Responding to Stimulus
Virtual Solo Exhibition by Wasiu Eshinlokun
Launched on Artsy | August 2025
Lianna Foundation & Gallery presented Responding to Stimulus, a virtual solo exhibition by Lagos-based surrealist artist
Wasiu Eshinlokun. The exhibition explored the concept of growth as a physical and emotional response to external forces—energy, pressure, and release.
In this series, Eshinlokun’s signature tape-wrapped figures speak to cycles of limitation and liberation. His forms suggest moments of quiet tension, where transformation begins not with noise, but with the internal will to break through. Each piece becomes a study in human resilience and self-expression.
The exhibition marked a continuation of Lianna’s relationship with Eshinlokun, who was previously featured in The Voyage, and reflected the foundation’s commitment to supporting artists through long-term, evolving collaborations—both in physical and digital space.
curatorial overview
Responding to Stimulus: A Virtual Encounter with Wasiu Eshinlokun
This virtual exhibition brings together a selection of Wasiu Eshinlokun’s works that reflect on growth and the drive to break free.
At the centre of his visual language is the repeated motif of a tape wound around the body. For Eshinlokun, this speaks to the ties that connect human experience across time and place. Yet it also suggests tension: the limits that hold us back, and the energy needed to push beyond them.
Growth, after all, is a response to stimuli. In these works, we see figures caught between potential and release, holding within them the possibility of transformation. Each piece carries a channel for breakthrough, a reminder that the very forces pressing against us can also be what drives progress.
