Come October 11th, inside Wells Carilton Hotel, Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria will host Novel, the much-anticipated solo exhibition by Nigerian artist Ezedire. Famous for his rare oil stick technique, he creates not just paintings but soulful experiences that blend heritage, spirit, and modern vision.

Writes Ireho Aito

Come October 11th, 2025, Abuja will play host to an artistic unveiling the world is already whisperinrg about. The city’s skyline will glow a little brighter as Ezedire, one of Nigeria’s most spiritually charged visual artists, stages his much-anticipated solo exhibition titled Novel. From 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM, art lovers, collectors, and curious wanderers will gather to witness not just paintings, but experiences that linger long after the night ends. And the venue ìs The Wells Carilton Hotel ßituated in the posh Gado Nasko Street in Asokoro, Abuja.

Ezedire is no ordinary artist. His chosen medium, oil sticks on canvas is a rare, painstaking, and expensive technique, one that demands patience, discipline, and fire in equal measure. Each route to bring out his work is deliberate, textured and alive. It is, in many ways, a portrait of the man himself who is deeply rooted, uncompromising, and unapologetically original.

“In my dreams, I often see the paintings before I create them,” he once revealed to iBAND Magazine, and it is this otherworldly connection that has given his works the reputation of being “anointed.” Collectors across continents describe his canvases not merely as visuals but as vessels carrying stories of love, strength, reflection, and surrender that transcend borders and cultures.

In my dreams, I often see the paintings before I create them

His path to this moment was never linear. A graduate of the University of Port Harcourt, Ezedire’s early flirtation with digital technology could have easily steered him away from tradition. Instead, it sharpened his vision. “Technology didn’t replace my roots. Instead, it amplified them,” he insisted in an interview with Ireho Aito. This marriage of old and new breathes through his work, where heritage meets innovation and spirituality finds rhythm in modern expression.

In 2024, Ezedire stood proudly as part of the Nigerian delegation from Society of Nigerian Artists to Art Vancouver in Canada, a defining moment in his career. On this international stage, his works captivated audiences from across the globe, each piece carrying a spiritual depth and aesthetic richness that spoke beyond borders.

“Seeing people from different cultures connect with my art affirmed for me that what I create transcends both language and geography,” he reflected on iBAND Magazine in an interview.

Those anticipating for October shower of rains can turn to ezedire.com, his digital gallery. More than a website, it is a living archive of his creations. The gallery is a place where every canvas is given a voice, every voice tells a story, and every story leaves a mark on the viewer’s soul.

With Novel, Ezedire is not just promising an exhibition, he is promising a conversation between past and future, artist and audience, the sacred and the secular. Abuja is the stage, but the echoes are global.

So, mark the date. On October 11th, when the doors open in Abuja, the world will be watching.

Words/Ireho Aito/Don’t Keep Your Art in the Finger!/Photographs/Ezedire