AJ: Omo Oduduwa (The World Champion)
Mixed media · 2017 539 views
Made by a human
O. Yemi Tubi certifies having made this artwork by hand, with no AI-generated imagery.
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Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua known in the boxing world as Anthony Joshua (AJ) is the subject of this painting by O. Yemi Tubi. This painting is another work in his Roses and Thorns series. Following AJ’s defeat of Wladimir Klitschko, O. Yemi decided to do this painting in his honour. This painting is titled AJ Omo Oduduwa: The World Champion because AJ is proud to be a Nigerian of Yoruba descent (Oduduwa is the patriarch of Yoruba people). AJ is a perfect subject for this painting because of his troubled past. He has been to prison and wore an electronic tag on his ankle.The formidable opponent he has to defeat first to be the champion was himself. He needed to knockout the bad boy of himself (the thorns in his life) to smell the roses of success. On the left side of the painting, O. Yemi weaved stems of thorns together and a rose as the head. The left hand stretched towards the head of the realistic image of AJ is to depict Anthony’s fight with himself before he became the world champion. O. Yemi changed the WBC’s belt on AJ’s waist to AJ: Omo Odua’s belt. The images on the belt are the British and Nigerian flags to show AJ’s dual citizenship. The bronze image in the middle of the belt depicts one of the artefacts of ancient Yoruba people now in the British Museum. O. Yemi made this belt as a statement that AJ may lose the WBC’s belt in the future but he will always be Omo Odua’s Champion. The message of this painting to everyone and especially to the young people is that they can defeat their own thorns and smell the roses of success.
Like some of the old art masters Delacroix and Goya that spoke about social and political upheavals of their time in their works, O. Yemi uses some of his paintings to express himself about on-going political and social issues around the world. “A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art” so said Paul Cezanne; O. Yemi was deeply moved by the horrors of wars and the plight of immigrants drowning in the sea to pick up his brushes again. His first political painting was “ARAB REVOLUTION” influenced by Arab Spring that started in 2012. “THE EAGLE HAS LANDED” was done to speak about American led war on terror. His painting -“KABIYESI OBA OBAMA (Unquestionable King Obama)” was a political satire based on the love and hate relationship between President Obama and Donald Trump. “THE BLEEDING ROSE” was done in solidarity with Christians beheaded by ISIS in Iraq and Syria. “Hunger in the Land of Plenty” and “OIL: AFRICANS’ WEALTH and WOE” were about poverty and exploitation of African people. He also used his painting – “UKRINE: THE UNFORTUNATE BRIDE” to speak about how America and Russia influenced the war in Ukraine. “THE FISHERS OF MEN” was about immigrants drowning in the sea. When O. Yemi works on portrait paintings, he desires his portrait paintings to be uniquely creative. He often uses the paintings to tell stories about his subjects. In one of his commissioned paintings “Josanne of Trinidad”, he blended the images of the parents at the top background cloud and the main subject below the images of her parents. This is to indicate that the parents are in heaven looking down on Josanne. He often uses his subjects’ professions to create their paintings. He used artist materials to create his painting “PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST” and image of violin for the portrait of “THE VIOLINIST” He used books and flowing letters to create the portrait of Professor Wole Soyinka, 1986 Nobel Prize Winner in Literature in painting “SOYINKA: AN AFRICAN LITERARY ICON” O. Yemi has widely exhibited his works around the world in group and solo exhibitions. His works had featured in exhibitions in Bogota, Colombia; Vancouver, Canada; UN exhibition, Milan, Italy; Tokyo, Japan; USA and in many cities across the United Kingdom. O. Yemi has received many awards for his works across the world; his works have also been published in many art magazines and contemporary arts books. He is a member of the Fine Art America, the Society of All Artists, AERA –the Association Embracing Realistic Art and WCA- World Citizen Artists. O. Yemi paintings and awards can be seen on his website: www.o-yemi-tubi.pixels.com
