FLYINGLEAPS PRESENTS: DEREK MAWUDOKU (UK)
Born in London in 1959 and graduated from Goldsmiths College of Art in 1987 with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art, Derek Mawudoku has worked assiduously to produce an incredibly powerful and well-wrought body of work.
Since 1985 he has shown at a number of venues including the Morley Gallery, London; Stephen Lawrence Gallery, University of Greenwich, London; Kettles Yard, Cambridge; Edition -100 Years of British Printmaking, SW1 Gallery, London; The London Original Print Fair at the Royal Academy of Arts; the New York Print Fair at the Park Avenue Armory; Adjustments & Errors, a group exhibition held at the Bag Factory in Johannesburg, South Africa, following his residency at their Studios in 2006.
While his work is held in many private and eminent public collections – including The Arts Council England, The British Council, The British Museum – Mawudoku’s art is still relatively under-recognised. The respected artist, curator and academic Jon Thompson wrote about the artists’ work: ‘As representations they are wonderfully lucid and yet carry with them the vivid sense of life experienced at the very edge of social breakdown. Even so, Mawudoku is not weighed down by the burden of his own critique. He is no purveyor of gloom. A passionate attachment to the human values helps him to sustain an unflagging optimism.’
