Nnena Kalu

Nnena Kalu
Infinite Drawing
2022
Mixed media on paper

Twenty-four of Nnena Kalu’s drawings fill the gallery walls from floor to ceiling and make up the immersive installation Infinite Drawing. The selection of works has been co-curated  with Charlotte Hollinshead (Associate Artist, ActionSpace) and includes some of the drawings in the pairs in which they were originally produced by Kalu. The resulting exhibition offers visitors an insight into her drawing practice over this past year.  

Infinite Drawing highlights the artist’s evolution of forms, lines, and textures over the course of the year, demonstrating the limitless possibilities of her expansive approach to drawing and working with paper. Kalu’s densely layered circular motifs are often likened to vortexes or portals. They  appear rhythmic and infinite and embody the performative movement that led to their creation, as well as giving a sense of an expansion beyond their frames.

An intrinsic drive for repetitive mark-making guides the artist’s process for which she uses a large pencil and paint pen to densely build up and layer different colours, lines and marks; repeatedly working the paper’s surface with a circular motion. Kalu’s visually impactful installation is a journey into drawing as a practice; of dense colours and compacted, flowing lines. 

For over twenty years, Nnena Kalu has developed her artistic practice at ActionSpace’s studio in Studio Voltaire and she is an important member of both organisations’ artistic communities. Kalu has created a significant body of both monumental sculptural works and drawings in the studio.  The drawings are shown publicly for the first time for this year’s festival. 

We would like to thank ActionSpace, London’s leading development agency for learning disabled artists for their support on Nnena Kalu’s project.