Kainebi Osahenye: Congestion

Kainebi Osahenye was born in Abgor Delta State in 1964, and studied at the Auchi Polytechnic as well as the Yaba College of Technology, graduating with a major in painting in 1989. In 2012, Osahenye received a Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) from Goldsmith College in the UK.

Osahenye is one of Nigeria’s foremost contemporary artists. His works have developed from large-scale neo-expressionistic paintings into a process of experimental appropriation using found objects to tackle the issues about life, spirituality, consumerism, identity, and the environment. He has used burnt, and crushed beverage cans, water bottles, newspapers, chicken wire, fabric, juice packs and many other found objects to create huge installations and sculptures, as well as paintings. Osahenye’s trademark of layering, stacking, and sequencing objects, sometimes in their thousands, creating repetitive, multi-media works, has gained him critical acclaim, as he transforms simple objects into intricate, sometimes monumental art works.

Osahenye has taken part in numerous international residencies including at the Vermont Studio Center, and the School of Visual Arts in New York, as well as at the Harmattan Workshop led by Prof. Bruce Onobrakpeya.

Osahenye has showcased his work at many international fairs and exhibitions including at the Johannesburg Artfair, Art 14, the Center for Contemporary Art Lagos, the Nigerian National Museum, E-week in Freiburg, Germany, as well as the Skoto Gallery in New York; his works are regularly featured at international auction houses including Philips de Pury, Bonhams, and Arthouse Contemporary.