The Nigerian artist Abe Obedina wasn’t always a painter. Up until 2007, when he traveled on a whim to Bahia, Brazil, he was working as a successful architect and had never considered a fine arts career. Now he paints figurative portraits in a brash color palette, nodding to ancient Nigerian tradition as well as Renaissance portraiture. “My paintings are a form of artistic veneration,” Obedina has explained, “occasionally depicting the Yoruba gods but more often exploring the effects of their influence in the daily lives of humans.” Odedina still moves between beachy Brazil and London, where he exhibits widely. Ed Cross presents a mixture of Obedina’s recent and older paintings; a highlight is his triptych True Love, which in 2017 was exhibited in digital format at Carnegie Hall. —Elena Clavarino