Chika Idu
Chika Idu (born 1974) is a multidisciplinary artist who uses his art to highlight relations between nature and the humanity. With a 27-year studio practice, Idu comments on the adaptive abilities that humans embody once faced with ecosystems that are foreign to her origin.
Upon returning to the exploration of his Swimmer series, Idu is concerned with the interplay between light and darkness which is characterised using a heavy texture and hazy rendition technique he calls ‘light against visual distortion‘. In hopes to exposing the plight of the African child, Idu continues to depicts an energetic flow between the suspended figures and the textured water as a means to connect the optimism of the people who live in these communities and the hope for the betterment of the spaces they inhabit.
Chika Idu is a graduate of the Auchi art School with a major in Painting in 1998. He was instrumental in the creation of the Defactori Studios, a collective of dynamic new generation artists. He also created Nigeria’s first Water Colour Society of Artists (SABLES).
Gallery Exhibitions
Resume
SELECT SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023. Into the Deep. O’DA. Lagos, Nigeria.
2023. Insight. 2023. Kuaba Gallery carmel, Indiana
2021 Silent scream. Sachs gallery. Lagos
2019. Kuaba Gallery indianapolis
2015. The other world. Alexis Gallery. Lagos
2007. Update. lyse Français Lagos
2006. Here & there. Terra Kulture. Lagos
2003. Ndita. Maison du France. Lagos
MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS
2004. Our experience. 2004. National museum, Lagos
SELECT ART FAIRS
2026 EXPO CHICAGO. Mitochondria Gallery
2025 SCOPE Miami Beach, Mitochondria Gallery.
2025 ART X Lagos. Alexis Gallery. Lagos, Nigeria.
2025 ATLANTA ART FAIR, Mitochondria Gallery.
SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Place of Repose III. Mitochondria Gallery
2025 Black Figuration is Alive and Well. O’DA. Lagos, Nigeria.
2025 Tracing the River Back. Mitochondria Gallery, TX
2025 Catharsis. TR Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria.
2019. Artfuly Spaced Gallery. Los-Angeles
2017. Covers and contour. Quintessence gallery. Lagos, Nigeria.
2016. Evolving Current. SMO. Lagos, Nigeria.
2015. Joy. Tunis. Tonisia.
2015. Contemporaries. SMO. Lagos
2015. Unbound spirit. Terra kulture. Lagos
2015. Timeless. Terra kulture. Lagos
2005. Illusion. Maison De France. Lagos
2002. Discovery. German muson centre. Lagos
PRESS
** Editors Note. Chika Idu. Mitochondria Gallery. 2026