Oldest post-independence group art studio?

With due respect to other similar group initiatives in Nigeria’s post independence art, an appraisal of the last 52 years of art could place the Universal Studios of Art, Lagos as a resilient bridge between art trainings – formal or informal – and the mainstream practice.

USA, as it is fondly called, debatably, is Nigeria’s oldest post-independence group art studio. Three to four of ten art pieces of Nigerian origin, in art galleries, public spaces and private collections across the country  – exported abroad too – in the last 27 years, perhaps, have a direct or indirect link to the Lagos-based Universal Studios of Art.

File photo of Universal Studios of Art, Lagos (2010).

Situated inside the premise of National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, at least, 50 students from across the higher institutions of learning in the country have been sharpening their skills as industrial trainees, every year, in the studios, for close to three decades. This much, the founding members of the studios “modestly” estimated.

The studios, a private initiative, though has its origin from the current space of the National Gallery of Art (NGA), it, perhaps, the only one of its kind in the country from where full time studio artists have been feeding the visual arts industry and also receiving trainees from nearly every art schools in the country. Also, those who are not formally trained, according to sources, come to the studios to acquire various skills in visual arts.

The studios started in 1980 when the Ministry of Culture invited some artists to use the premises of the National Art Studio to work.

  However, in 1995, the artists were asked to move, due to change in the administration of the NGA. That development led to what is now known as Universal Studios of Artists, a group of 12 professionals who run 11 departments or studios at a spot that was once used by the National Theatre management as a mechanic workshop. Among the 12 artists are four founding members, who are also board of trustees: carver, Bisi Fakeye; sculptor, Bunmi Babatunde; painter, Biodun Olaku; sculptor, Monday Akhidue.

The chairman, board of trustees, Babatunde sometimes ago stressed that “for 30 years, we were having an average of 50 students per year.” According to him, “a large number of practising artists of today sharpened their skills here after school.”

With such a profile, observers believe that quite some literary volumes on 50 years of Nigerian art can be written from the studios.  

Extracts from an earlier piece Professionalism… The disconnect in 50 years of art published on Tuesday, 14 September 2010 in The Guardian