Friday 30 September 2011

Contents


This Week
  • African, European, American photographers converge for Lagos Photo Festival.
  • Art Academician unearths The Arts in African funeral.
  • In travels, painter thickens the canvas.
  • Adeodunfa, young artist who collects masters.

LAGOS PHOTO FESTIVAL


Lagos Photo Festival converges over 40 world photographers
 By Tajudeen Sowole


Ronke Adeola of Food Affairs (left), Co-director of Lagos Photo, Zainab Ashadu and speaking, co-curator, Medina Dugger
  WHEN African, American and European photographers converge on Lagos for the second edition of Lagos Photo Festival, another art content for tourism in Nigeria would have been spotlighted.
  With What’s Next Africa? -The Hidden Stories, as theme, participants in the 2011 edition, which opens on Sunday October 9, 2011 at the Eko Hotel and Suites Convention Center, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria, are expected to use the power of their lens to focus on the uncommon story of Africa.  
  Organised by African Artists’ Foundation (AAF) in collaboration with the European National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC), the festival, according to the co-director, Zainab Ashadu is bringing together 18 African and 23 European and American photographers with the “aims of using the power of photography to represent the hidden stories of the continent as opposed to the over represented, sensationalised and dramatic images on Africa popular across the world.”

Participants from Africa and Europe, last year in Lagos
 
  Last year, the exhibitions were mounted at various centers such as Muri Okunola Park, Victoria Island; MKO Abiola Garden, Ojota; Prof. Ayodele Awojobi Park, Onike, Yaba and AAF assured that the festival project would establish “a community for contemporary photography that will unite, in the city of Lagos, local and international artists, through images that encapsulate individual experiences and identities from across Africa.” 
   Ashadu, during the preview, expressed joy that the project had come to stay.
 Kelechi Obi Amadi, Akintunde Akinleye , Nana Kofi Acquah, Aderemi Adegbite, Jodi Bieber, Victor Ehikhamenor, George Osodi and Joseph Penney are some of the photographers, whose works will feature in the exhibitions segment of the festival. Azu Nwagbogu and Marc Prust will serve as director and curator of the 2011 edition respectively.
  Some of the highlights of the festival’s opening ceremony and exhibition, include Lagos Photo Party in the Park, on October 15 and 16 at Muri Okunola Park Victoria Island, Lagos;  Lagos Photo Photo Walk (for amateur and professional photographers) October 22 and 23; Photography Workshops for amateur and professional photographers, October 7 to 23; as well as, Fashion photography exhibitions /film screenings - Freedom park, Lagos Island October 30.
Some of the works on display, last year
  After the grand opening of the exhibition, the outdoor sub-events continue at Muri Okunola park, Victoria Island, Falomo underpass Ikoyi, MKO Abiola Park Ketu and Prof Ayodele Awojobi Park, University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba.
  Co-curator, Medina Dugger explained that the format of presentation for the outdoor exhibitions would not change this year “as it remains the only way to weather the storm.” For this year’s event, there will be other cultural contents such as foods and music. Ronke Adeola of Foods Affairs noted that, though food is an every day aspect of life, the cultural perspective is also important. This much she hoped would be a good mix with photography. “It’s going to be great to experience food and photography.”
 Ilaria Chessa, Creative Producer of Music Matters stated that Lagos Photo Festival would give young artists in Nigeria opportunity to be heard.

Participants at Lagos Photo Festival in Lagos, last year
Also involved in the event is Goethe Institute, Lagos. Its director, Marc-Andre Schmachtel pledged that the German cultural centre would continue to support Lagos Photo because of the cross border creative and tourism potential of the festival.






OYERINDE OLOTU, PETER AREH LECTURE AND ADEKUSIBE ODUNFA


Unearthing the arts in funeral engagement
 By Tajudeen Sowole
 There is indeed art in everything including funeral activities as indicated last week at the maiden edition of Peter Areh Lecture.
 HELD at the Aina Onabolu Building, National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos and tagged On Art and Cultural Enterprise, the maiden lecture in honour of late art promoter, Peter Areh, was delivered by Krydz Ikwuemesi, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State.
 Areh was stabbed to death by yet to be identified men, who invaded his house on Thursday, July 2, 2009. He died at 37.
  He had contributed to the first edition of U.K.-based Bonhams auction house’s sales, Africa Now with sponsorship by Access Bank and held in London in 2009. The auction featured works of over 30 African artists from 11 countries.
Chairman of the event, Mr Sammy Olagbaju

  Given the art entrepreneurial character of Areh, during his brief stay in the business of art gallery, the theme, was expected to be synonymic, focusing; within that context. However, Ikwuemesi thought differently, bringing another angle into the entrepreneur of art and culture, by connecting grief, which is associated with mourning and funeral rituals, to creativity.
   And it’s quite coincidental that the work was not originally written for the lecture, but “for an international project I did a year before the death of Areh,” Ikwuemesi stated. It was originally titled Celebrating Tragedy…Art and Theatre in the Anatomy of Death and Funeral in Africa.
 He said most cultures across the world may not see arts contents in death, yet the activities triggered by the demise of a loved one convey “elements of art and theatre in a variety of ways.” The fact that, art, over the last century, has been broadened beyond the traditional painting and sculpture to include performance, installation and other new media genres, also give strength to Ikwuemesi’s view.
  Bringing the issue down to the African rituals of funeral, he stated that for example, a non-African could easily decry the “fanfare and “boisterous atmosphere” of funerals here, and perhaps believe that such rituals are meant to “devalue the gravity of death.” Ikwuemesi argued that these theatre-like funeral rites has turned death and its components such as grief and mourning “into a democratic experience shared by the dead, the bereaved and the community at large in a solemn, but hilarious affirmation of life through a codified denial of the finality of death.”

Krydz Ikwuemesi, coordinator of First Peter Areh Lecture.

  If Africans, Nigerians in particular, have, submissively lost much of their cultural values to the tenets of monotheist, funeral appears to be an exception. Ikwuemesi noted that as the people “become more sophisticated, so also have funerals are more complicated, despite the “attempt by churches, chiefs and communities to curtail the excesses in burials.”
  Aside from musical band, which the lecturer argued is more like “artistry installation,” the graveyard is also an extension or has the characteristic of that level of art genre or medium.
 
How much of these rituals artists and other “friends” of art got involved during Areh’s funeral was not part of Ikwuemesi’s lecture, but he stated that “I am disappointed” in the unimpressive turnout of audience during the post-Areh gathering in Lagos.
  Indeed, the attendance at the lecture did not reflect the status or contribution of Areh to the development of contemporary Nigerian art. However, the presence of, notable personalities such as Chairman of the occasion, Mr. Sammy Olagbaju; prominent art patron Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi; president of Art Galleries Association of Nigeria (AGAN), Chief Frank Okonta and another member, Olasehinde Odimayo added weight to the event.
  Also present were Areh’s mother, Mrs Augusta Areh and daughter, Ms Chinezie Areh. Olagbaju, in his remark, said Areh was a vigorous discussant, despite his brief stay in the art business. “He enthused me to the point of making me part of his several art activities. He was fair and squared and had an ambition to make art live beyond him.” 

Reviewer of All Things Will Die Okay Ikenegbu

  If anyone was in doubt of the richness of Areh’s Pendulum Gallery, Lekki, Lagos, Gbadamosi disclosed that during one of the late art promoter’s exhibitions, “Sammy beat me to one of the very works I so much loved.” And some of these collections, he noted, were not just from established artists as “Areh had lovely ideas on how to nurture younger artists to prominence.”
 
Last June, the Enugu leg of the maiden lecture was held at the National Museum, Abakaliki Road. In Lagos, a selected poems on death and loss in memory of Areh titled All Things Will Die, which Ikwuemesi co-edited with Okey Nwafor, with contributions from other poets was presented during the lecture.
  In his review of the book, sculptor and Head, Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Management Technology, Enugu, Okay Ikenegbu, noted that “the poems engage a unique combination of intelligence, empathy and seriousness of lament, profundity of thought and emotion.”
  However, the reviewer pointed out that, in the book, he missed “a sort of ballancery and evaluation of the impact of Areh’s loss to close relations.”
 Art patron, Yemisi Shyllon, an engineer wrote the foreword of the book.
Mrs Augusta Areh (mother of Peter Areh) giving the votes of thanks at the event
 The lecture was the initiative of two groups: Art Republic and Pan-African Circle of Artists (PACA).
  Areh's tentacle went beyond the visual art scene as his culture centre, shortly before his death, was involved in another project that encompassed performance arts. Known as Mmanwu Carnival, it was a project scheduled to run till late this year. 

In travels, Olotu’s masterstrokes pulsate
 By Tajudeen Sowole

With the advent of digital imagery, documentation of great sites by tourists may have become everybody’s fun, but Oyerinde Olotu’s brush re-enacts fond memory of places and people coinciding with Nigeria’s independence anniversary celebration.
Olotu’s masterstrokes on the beauty of Nigeria’s landscapes as captured in the solo exhibition titled Cities, People and Countryside, opens on the independence anniversary day, October 1 at Nike Art Gallery, Lekki, Lagos.
  In about 25 years of his three decades career, Olotu has worked more on landscape themes. Although, the body of work, according to him, was planned to represent the entire country, most of the landscapes, particularly from the rural settings, he stated, are recordings from the southwest only. 

Idanre Hill series I, II and III (2010 oil on canvas, 40 x 34 in)

  The state of insecurity, in some parts of the country, he lamented “made me restrict my movements to the southwest and parts of Edo State.” And quite interesting that Olotu, over the past two decades, has stuck to impressionism, yet remains resilient, make this exhibition another medium for the artist to put the loyalty of his admirers to test, once again. In fact, when he marked his 50th birthday with the exhibition, Nigeria and Beyond: the Past and the Present, at Quintessence Gallery in 2009, the theme never changed, yet it was a gathering of top art collectors, including oldie, Chief Torch Taire.
  And when the show opens tomorrow, one of the relics of colonial rule, among other works, will be on display in a perspective rendition titled Abandoned One-lane Colonial Bridge (oil on canvas, 2009). In this composite, including a vegetation that has spilled over from a nearby forest onto the, perhaps, rustic metals of the bridge as well as the two figures in the distance, the artist’s application of light appears like an attempt to give another life to the forgotten monument. The location, he disclosed is Sobe, Edo State.
  Not escaping the touch of Olotu’s palette knife is Oke Idanre (Idanre Hill), Ondo State, Southwest of Nigeria, and its small valley-town, swallowed by the hill. This awesome work of nature, which has become prominent in art and photography rendition is better appreciated in painting, as reflected in a number of painters’ works over the decades. Olotu’s Idanre Hill series I, II and III (2010 oil on canvas, 40 x 34 in). has added to the celebration of one of the greatest sites on earth.

Abandoned One-lane Colonial Bridge (oil on canvas, 2009)

  The artist insisted it’s one site he would love to paint as many times as possible. And that these works are rendered in three tones of graduated colours and two eye-level perspectives underscores the vibrancy of painting; challenging photography and its digital imaging in these aesthetics of impressionistic palette-knife stroking.
  Artists would always argue that the quietness of the rural areas offers more concentration and the right ambience in plein air painting. This makes one wonder how contrasting work such as On the Third Mainland Bridge (oil on canvas 34 x 26 in, 2009) was achieved in  plein air. It’s a view, about 300 metres into the ascending point of the bridge, from the Obalende end. The question is; Where was Olotu’s easel mounted? “Painting on a busy traffic place like the bridge in Lagos was one of the most difficult adventures I took to get some of the works done,” he responded even as he admitted that half of the job was completed in his studio.   
Oyerinde Olotu and one of his works (2011)

  Although most of Olotu’s works in the past were done in monochrome, for this show, there are quite a number of colours and hues to view.
  In people, the late sage, Obafemi Awolowo, Mother Theresa, Yusuf Grillo ––the artist’s teacher at Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech), Living Legend; and Mallam Aminu Kano are among personalities that enjoy portraiture spaces on Olotu’s canvas, for this show.
  For this artist’s profile, Cities, People and Countryside may just be another lift after one of his older works made a surprise sale at the last auction of ArtHouse Contemporary in Lagos. The work, Independence Parade Lagos 1972 (acrylic on synthetic mat, 33.5 x 33 in.) was bidded from N250, 000 asking price, went through over five minutes of haggling and sold at N1.9m; it’s on auction record for the artist. Olotu had his first solo exhibition at the now rested Viv Gallery in 2001  
  He was Overall Best Student when he graduated in 1981.
 




 Adeodunfa … sharing joy of collections
BY TAJUDEEN SOWOLE
 AS a student, Adekusibe Odunfa was a collector of his Art teachers’ works; a passion, he developed over 10 years ago and has grown to include owning a full studio and sharing his collections with other enthusiasts.
  In a show tagged Over A Decade Collection of Paintings and Sculptures, which opened yesterday, at Terra Kulture Gallery, Victoria Island, Lagos, the artist said, “the works bring memory of old strokes and vibrancy of today’s art.” 


Samuel Ajobiewe’s Ram Ranch
    Few days earlier, Odunfa, who prefers a combined name of Adeodunfa, explains that it’s important for him to share these collections before they are carted off by individuals.
   He, however, warns that some of the old works are not for sale, but just for members of the public to enjoy the atmosphere of collective viewing.
  Most of the works are not really new to the public, as his Tents Gallery, Surulere, has featured quite a number of them several times shows.
  So, what’s new about this show? The environments, he argues, are different and noted that the Lagos and Victoria Islands, being the hubs of art cannot be left out in seeing the works.
  And as he insists that some of the works are not for sale, one doubts if the painter would be able to resist offers, particularly, for works of artist such as Biodun Olaku, whose Untitled, oil on board (25 X 37 in. 1992), at the last ArtHouse auction was sold for N2.2m — far beyond the asking price.
  On the Olakus in Odunfa’s collection, the younger artist must have collected these works at the time the former’s signature was less in demand. He recalls, “I collected the work when I was having my internship under Olaku at the Universal Studio of Art, National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos.”
  His passion for collection, Odunfa says, is as strong as painting. That quite a lot of these works were collected during his undergraduate days at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, showed that he had sub-consciously been training himself in art collection while learning the skills of brushings.
   Among these works are those of Lasisi Odutokun, (brother of the late Art teacher, Gani Odutokun) and Sanni Muazu.
  Works such as these, indeed, are swelling the resurfacing of old works as their market values increase. Also, they remind viewers of the old directions of these artists’ palette knife or brush movement.
  For example in Muazu’s Alone in a Dream (oil and Canvas, 1998), a resting abstractive figure against the monochromatic background oozes the characters of Odutokun’s wave-like movement of colours.
    

Asanni Muazu’s Alone in a Dream (oil and Canvas, 1998)


TO show that his collection goes beyond the tastes of established names or admiration for his Art teachers and mentors, he showcases works of younger generation artists  such as Samuel Ajobiewe’s realism The Ram Market and Chinedu Uzoma’s charcoal piece, Faceless Mind.
   Other young artists featured are: Ehiforia Henry, Morakinyo Seye,  Akanbi Yusuf
Ogunnusi Dolapo, Bimpe Adebambo, Biodun Badmos, Bunmi Ayaoge, Idorenyin
Ogaga Toudinye, Olumide Onadipe, Kehinde Oso, Umeh Bede, Segun Philips, Soji Yoloye, Tayo Olayode, Emeka Ajuwah, Osagie Aimufia, Femi Oyewole, Abdurazaq Muhammad and Donald Ekpo.
    Adeodunfa school’s environment would not stop hanging on his themes as the Durbar series continues in this show with a piece, Warming Up, among some of his works on display.
   In 2009 Adeodunfa had a solo show titled Phases and Faces, which featured his works from 1999 to 2009.
  He is a member of a group of artists who blazed the trail with Iponri Studios’ maiden exhibition, 2008 and the second outing of the group called Isokan, 2009.
  He graduated from ABU in 1998 and emerged winner in Xerox National Art Competition, 2000, and Guinness Art Award, 2004

BEN OSAWE

Sculptor, Ben Osawe lives on
BY TAJUDEEN SOWOLE
(First published in August 2007)

Osawe's Queen Idia
RENOWNED and late Nigerian sculptor, Ben Osawe whose burial is scheduled for this week, Thursday August 2007 appears to have left an enduring legacy in his sculptural works.
  For the man to remain alive in our minds, a group of promoters are taking the leap to prevent the famous late sculptor’s works from going into oblivion.
  Such medium as art exhibitions, conferences, seminars and workshops, and most likely, a foundation in the name of the famous sculpttor are said to be in the plans of the promoters, Thought Pyramids: a Lagos-based group which claims it is working with the family of the deceased to immortalise him.
What character of sculptor was Osawe? A probe into his works revealed an artist who, at every point in time when he had to reproduce iconic themes, attempted to rewrite history; no matter how well known such theme is.
  Such objective position is found in one of Osawe’s legacy in his home town, Benin, Edo State. At the Benin High Court, stands the sculpture of that well known symbol of equity, a blindfolded woman called Ma’at and said to be an origin of ancient Egypt, but later adapted by the Greek. The image, which later carries a scale and called Themis, courtesy of the Greek is here, further modified by Osawe. 


One of Osawe's sculptures

  The late artist’s interpretation of that common image found in court rooms across the world cannot be depicted in the weaker sex, so the rendition in the metal work suggests. Introducing African perspective of male dominance, this iconic image, from the artist’s perspective should have been a man. So, Osawe gives us a figure that is clearly masculine- a thinner waist line and muscular torso. 
  In place of the sword, Osawe, a former lecturer at the Fine Art Department, University of Benin (UNIBEN), goes back to his Benin roots and places the native staff of office on the right hand of the figure, just as the scales too have some African identity.
  Also, the most famous face in black African heritage, the FESTAC mask, in the opinion of Osawe should wear a bolder look. The work at his studio in Ogida, Benin, made of cement has the eye lids of Queen Idia sternly piercing at you, unlike the original FESTAC piece of which has a slightly dropped gaze.
  Such quality of ingenuity may be a gold mine waiting for the promoters, Thought Pyramid in the post-humous sojourn with the artist. The relationship, they claim started ten years ago.
  And in the posession of Thoughts Pyramid, Ajueshie says are such other works of wood and metal, just as the promoters promised to ensure that works are constantly in the glare of the public. 
 Ajueshie likened the late sculptor to another demised and famous sculptor, Ben Enwonwu.
  "An artist of moral rectitude and genial constitution, he is certainly not marginal in the chronicle of the country’s visual arts, but the centrality of his personality, his art and its influence is an issue- one that will be argued in a colloquy- on his art."
  Since the 1960s, Osawe's works have been shown at many exhibitions in Europe, Africa and the U.S. In 1962 he took part in an exhibition of the Artists' International Association in London, and a year later some of his works were shown in the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh. Since then he has taken part in exhibitions at major cities across the world: from Lagos to New York and New Delhi.

  His works adorn many public exhibitions and museums, including the National Gallery of Modern Art in Lagos and the cultural department of the Nigerian Ministry of Information.
  Born on August 26, 1931 into the tradition of carving, Osawe took to the instruction from his father – who at that time was a craftsman under Oba Eweka II of Benin – by going to London for 10 years, to study art. He started at the  School of Graphic Art for a year programm before proceeding for  a five-year study at the Camberwell School of Art at, all in the UK.
   Osawe started making impact outside the shores of his motherland when he  epresented Nigeria as one of the five Commonwealth artists selected for the 1965 Commonwealth Exhibition in Glasgow, U.K.
  He had major exhibitions at the Mbari Centre in Ibadan and Mainland Hotel Lagos, between 1967 and 1969 and later moved base from Lagos to Benin City in 1979.
  Osawe, before his death, once said of his movement to Benin: "In 1976, I decided to leave Lagos, where I lived and maintained a studio for about 10 years, to settle down permanently in
Benin city. This decision was brought about by my increasing inability to concentrate properly on my creative activity which was not unconnected to the hustle and bustle of Lagos."
 
"I must say that I am still experimenting with
the results of my research," he was quoted as saying.
And he never stopped researching until he released his last breath.
  As one the nation’s foremost sculptors, he would be remembered for his various researches, which resulted in the production of bronze / brass figures.
  He died on Wednesday, June 24, 2007 at the age of 76 in his Benin home residence.


Ben Osawe (1933-2009)

Evolution of my art, by Ben Osawe
 When I left Lagos, one thing was clearly uppermost in my
mind and this was the need to carry out a research into my art in the more peaceful atmosphere of Benin City with particular reference to the evolution of my art between 1966 when I returned from England and 1976 with the sole aim of determining the course of its future development.
  This research brought about an unconscious retreat from
Nigerian contemporary art scene for a period of 16 years, with the consequences that during this period I worked mainly on commissioned projects without doing much sculpturing.
This is not however to say that I was not working physically and mentally. For as long as I felt that I was still in retreat, I did not have the urge to exhibit like most of my contemporaries. Thus 1976 could rightly be regarded as the watershed in the evolution of my art.
  For as long as I remember I have always tried my hands on sculpture. My earliest memory was modeling in mud at the bank of the river Niger, in Onitsha. My father was a carver who had his training under Oba Eweka II, 1914 – 1933, thus my love for wood carving.
During my school days in London, 1956 – 1965, the hardwood medium which was very difficult to come by over there, was and is still my favourite medium today. Wood has its own distinctive character and for that reason I prefer carving wood in its natural form to carving a block of wood with regular shapes.
  When working on wood in its pure state, I merely finish what nature has started, I eliminated that which is unnecessary while accentuating the high points, thereby arriving at very simplified forms.  My favorite timbers are Ebony, Cam wood, Apa, Masonia and of course, Iroko. Each timber has its own beauty by the way of colour, grains and texture as well as its own peculiar carving technique.
  Whenever I receive an inspiration to do a wood sculpture, I first of all sketch it on paper and then select a piece of timber whose shape corresponds with the form of the inspiration I have and then proceed to sculpt.
  My inspirations are from various sources. It can be triggered off by the sound of the waves breaking on the beach or the gentle sound of a small waterfall of a rocky stream. I walk on the streets at night, visit nightclubs, market places or go for a drive on a lonely country road. These constitute the various sources of my inspirations.
An artist is continually experimenting, researching and
learning new techniques as long as he is working. For this reason my art has to be dynamic to be able to present the results of my researches and experiments, be it clay, wood or metal. My art reflect the various stages of my development. When I come across an earlier piece there is
always the tendency to search for flaws in it or the points that I failed to highlight and then proceed at once to correct the mistake or establish the highlight at the expense of whatever I may be working on.
  Each work of art, be it painting or a sculpture has a statement to make, thereby becoming the Artist's mouthpiece.

SIMEON AKHIREBU

Akhirebu… Stepping into new dawn
BY TAJUDEN SOWOLE
(First published in October 2007)
HE is arguably one of the few painters in his generation whose works offer hope that there would not be a vacuum in the art gallery after the exit of the ‘living masters’.
Though he is a graduate of the Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State, impressionist Simeon Akhirebu has taken the loud colour peculiarity of school's art alumni to another level. With ease, his work could be picked out from a crowd at any point in time.

Beach Activities (oil on canvas, 2007) by Simeon Akhirebu

  His debut solo, A New Dawn, which ran at the Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos on October 16 through 11, exposed an artist’s pregnant search for ideas that offer excitement beyond the ordinary.
  Quite a number of the exhibits revisit the survival syndrome, particularly in Lagos, as the artist brings some familiar characters on canvas.  In all, 26 oil paintings and six drawings, including water colour, charcoal and pencil made the show.
  From the typical mad house bus station scenery in Lagos, captured in Molue Scene, to the struggling woman, as seen in Eleja Market, and the zero-hygiene level displayed at some of these markets, depicted in In the Spirit of Commerce; the price of survival is indeed costly.
  And the ‘never give up’ spirit of the Nigerian was also celebrated in Instinct for Survival where the male character in the works supports a basket full of tomatoes with his shoulders.

  REMEMBER that classic Jewish movie, The Ten Commandments, by Cecil B. Demille? Oh yes! That scene where Moses led the Israelites through the Red Sea comes to mind in the large-sized piece called Beach Activities. Though there is no Moses in Akhirebu’s work, and no characters trailed by Pharaoh, the flow of the crowd across the canvas is so similar to that of the aerial view shot in the movie — the spread of the people from the foreground as it thins into the distance, left of the canvas, is synonymous with an exodus. 

Eleja by Simeon Akhirebu


The blend of the sky with the sea at the horizon takes one into the wildness of the scene, just the few revelers who fool around the bank of the beach, away from that wildness indicates that there are no go areas even during leisure.
  Akhirebu, in this show, remained strong as one of those hard-line artists that throw raw primary colours at you in their loudest form. However, if you are allergic to those eye-popping colours, the artist brings a relief of sort in the monochrome, Eko in Perspective, where electricity poles and cables compete in aerial battle for space. Also in dye tones, One Wet Day in Oyingbo and Reflections, as the artist suggests that blue, scientifically, is the emitted colour of a wet day.    Again, his focus in these works are on those at the bottom of the class ladder.  
Simeon Akhirebu

    FOR Akhirebu, the outing was a debut, which explains the theme of the exhibition. It is a significant page in his career, he stresses. From this point, “a new Simeon is emerging, a rebirth,” he adds.
  He made his debut in a group show, Salon, at the Benin Club, Benin, Edo State in 1999. He had since followed up with over 10 others including Emerging Culture, Abuja and Miniature Art Fair, Lagos in 2006.

 

VERONICA OTIGBO-EKPEI

Otigbo-Ekpei… Strictly wood
BY TAJUDEEN SOWOLE
(First published October 14-20, 2007)
When she set out early in her career, wood caving was properly the last thing on her mind.
  Twenty years after, Veronica Otigbo-Ekpei – the best student in painting at College of Education, Ijanikin Veronica Ekpei – is a carver of exceptional gift.
  From the works on exhibition during her fourth solo, Back in Time, held at the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos, recently, one could conclude that for quite a while, the art gallery has not really come up with a show of rich wood art pieces.
Veronica Otigbo-Ekpei's wood work Orange Seller (2005)

  A visit to Otigbo-Ekpei's studio while preparing for this show brought a relief of sort. Inside her Ibafon, Ogun State studio, nature comes in contact with man’s creativity as colour concealed behind different species of woods are unveiled.
  For nearly every piece of work meant for the exhibition, Otigbo-Ekpei had a direct experience that motivated such works.
  From Orange Sellers, Christmas Chicken to Ikunle Abiyamo (Woman In-Labour) and Neighbours among others, an artist, in contact with her subjects is not in doubt.
  Some people do know how to add elegance to a kind of unattractive job such that it becomes a lure for easy patronage.  Such is Orange Seller. Finished in Apa wood, it's a total capture – the sitting position of the lady, her orange peeling in action, oranges prepared in a bowl and ready to be bought as well as the basement which aesthetically supports the composite makes the pieces one  commendable effort.
  This action as depicted in the piece, Ekpei says was her attempt to bring to life a real regular activity of a lady across the road at her home-cum-studio.
  Still on the artist’s personal experience, from the notorious chicken slab at Onipanu bus stop, Lagos she comes up with the relief, Christmas Chicken, just as some lizards, the  unwanted creatures we are familiar with caught her attention in another relief, Neighbours.
  But in Ikunle Abiyamo, an abstract one finished in brown ebony wood, lies the real experience of Ekpei, herself a mother of more than one child. Literally, there is a spiritual interpretation here as the artist re-enacts such with the woman on her knees while the mother looms over the baby supposedly just delivered.
  A woman in-labour is not apparently in the kneeling position, but the Yoruba’s reference here is that she is usually in spiritual trance, praying to her God for safe delivery. And Ikunle (kneeling), is, synonymous with prayer.
keep fit, wood, by Veronica Otigbo-Ekpei

  The safety of the man and woman in the process of procreation is, however, no longer taken for granted since the arrival of the dreaded HIV/AIDS. Again, Otogbo-Ekpei’s experience comes in another work.
Though untitled, the piece brings out the beauty of the woods in the combined black and brown colour. From the artist’s interpretation, the HIV/AIDS' victim in this sculpture must have acquired the disease from as many men as possible. In her composite, Ekpei places the female victim on the sick bed while faces of men are pinned under the lady’s stretched body. 
Veronica Otigbo-Ekpei

  The work, also of the relief family, Otigbo-Ekpe disclosed came about as a result of her contact with a victim at the hospital. "One moment she was there, lying down on her sick bed. On my next visit to the hospital, I was told she just passed on," she explained of what she called her closest to a victim. 
   Otigbo-Ekpei took post-school tutelage from master carver, Bisi Fakeye.

SABITU ABITU HASSAN

Hassan’s shades of Expressions

BY TAJUDEEN SOWOLE

(First published October 10, 2007)
When an artist sets out for a solo exhibition with a title as simple as Expressions, it is most likely a license to go on artistic rampage.

  This is exactly what painter, Sabitu Abu Hassan did at his recent solo art exhibition held at the Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos State.
  From social to cultural and political, the artist left no stone unturned in his aggressive impressionistic touch.
 From about 25 abstract there was this one called What’s On A Man‘s Mind, oil on canvas. A close shot of a male’s gaze is placed against a medium shot of a nude female figure, suggesting the thought of the man. And if one takes it for granted that the thought of a naked woman brings a delight to a man, this piece from Hassan might be suggesting otherwise: the man is not happy.
  That looks like an irony, isn’t it? Yes. The man’s upper and lower lips, stroked down the cheek and furrowing the brows, all combined to depict a sad man.   
In contrast with the above piece, Hassan gave his viewers a scene captured from a longer distance in the work titled Yemi Dara L’Obinrin, (Yemi, A Beautiful Maiden), also oil on canvas. Comparatively, this piece, in spite of the distance view and yet impressionistic, one makes no mistake who is Yemi in the joyful crowd. 
  Singled out by the brown gele (head gear) and buba (Native Yoruba blouse) with very dark iro  (wrapper) to complete the elegance, the central focus, as explained by Hassan’s palette knife strokes is in tune with the spirit of the composite and theme.     
   The artist, a former Secretary of Oriade Local Council Development Area, Lagos State, may not have built the theme of the show around his political sojourn. However, the aura of politics radiated here. In a society such as ours where things hardly go right, artists of diverse genres are usually quick to use their constituencies to cry for change.
  Such works like Separation of Power, Alaga Council (The Council Chairman), and Alagba Meta (Three Wise Men) brought forth an opportunity to share his public administration experience through art.
  These works, the artist disclosed, were done during his tenure as a local government boss. Four unidentified images in the acrylic work, Separation of Power is a curious one: the lack of respect for the various arms of government,  going by Hassan’s experience, is not peculiar to the intrigues of power as we have seen demonstrated in Abuja. Even at the local government level, respect for separation of power may be lacking as well at that bottom tier of government. 
  And before the centre disintegrate in a society where elders do not keep quiet, even in the face of intimidation, wisdom prevails. This is where Alagba Meta (Three Wise men) comes in. Though in abstractive approach, beads won by chiefs and others in that class, which is the symbol of wisdom and respect in a society such as ours, are the immediate attraction of the work. And enough to get the message across.
  Having come this far and added an experience gained from the corridors of power, Hassan has used the exhibition, Expressions as a mirror of who we are. 
 Trained at the Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, Lagos State, Hassan made his debut exhibition at a group show The Happenings of Our Time, held at the Russian Cultural Center, 1992 and solo Visual Metaphor, at the French Cultural Centre, Lagos in 2002.
  Some of his other group shows are: Flower Blossom, Oxford Exhibition, for the  Fairer World in Glasgow, London, UK, International Monetary Fund Exhibition, I.M.F, FCT Abuja and Index Show at Nimbus Gallery, Ikoyi, Lagos.
 

UFUOMA ONOBRAKPEYA

Ufuoma Onobrakpeya... A Dual Identity
BY TAJUDEEN SOWOLE
(First published Sept 2007)
TWO distinct contemporary cultures, miles away, were brought under one roof recently when print maker and painter, Ufuoma Onobrakpeya, made his debut solo show.
  While the deep etching medium said to have been widely used and made popular by the artist’s father and renowned print maker, Bruce Onobrakpeya, formed parts of the exhibits at the show, other medium, lino block print and dry point print appeared to be the younger Onobrakpeya’s lead into a similar journey like his father.
  Having added a western setting to home experience while studying for his post graduate in the U.K, the artist, at this debut solo entitled, My Environment, My Culture, gave viewers the beauty of the two cultures in sharp contrasts.


  Compiled over a period of 12 years, the 30 works were showcased at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island from October 19 to 24, also included paintings and drawings. 
   HIS first love, deep etching print, naturally comes as the choice of expression, so suggests the works such as Praise Singers, a social setting and Obioma, an itinerant tailor otherwise known as 'Ejika Ni Shobu' (the shoulder is the shop) in Lagos-Yoruba parlance.
  Nostalgically, the artist pays homage to his root in the piece, Woman Returning from Farm, a capture of country setting in Agbarha Otor, Delta State.  Quite interesting, the work speaks of the immense input of the rural woman in the social and economic activities of her environment, particularly in this part of the world where women are redefining the traditions that placed them as second fiddle to the male.
  Across the sea and in just one composite, Onobrakpeya features three key traditions of old that keep adding colour to the London landscape. The exhibit, London View and finished in dry point print has the famous, Tower Bridge, the elitist black cab, the double-decker bus and the old architectural public monument, Big Ben in one print.

  STILL on those prints the artist associated with his U.K. experience, he comes up with lino block print in such work as London Transportation. Again the black cab is captured here, but close to the train station where it is dwarfed by the bigger train machine.
  What about the old Battersea Power Station in that city which is out of use for a long period and said to have now been converted to a tour attraction. Also in lino block print, this work further set out Onobrakpeya as a print artist of cross culture.
  The artist’s definition of one’s environment in a new global village transcends the birth place.  “Our environment is the entire universe and it is influenced by the culture of the people who live in it. The environment and culture interact and reinforce one another.
  “Therefore the works on display at this exhibition represent, if you like, my views about the environment in which they were created not only in Nigeria but also in the United Kingdom during my Master’s program at Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London.”  


BORN in 1971 in Nigeria, Ufuoma earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art, specialising in Painting at the University of Benin in 1995. He went on to obtain a Master’s degree in Art, specialising in Printmaking from Camberwell College of Arts, London, in 2002. He is currently studying different printmaking techniques under the tutelage of his father, Professor Bruce Onobrakpeya, Nigeria’s renowned printmaker.

CHINWE UWATSE

Uwatse’s woman…
Straightening out a gender debate
(First published Sept 16-22, 2007)

Divine My Future (watercolour, 2006) by Chinwe Uwatse
 
INDIVIDUALLY or as a group, women have, of recent, stepped up campaign for redefinition of their status. But who is the ideal woman in the 21st Century? Does she really need to redefine herself?
  These pertinent questions about womanhood and its place in modern society are what abstract expressionist painter, Chinwe Uwatse, attempts to address in some of her recent works.
  Uwatse takes a brushing trip into the thoughts of the woman and comes up with a dialogue.

  If nature has placed the softer gender at the tail end of procreation process, giving her the all important role of ensuring that the new born is brought to life, why is it that some culture gives the right of custody to her spouse with whom she started the process?
 THE piece, Wake up Call, water colour and pen expresses the cry of Uwatse’s woman against the ‘unfair’ treatment of the female folk.
The artist probes further: Is the woman  merely existing or really living? Through the same work, which has an unidentified figural image in the state of agony, the woman, according to Uwatse, says she has been told she cannot have children of her own. What irony?
  The work, which depicts the despair of the woman, could be heard: “I am a wife, but I cannot aver to my husband and say he is mine. I have a house, but I do not have a home to call my own. Persons I live with, family they never be.” 
 Has she given enough to deserve her right? “Trust, love, I have given without measure. Disrespect, disdain and contempt are my full,” Uwatse’s ‘woman’ explains. 



  But she isn’t going to accept the concept of a woman the society is forcing down her throat. Time for rebellion. “I reclaim me, ” she resolves.

Hold On (watercolour, 2006)
  STILL on the protest, another piece, Divine My Future, brings a blend of spirituality into this business of redefining the woman.
  Divided into two unequal parts by a yellow inroad, each side, of course, represents either an invitation or challenge to the journey of life. 
  From challenge phrases such as ‘Divine my future — if you can. Divine my future, not my pain,’ to such spiritual and bold lines like, ‘Divine, my future; it is plain’ and ‘Divine my future; I am not vain,’ Uwatse’s woman though appears to be submissive, but wants a fair deal in the bargain.
  Largely expressed in Uli forms, the artist engages poetry to enrich the works.
  For Uwatse, this is a very familiar terrain — no apology. Few years ago, in the all female group show, Identities and Labels, which featured the works of Peju Layiwola, Nkechi Nwosu-Igbo, Angela Isiuwe, Lara Ige Jacks, Nneka Odoh, Titi Omoighe and Stella Ubigho, Uwatse fired some shots: “Am I a legal tender or am I an accessory? I am neither ... I am me."
   A 1982 graduate of Fine Art from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Uwatse was a visual arts officer and arts administrator at the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) Lagos office. She was responsible for curating the agency’s local and international art exhibitions until 1994 when she retired from the civil service. She was also the curator, National Art Collection and Traditional Craft Collection of the NCAC. 

  Her solo exhibitions include Phantasmagoria (dream sequence), National Museums Onikan, Lagos, in 1991; Dissimulation, Earthly Treasures Gallery, Westboro, Ottawa, Canada in July 1992; Phantasmagoria (dream sequence), Blackberry/New Dimension, New York, US 1991.
Chinwe Uwatse
  Some of her group shows are Identities and Labels at Pan African University, Ajah, Lagos in 2005; Impressions, Bang and Olufsen Centre, Ikoyi, 1999; and the international show, Exhibition of Nigerian Art at the World International Property Organisation, Geneva, Switzerland, 1995.

Thursday 29 September 2011

DOTUN ALABI

Alabi…Live touch on canvas
BY TAJUDEEN SOWOLE
(First published September 23-29, 2007)
IT is not very clear how often artists, these days, engage in the traditional out door painting otherwise known as plein-air.
  Largely, as a result of the faster aid of photography, most artists take their references from pictures either taken by themselves or a second party who takes no credit for the final work.
  At the solo art exhibition of Dotun Alabi titled, Four Seasons and a Day, which opened at the Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos on September 8 through 13, viewers were taken aback at the painter’s ingenuity. And what a natural subject! Some serene environment such as Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Zaria and Lagos, were not left out of the artist’s creative probing, as the stinking Marina enjoyed a place.
  An aerial view of a quiet rural setting of Oke Ira in Ado Ekiti, was one of the puddings of Alabi's art brought to the table, to prove that plein-air, after all, is still worth the trouble.
  The misty hill in the horizon, a looming rock on the left and the green vegetation made colourful with some yellow touch on the right of the canvas are the nature’s offer to the settlers of the small town.
  Oke Ira, from the painter’s view, is buried several feet down the aforementioned scenery. In fact, the rock on the left is so dangerously placed that its tilting suggests it could, in the next seconds, rise and crush the clusters of buildings sandwiched by the stretch of vegetation and hills.
  If the aerial view offers an impression that the area is just a hamlet, another work of the same location leads a viewer further into the settlement to achieve a close-up of some of the structures in this environment.
  Even at such a close-up, a stretch of kilometre ahead, bringing the distance hills into view, confirms that this must be a large settlement.
  The haste-like look of impressionistic form in these and others that the artist claims were done outdoor, further complements the live action feeling, making a viewer appreciate the works more. Scenery like this also reminds a visitor to the show how much has been lost in the quest to urbanise every innocent stretch of nature.
    Having gone through several experiments which he termed, ‘four seasons’, Alabi, however, finds a relief in a day. That reprieve, he discloses “is in plein-air.”
  Alabi started his four seasons sojourn in figural, abstract, as well as landscapes. The second season, as the exhibition revealed, was in aquatic pieces of surrealism, oil on canvas. One of such was Melodies of Love, a romance scene captured under the water with musical paraphernalia swimming round the couple.
  His focus at the relics of a nation with lack of family value forms part of Alabi’s “third season”, as he implores both the contemporary and traditional art forms here.
  From the fourth season comes another of his creative part in depth and lines. This, he says, is his attempt to combine lines and colours.
  But the search for the artist’s A Day’s interpretation brought out some exterior works done in palette knife and captured in Lagos.
  From the abandoned vessels on the coast line of Marina, Lagos Island, where street urchins (area boys) reign, to the chaotic Obalende environment and elite’s hide out, Polo Club, in that same Island, Alabi rediscovers how the artists of old used plein-air to communicate with nature.
  Alabi’s recent exhibitions were Seeds and Seasons, 2005, Keresimesi (Christmas), 2006 and Expressions 2006. He made his debut in 1997 in a group show, Facets, at the University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos.