sanwo; Kolade Oshinowo; Lekan Onabanjo; Nobert Okpu; Osagie Aimufia; Reuben Ugbine; Sam Ebohon; Sam Ovraiti; Segun Adejumo; Tayo Quaye; Tola Wewe; Toni Okujeni and Tunde Ogunlaiye.

The Transcending Boundaries exhibition at Lacey Contemporary - a new Holland Park gallery supporting artists from emerging contemporary markets - will run from 24 April to 11 May (after a preview at Asia House). As well as offering collectors the chance to admire and invest in paintings and sculptures in media as diverse as oil on canvas, wood and metal, the exhibition program will include a host of events to support the exhibition. As part of the exhibition program, Lacey Contemporary will host; an artist’s talk (25 April); a charity event for ‘Safe Child Africa’ (8 May); and a fashion show (9 May) with emerging African designers. These events will highlight the thriving cultural life of Africa.

Visitors to the exhibition at Lacey Contemporary will be able to see Modern and Contemporary West African artworks by well known Masters in their region, that have never been exhibited in the UK before, such as Kehinde Sanwo’s oil painting Tribal Influence (2015). This work is part of a series paying homage to Pablo Picasso, which illustrates the influence of African Tribal art on Picasso’s career, and documents the enduring relationship between African and European art embodied by his iconic 1907 painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. Transcending Boundaries is a metaphor for artists moving into previously unexplored frontiers in the fields of art, systems, culture, history and life.

Aabru Art founder Anshu Bahanda is co-curating an event at the 2015 Venice Biennale, which will include some of the artists exhibiting in Transcending Boundaries at Lacey Contemporary.