Jonathan Mavua Lessor Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1960 -

Jonathan Mavua Lessor - 1960

A vast country, diverse people and culture and saddled with multiple distractions, which obviously forms the background for his art. Lessor’s thought process is defiantly fresh, wild, curious, fast, tame, and furious. His displayed works touched various socio-political issues and revealed an artist with a deep reflection of his immediate society.

His local name “Omavuayire” means ‘victory’ in the Urhobo language. But popularly known as Jonathan Mavua Lessor, art to him simply means creativity. He should know. He has been an artist for over 25 years.

Jonathan “Mavua” Lessor (born on 26 November, 1960) hails from Warri, Delta State, Nigeria. He had his early education in Warri, Delta State. In 1986, he obtained a Higher National Diploma (HND), Upper Credit, in painting at Auchi Polytechnic and did his National Youth Service at the Federal College of Education, Abeokuta from 1986-1987.

Lessor, who was a freelance artist between 1987-1993, experimented with metals and other materials for interior and exterior decorative works. In 1993 Lessor opened his studio and concentrated more on his specialized discipline of painting. And for fourteen years; 1993-2007 permanently exhibited and marketed his works in Lagos, Abuja and London.

In 1998, Lessor had his first solo exhibition in Lagos – ’Consciousness of Form’. Well received, he was encouraged to return in 2001 with – ‘Colour Amidst Squalour’, an exhibition coordinated by local collectors. This too was a huge success. In 2005, 2006, and 2008, he followed up with ‘Tones of Light’, ‘Art on the Rooftop’ and ‘The Stages of Time’ respectively.

In 2010 he come out with ‘Bond Across’ at Terra Kulture in Lagos. This exhibition attracted much attention from the art community, fans and collectors of art. It was another success that boosted Lessor’s standing and place in the Nigerian visual art scene. In 2011, Lessor advanced his practice beyond the shores of Nigeria to the United States of America.

“Like I keep telling people, the art is not the drawing or the painting,” Lessor said at the opening of “Vitality in Diversity”, his latest exhibition which opened in Lagos. “The expression is what you see. Art itself is abstract. That’s why you refer to the works as artworks… from these works, you can begin to see the way I think, my thought process.”

Lessor brings us interpretations of everyday life in contemporary Nigeria. With themes ranging from romance, religion to politics, the eclectic display was just as the artist described it, ‘a visual extravaganza.’

He captures the incredible bustle characteristic of Nigerian city life and the wheels of commerce on Market Days. He pays tribute to care exhibited in motherhood. He features landscapes where the bright hues of luxuriant orange-colored leaves are catchy, yet cool. His cityscapes are also prominent, often showing water peddlers and the importance.

While bright colors created a happy feeling, the messages of some of his works were reminders of socio-political upheavals. In spite of the Nigerian societal issues Lessor presents us with a powerful visual expression of the Nigerian people’s resilience. "And in the midst of these we still have to work; I have been looking at the crisis rocking Nigeria from the positive attitude perspective, and learning that despite the problems we must move on."

Painting on fabric has been gaining more ground among Nigerian artists who are, traditionally, glued to the canvas. Lessor belongs to the generation of Nigerian traditionalist painters. And having established his art as someone who loves the thickness of the canvas in impasto technique, he seems to have found an extension in fabric.

Galleries and collectors have noted that Lessor has the style, form and technique that fits into the contemporary time.

In 1998, Lessor had his first solo exhibition in Lagos – ’Consciousness of Form’. Well received, he was encouraged to return in 2001 with – ’Colour Amidst Squalour, an exhibition coordinated by Obias Odogwu. This too was a huge success. In 2005, 2006, and 2008, he followed up with ‘Tones of Light’, ‘Art on the Rooftop’ and ‘The Stages of Time’ respectively.