About the artwork
In this striking work, Abe Odedina explores with irony and depth the construction of masculinity and the transmission of cultural codes from one generation to the next. Boys Will Be Boys features a father and son, painted in the style of iconic figures, tattooed with symbols, letters and graphic motifs reminiscent of popular tattoo codes, street signs and Yoruba mystical symbolism. The golden background, characteristic of the artist's style, lends the scene an almost sacred dimension, while the phrase inscribed on the banner - "Boys Will Be Boys" - introduces a critical and ambiguous note, oscillating between pride and questioning. The two characters, dressed in simple red underwear, embody a masculinity that is both vulnerable and performative. The father, covered in signs - hearts, crosses, crowns, numbers - seems to display an identity shaped by society and its masculine injunctions. The son, his double in the making, is already repeating these symbols and gestures, suggesting the reproduction of masculine behaviors and myths. Taking up a common phrase often used to excuse men's excesses or violence, Odedina turns it into a critical mirror, questioning what it really means to "be a man".
Expert opinion
Boys Will Be Boys masterfully illustrates Abe Odedina's ability to fuse popular narrative, spiritual iconography and social satire. Here, the artist hijacks the codes of visual folklore - bold colors, symmetry, frontality - to tackle a universal theme: the transmission of virility and its cultural drifts. Beneath the playful, almost carnivalesque appearance of the scene lies a profound reflection on the male condition, emotional upbringing and generational responsibility. Odedina, who trained as an architect before becoming a painter, constructs his compositions with remarkable structural rigor and narrative awareness. The use of gold, evocative of both religious painting and African statuary, sacralizes ordinary figures and sets them up as contemporary icons. Boys Will Be Boys is thus situated between myth and criticism, between paternal love and the questioning of patriarchy - a subtle dialogue, imbued with humor and tenderness, at the heart of the artist's approach.
About the artist
Abe Odedina, born in Ibadan in 1960, is an artist of Nigerian origin, now based between London and Salvador de Bahia. Initially trained and active as an architect, he discovered painting in 2007 during a trip to Brazil, an experience that radically transformed his artistic trajectory. His practice, which he describes as "folk art", frees itself from conventional classifications to create a vibrant pictorial language rooted in Yoruba mythologies, African oral narratives and contemporary imagery.
Odedina works mainly in acrylic on wood, preferring plywood to canvas, to give his works a material dimension akin to murals or painted signs. His figures - half-human, half-symbolic - evolve in colorful, minimalist compositions, often accompanied by poetic texts or inscriptions. They embody universal archetypes: heroes, gods, workers, lovers - everyday figures transfigured by spirituality and myth.
Winner of the Ellsworth Kelly Award in 2017 (in collaboration with The Underground Museum, Los Angeles), Abe Odedina has exhibited widely in London, New York, Lagos, Los Angeles and São Paulo. His work is included in major private and public collections around the world. Her art, deeply narrative and humanistic, proposes a conversation between past and present, between Africa and diaspora, where color, symbolism and words become vectors of memory and resistance.
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