  LAGOS | OF MIND AND MYTH | David Ngaji | David “Kaydee” Otaru | On ViewRele Lagos is proud to present Of Mind and Myth, a dual exhibition featuring the new works of David Ngaji and David “Kaydee” Otaru, two emergent voices from Nigeria whose distinct practices traverse mythology, perception, and the human condition. Though they share a name and roots in Rele’s Young Contemporaries programme, their artistic trajectories diverge into uniquely compelling terrain.This exhibition marks a potent moment of return, expansion, and reckoning, offering a prelude to both artists’ upcoming solo exhibitions with the gallery.REQUEST PREVIEW As part of a series of intimate conversations with Rele artists, artist David Ngaji speaks with Lindokuhle Nkosi about the philosophical and narrative scaffolding behind his most recent body of work. Drawing on classical myth, religious allegory, and metaphysics, Ngaji reflects on what it means to create new myths out of the fragments of old ones and why he chose an unlikely figureLindokuhle Nkosi: Your work draws on vast philosophical and mythological traditions; Greek tragedy, religious allegory, metaphysics. Can you talk about your interest in myth and how it functions in your practice?David Ngaji: I’ve always been fascinated by the things that human beings have collectively participated in over time: myths, symbols, religious stories. Even though I’m living in 2025 and supposedly a modern person, I still ask myself: what do all these old narratives mean for my life now? How do they inform my existence, my being?When you look at civilisations before the last few hundred years, myth is always at the centre of how people understood themselves. So I go back to those stories, not to repeat them, but to ask what they still hold. I’m especially drawn to tragedy because it deals with the big questions: the nature of suffering, man’s relationship with the divine, the desire to transcend our current condition.Lindokuhle Nkosi: That’s very present in The Tale of Patrick the Terrible. It reads as both tragic and satirical. Can you tell us about how that figure emerged?David Ngaji: Patrick the Terrible is a kind of personal myth. It’s a sory I created but that follows a familiar pattern. It’s about a man who wakes up to the contradictions of the world: the presence of suffering, the coexistence of beauty and ugliness. He becomes curious and seeks knowledge, and eventually identifies what he believes is the source of all this suffering. What Aristotle might call the “first cause,” the ontological source of being, which we might also call God.READ THE REST OF THIS INTERVIEW  On ViewLA | SPRING/SUMMER PRESENTATION | Ameh Egwuh | Ayobami Ogungbe | Tonia Nneji | David Otaru | Sabrina Coleman-Pinheiro | Fiker Solomon | Marcelina Akpojotor | Sedireng Mothibasela | On ViewAs Los Angeles eases into the fullness of summer, with its brightness, complexity, and contradictions, Summer ‘25 offers the gallery as a space for grounding, connection, and imaginative possibility. We believe in art’s ability to steady us, to open dialogue, and to hold beauty, even in uncertain times.Our seasonal presentation brings together a re-curated selection of works by artists across the African Diaspora, including Marcellina Akpojotor, Patrick Akpojotor, Sabrina Coleman-Pinheiro, Yoma Emore, Ameh Egwuh, Terrick Gutierrez, Ayobami Ogungbe, Paul Onditi, IyunOla Sanyaolu, Fiker Solomon, Sedireng Mothibasela, and Tonia Nneji. Each piece offers a unique entry point into memory, resilience, identity, and joy. Together, they create a resonant conversation across borders and experiences, imagining a more connected and empowered future.Please note: Rele Los Angeles will be closed on Friday, July 4th, in observance of the holiday. We will resume normal operations on Tuesday, July 8th. Wishing you a restful and reflective break. We look forward to welcoming you back.REQUEST PREVIEW  LONDON | THE BLUE BETWEEN US | Ameh Egwuh | Ayobola Kekere-Ekun | Dr Hassan Aliyu | Sabrina Coleman-Pinheiro | Tonia Nneji | On ViewThe Blue Between Us is a group exhibition that explores the emotional and symbolic depth of the colour blue, across longing and loss, ancestry and identity, melancholy and resilience. Here, blue is both medium and metaphor, connecting artists through shared chromatic and conceptual terrain.Standing at around 2 metres, Deep Blue Sea (2023) by Dr. Hassan Aliyu, is a monumental circular collage depicting a spectral slave ship adrift in the Atlantic. Through layered textures and tones, the work evokes the ocean as both memory and monument, a site of rupture, resistance, and the unseen.Alongside the other selected works, this show unpacks the many ideas that blue carries: from sorrow to survival, from music to myth.REQUEST PREVIEW LAGOS | LOS ANGELES | LONDONLAGOS32 Thompson Avenue, Ikoyi LOS ANGELES 711 N Western Avenue, Los Angeles LONDON 5 – 7 Dover Street, Mayfair lagos@rele.co (+234) 809-321-5460la@rele.co (+1) 424-415-1200london@rele.co (+44) 0333 015 3618 |
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