We are thrilled to welcome Nigerian artist Juwon Aderemi for a three-week residency at the G.A.S. Farm House in Ikiṣẹ. Based in Kwara State, he works across painting and drawing, investigating memory, lived experience, and the ways human presence persists through domestic spaces and everyday objects.
During his residency, Juwon will deepen his inquiry into how ordinary objects and interiors carry evidence of the people who lived among them. He will spend the weeks observing, documenting, drawing and experimenting with new approaches to painting, including how architectural elements and materials might become part of the work itself. Where time permits, he hopes to explore woodwork as a possible extension of his practice. Juwon will draw on the G.A.S. Library and Picton Archive for research, and visit homes in the surrounding community whose residents are happy to welcome him, as well as other domestic and architectural spaces around Ikiṣẹ and Lagos. He looks forward to engaging with fellow artists, exchanging ideas, and receiving thoughtful feedback on his work.
Juwon’s residency is generously supported by Yenwa Gallery. To find out more about supporting G.A.S. Foundation, click here.
What is the current focus of your creative practice?
My current practice explores how human presence continues beyond the body, particularly through the spaces we inhabit and the objects we leave behind. Working primarily through painting and drawing, I am interested in the relationship between memory, lived experience, and domestic environments. I am also interested in the nature of recollection, particularly how memory preserves certain details while allowing others to fade. Through atmospheric compositions, softened forms, and areas of ambiguity, I investigate how the uncertainties of memory inform the construction of images, using painting to give form to experiences that resist precise reconstruction.
What drew you to apply for this residency and how do you think it will inform your wider practice?
I have followed G.A.S. Foundation for some time, drawn by its commitment to artistic research, experimentation and exchange. This residency comes at a pivotal point in my practice, as I examine the relationship between recollection and representation. Stepping outside my familiar studio would let me test these ideas through new encounters and conversations, and reconsider my existing methods. I hope to experiment more freely and gain a clearer understanding of what drives my work. Engaging with other artists whose perspectives challenge my own will sharpen that thinking, and I expect the experience to shape my practice well beyond the residency.
Can you give us an insight into how you hope to use the opportunity?
Aside using this period for observation and experimentation, I intend to develop drawings, painting studies, and explore new approaches to composition and material. I also hope to facilitate a drawing workshop that invites participants to create imaginary faces without photographic references or live models, encouraging individual expression and experimentation.
About Juwon Aderemi
Juwon Aderemi (b. 2000, Nigeria) is a Nigerian artist working primarily in painting and drawing. He received a B.Sc. in Computer Science from École Supérieure de Technologie et de Gestion (ESTG), Cotonou, Benin Republic, in 2022. His practice investigates memory, lived experience, and the ways human presence persists through domestic spaces and everyday objects. Through atmospheric compositions and an interest in recollection, Aderemi examines how painting gives form to experiences that resist precise reconstruction. He has presented work internationally, including his solo exhibition, Allegories of Time in Yorubaland, at Gallery 1957, Accra (2022). Selected group exhibitions include Self-Addressed, Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles (2021–22), African Renaissance, Gallery 1957 and Christie’s, Dubai (2021), and Say It Loud, Christie’s, New York (2020). He participated in the Gallery 1957 Artist Residency and was selected for the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in 2025. He lives and works in Nigeria.
