The 2023 exhibition The Evil Genius brought 16 works by 12 African artists together in response to music from Mr Eazi’s album of the same name.
The project opened at Gallery 1957 in Accra before travelling to London as part of the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair.
Twelve artists interpreting individual songs
Mr Eazi selected artists whose work he admired and invited them to listen to songs before discussing their meanings.
The artists were then given freedom to develop visual responses rather than produce literal illustrations.
Participants included Dominique Zinkpè and Patricorel from Benin, Tesprit from Togo and Samuel Tete-Katchan from Ghana.
The wider group included Tammy Sinclair, Alpha ODH, Chinaza Nkemka, Edozie Anedu, Elangwe Sesse, Ikechukwu Christian, Kufa Makwavarara and Sandra Seghir.
A project spanning eight African countries
The artists represented practices based in Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Togo, Kenya, Cameroon, Senegal and the Zimbabwe-South Africa context.
The exhibition developed over more than two years and explored themes including love, freedom and happiness.
Music supplied a shared emotional framework, but each artist retained a distinct material and cultural language.
The project also reversed the common relationship between album artwork and music promotion.
Instead of commissioning one image to package the record, Mr Eazi created an exhibition in which several artists could interpret separate parts of the musical work.
The Evil Genius demonstrated how a musician’s curatorial role can create dialogue across national borders.
Its strongest feature was the independence granted to the artists, allowing the songs to generate new visual work without reducing the exhibition to branded decoration.