Fidel Nnamdi Oyiogu is contemporary Nigerian painter born in 1957. He trained at the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu between 1980 and 1985 where he developed his unique style of formal expression. He first worked as a cartoonist with the Champions Newspaper in the 1980s during which he featured in different exhibitions at home and abroad (including the African Art Gallery, Germany and the Goethe Institute, Lagos) that brought him to international limelight. Most of his paintings are centered on the appreciation of women as aesthetic elements, his style is richly inspired by the Uli art tradition of his native Igboland as his geometric forms are associated with the mural decorations in local shrines of the people. Fidel loves to use oil on canvas as his medium and he is currently based in Lagos.
A prominent feature in Fidel’s paintings is the rhythmic body movement of feminine figurines with the expression of joy and happiness all over their faces as shown in The Young Maiden Dancers. The painting shows four young women who are probably maidens as the title suggests, ornamented with jewelries, basking in the melodious sound of the music being played with their swaying arms and bodies in enchanting dance moves. Richly filled with colours of different shades and hues, Fidel reflects on the beauty and pleasure associated with the cultural music and dances of not just his Igbo people but Africa in general in this surrealistic painting.