Bob-Nosa

Bob-Nosa Uwagboe was born in 1974 in the ancient city of Benin Kingdom, rich in cultural and artistic heritage, Edo State, Nigeria. He received his professional education at the famous colourist school, Auchi Polytechnic in Auchi, Edo State, where he graduated with a Higher National Diploma (H.N.D) in 2004 and specialized in painting.

Bob-Nosa as he is fondly called, retired immediately to fulltime studio work after his one year of mandatory service to the nation as a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) at Abuja. After a brief stay in Abuja, he relocated to Lagos to set up "The Protest Art Studio" to transform his creative energy into an experimental path that has resulted into thought provoking themes and oftentimes spark anger, pain, passion and visions that are not often defined by the subject matters and defy the borders usually set by artistic canons. He evokes emotion with his art in which he employs diverse materials which seem unconnected at first. He often succeeds in challenging the audience to become more deeply involved with his work provoking varied interpretations and reflections mostly concerned with issues of falsehood, deception, bad leadership and reaching to the unreached.

The poor leadership in Africa and high level of inhumanity practices among men that has become the norm is his primary interest in art. He interprets it in his art either offensively or defensively.

Bob-Nosa’s art is a puzzle, magical and consuming to his viewers. His creative process is a moment of calmness, anger, pain, passion, therapeutic and evoking emotion in which he employs diverse materials such as his used fabric, his hair, sand, papers, sack, rope, acrylic, spray paint, crayon, charcoal, oil paint on canvas or board and this process is a moment of total surrender to his willpower and opens up his soul as a channel where good ideas pass through and the result is of human significance and with global validity. Bob-Nosa doesn’t predestine his art process, which might circumscribe his creative effort and jeopardize creativity.

Bob-Nosa shocked the art public in 2009 with his show “Recent works by Bob-Nosa,” held at the Pan African University in Lagos with originality and strength of his voice. Bob-Nosa’s art can be found in many respectable public and private collections both in Nigeria and abroad and has been shown at various important exhibitions worldwide. He currently lives and works in Lagos.

Selected group exhibitions

- Art Exhibition for Nigeria Artist, Lagos State Council for Art and Culture, Lagos, Nigeria, 2001.
- Treasure of our time, Pendulum Art Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria, 2001.
- Edo State Sports Festival Art Exhibition, Edo State Council for Art and Culture, Oba Ekenzua Cultural Centre, Benin City, Nigeria, 2002.
- Beyond Figuration, Omenka Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria, 2009.
- Art Exhibition – French Women Association, African Artist Foundation, Lagos, Nigeria, 2009.
- The Last Picture Show V.I., Maison du Parti, Douala, Cameroon, 2009.
- Collocation 5 Art Exhibition, Though Pyramid Art Centre, Abuja, Nigeria, 2009.
- The Last Picture Show, Le Méridien, Douala, Cameroon, 2011.
- The Last Picture Show, La Galerie Vendôme, Paris, France, 2011.       
- Do not resuscitate, Cora Art Festival, Freedom Park, Lagos, Nigeria, 2011.
- Generational Statement, Thought Pyramid Art Centre, Abuja, Nigeria, 2011.
- The Children of the World, German Cultural Centre, Lagos, Nigeria, 2012.
-  New Works by Ayoola Gbolahan and Bob-Nosa Uwagboe, Nigeria Now, Abuja, Nigeria, 2012.
-  Art Basel Miami Art Fair, Miami, U.S.A., 2012.
- World Bank Art Exhibition, Abuja, Nigeria, 2013.
- Building Bridges, 53rd Nigerian Independence Day Celebration, Nairobi, Kenya, 2013.
- Arthouse Contemporary Auction, Lagos, Nigeria, 2013.
- They have asked us to smile, The 17th Lagos Book & Art Festival, Freedom Park, Lagos, Nigeria, 2015.
- That Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa, 2016. Sogal Art Auction, Lagos, Nigeria, 2016.
- Breaking News, Art21 Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria, 2016.
- Beirut Art Fair, Beirut, Lebanon, 2017.
- Cu-ulture and Tradition: Same Experience Different Local, The Koppel Project Hive, London, U.K., 2018.
- ART X, Out of Africa Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria, 2019.
- Beirut Art Fair, Out of Africa Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon, 2019.
- Art Residency at Flora Africa, Argentina, 2019.

Solo exhibitions

- 21 Homme Libre, African Artist Foundation, Lagos, Nigeria, 2011.
- Obituary, Signature Beyond Art Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria, 2018.
- Protest Art, Out of Africa Gallery, Sitges–Barcelona, Spain, 2019.