Sunday 30 December 2012

Mode’s Search of a new medium


BY TAJUDEEN SOWOLE
THOUGH trained in the art of animation and motion picture special effect (SFX), Modebolu Aderinokun, however, finds stronger expression in visual arts than Nigeria's film industry, generally referred to as Nollywood.

While studying animation and visual effects at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco, US, painting was more on her mind. And for three years, the young artist who prefers a shortened name form, Mode, has been compiling some works, she discloses few days ahead of the opening of her solo art show titled The Search, which runs till January 19 at Tarino Tower, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Wazobia by Mode
She has set out as an impressionist with paintings largely in modest sizes; communicating to specific group of young people who are bold and expressive. Mode’s choice of themes, naturally, makes her a portrait artist for now.

However, her work probes into the psyche of young people’s fashion and other happenings that spur them to act the way they do. 

And at the core of lending a stronger voice to young people’s expression, she proclaims that her African identity is crucial. “My emphasis is on African beauty,” she sys. This much, she expresses in portraiture of three ladies, titled Wazobia. The common and specific element in the painting is the popular Nigerian women’s headgear (gele). 

From similar template comes a more broader, perhaps, contemporary rendition in The Bald, The Afro and The Straight.

Indeed the artist’s passion for promoting African identity is not hidden in this piece, and with draughtsmanship, lighting and toning that still radiate her western exposure, Mode needs to be fully at home with native idioms to truly frame her work as she proclaims. For example, titles in Yoruba or other African languages could just be the flavour for stronger aura in her young, but ambitious strokes.
  
BETWEEN her training in visual effects and self-taught discipline in painting, the link haunts Mode’s art, so suggests some of her works extended beyond the traditional canvas medium.
Such set of works, at first, catch one’s attention as a photography technique of matting objects with black and white portraits.
“No,” she cautions. It’s just promotional images for what she labels ‘products.’ And a closer look reveals that the reproduced paintings are generated through heat transfer technique of her work onto the back of gadgets such as computers and mobile phones. She argues “if you truly like art, it should reflect beyond hanging it on your wall.”

To a little extent, Mode ‘s SFX background continues to reflect in another processed image titled Falomo, an aerial view of the dual carriageway section of Awolowo Road, Ikoyi.

Clearly, the eclectic shades in Mode’s The Search, which bring forms and techniques that could have come from a group show is an indication that she has set out, aggressively too, to find her distinct place in the Nigerian art landscape.

Mode sees art from the context of relating to the idea seekers, the innovators, the passion driven and the adventurous.
She does not regret her refusing to pick up a career in animation; it was, in fact, concluded even before she graduated from the university. "While studying animation, I fell in love with the creativity in the city than the actual course I was taking.”

She discloses, “the film industry is still on my mind, but I spent the last two years of my studies painting with hope of turning it into a profession.”

THOUGH from a privileged background, Mode pleads to be herself and create her own identity. How far she can go with her modest approach may just be about what she knows and not whose child she is.

Saturday 29 December 2012

'CARNIRIV'… costuming still stronger in lack of native content

One of the core factors that boosts tourism is the creativity in native content. This much appears to be lacking in the dominant displays each year of the cultural event CARNIRIV, which holds in the Rivers State capital, Port Harcourt yearly.
From the CARNIRIV 2012, a typical costume that heralds every year event
Largely, the costumes at the CARNIRIV, every year, are derivatives from western fairy tales or adventure themes. The African or host community native content, which the themes often claims is still missing, except for insignificant display of one or two cultural dance segments.


The designers of the costumes for the parades need to do more about infusing native content by researching the characters of whatever history and folk tales involved and visualize the costumes from such themes.
 
And more worrisome, the organisers of a similar event, Calabar Festival 2012  thought it was a step forward to import Brazilian Samba dancers to an event that was already taking an identity of its own. Though there was a need to improve on the identity, but you don’t need Samba flavour to give Calabar Festival the much needed global appeal!


Friday 28 December 2012

Tribute to portrait colossus, Chukwuogo-Roy


When Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy (M.B.E) passed on early this week, a great portraitist of international repute was lost.
Sources said she died in her U.K-base after battling cancer over the last three years. 

Chinwe… Brushing Kings and Lords 
BY TAJUDEEN SOWOLE

(First published, January 8-14, 2006)

WHAT does it really take to get the Kings and Lords sit before a painter?

United Kingdom-based Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy, a native of Awka, Eastern Nigeria, Chinwe gives an insight into her approach when working on a portrait at that level of commission: "It is not something to be undertaken lightly and a successful commission will involve time and effort on both sides, as well as establishing a good personal rapport." She has a way of putting her subjects at ease adding that she likes to chat whilst working so that she can study and record how a face animates and changes during conversation, for instance. 
  
Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy (Self-portrait) 
The commissioning process begins with a meeting between artist and a sitter (the subject),  (or artist, sitter and commissioning committee), to determine what type of portrait is required, she states. 
  

"The next stage is the first sitting. A pastel study may be completed in one sitting, whereas a full length oil portrait will involve several sittings, sometimes involving the artist in making drawings, working on preparatory studies in oils and pastels and sometimes taking photographs to be used as a source of reference for the final work."
  But the approach is a bit more challenging when it comes to group portrait, she explains. Chukwuogo-Roy recommends making individual studies of each sitter before gathering the group together as a whole.              

She is a leading portraitist and one of the Nigerian artists in the Diaspora who are making strong impact across the world. has exhibited widely and her works are represented in public and private collections in America, France, Grenada, Holland, Kenya, Malaysia, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Spain, Swaziland, U.A.E. and the U.K.
 Chukwuogo-Roy has made name in painting portraits of leaders across the world, the list of which include portrait of Her Majesty, The Queen of England and Head of The Commonwealth. 

Some of the high profile portrait commissions in her credit include that of President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, President of Norwich City Football Club, Mr Geoffrey Watling; Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Secretary-General of The Commonwealth; Lord Mayor of Norwich, Cllr Derek Wood; Kriss Akabusi, athlete and TV personality, for whom she also undertook a series of large paintings on the theme of the African Diaspora. She was also commissioned by Martin Keown to paint Arsenal’s Highbury Stadium. 
 Chukwuogo-Roy 's portraits vary widely. These range from formal boardroom and academic portraits, to private commission such as family.
  She uses a range of media, but prefers to paint in oils on canvas or drawing in pastels on coloured paper.
A recent biography of the painter, published by Tamarind, is now part of the National Curriculum by children in the UK.

In 2003, Chinwe addressed the European Council Committee in Paris on Contemporary African Art and Artists. Later that year, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of East Anglia. 
 Chukwuogo-Roy was born in Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria and moved to the UK in 1975. She took up painting as a profession in 1988 and is now based in Suffolk. Much of her work is in oils, etchings, monotypes and pastels. Her subjects range from portraiture, still life and landscape, to pictures, which capture the traditions and cultures of the African continent. 
  

Her recent work culminated in two exceptionally successful events in the last 2 years: the Celebrate art exhibition specially organised in December 2003 for the Queen's visit for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGOM) in Abuja for which she painted a portrait of Chief Obasanjo. Along over 60 pieces of her works, Chinwe displayed the works of six other Nigerian artists. She also started a major educational programme to encourage art in Nigerian schools.
  

In September 2003, the artist was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of East Anglia. 
  few of her exhibition include a major solo exhibition at Didi Museum, 2000 Lagos; solo exhibition at Trinity College, Cambridge University, Cambridge 2004;   Seeing in Colours, a major exhibition of new works at The Gallery in Cork Street, London, UK,
2005.   

In 1975, she left Nigeria to study in the UK and in 1988 began professional career as a painter.

From the ‘grave’, Africa’s foremost carver, Fakeye speaks


A book on the late carver, Lamidi Olonade Fakeye (1928-2009), co-authored by Prince Yemisi Shyllon and Dr Ohioma Pogoson, titled Conversations with Lamidi Fakeye is a 172 pages coffee table-size and is currently in distribution by Quintessence Gallery, Falomo Shopping Center in Ikoyi, Lagos. 


Conversations with Lamidi Fakeye
 It contains interview with the late iconic wood carver Fakeye. With a hard cover and high quality color prints, the book features photographic images of some 48 artworks of the artist in the Omoba Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon Art Foundation (OYASAF) collection.
 

From nationhood to widowhood, Awoh’s print in perspective


BY TAJUDEEN SOWOLE
DISTURBED that Nigerians are not buying into her spiritual advocacy through the art, the painter Stella Awoh has resulted to the use of an emotional theme —the plight of widows — to pursue her cause.

In 2010, Awoh exhibited 15 paintings, prints and equal number of crafts, under the theme Hephzibah and Beulah, her new body of work, which prescribes spirituality for her troubled fatherland.
The Proverbs, 31 Woman.
Currently showing at the Yusuf Grillo Gallery, Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, the exhibition, which ends in the middle of January 2013, aims to give hope to the widows, and perhaps, by extension, save Nigeria.

And if there seems to be a delay in the potency of her effort to bring her country back to track, the reason, she says, is “God is till angry with Nigeria.”

God’s grievance with the country, she discloses, is “because our widows are being treated badly.” She notes how the two revered holy books — Bible and Quran — frowns at the neglect of widows.  In some of her works such as Omolaso Child is Treasure and Destiny, the artist who is a member of Folorunsho Alakija’s Rose of Sharon Foundation stresses the importance of caring for the vulnerable people of the society.

Awoh notes that with the loss of family values, widows are being dehumanised in some states across the country. Hope, she assures, is not lost for them.
  
DRAWING from the biblical theme of the show, she declares: “Hephzibah is found in the midst of all this. Though our ‘tribes and tongue’ may differ, we must stand in brotherhood and unity. God delights in widows; we are precious in His sight. God’s intent is that we should enjoy His love, grace and faithfulness. We will no longer be called ‘forsaken’ or ‘desolate’, but shall be called Hephzibah and Beulah.”

In the first series Hephzibah and Beulah shown at Omenka Gallery, two years ago, the artist drew from the same argument to declare redemption for Nigeria.     

Aside from Awoh’s focus on widowhood, the show affords her opportunity to express what she describes as her new study in printing. The research, she says, is the core of her Ph.D programme in studio practice at the University of Benin (Uniben), Edo State. 
 
APART from learning the art of print making from the master, Dr. Bruce Onobrakpeya’s Harmattan Workshop in Agbara Otto, Delta State, where she discovered herself in the print idiom, Awoh has been a print artist for the past 12 years. Originally, she was a design artist.


Stella Awoh

From her experimentation in print comes The Proverbs, 31 Woman, a collage-like work imprinted with boxed images of women facing diverse challenges. And as viewers ponder over Awoh’s experimental pieces in print, the research, she explains may also bring in fashion. This much, she hopes to stress in a fashion show next year, in which visual arts and fashion would be blended.

Beyond promoting the cause of widowhood through advocacy, Awoh in her little way hopes to lift a selected few financially. This, she says, will be achieved during the show. “Sales from the works will be given to the first 10 widows that attend the show,” she assures.

Currently a lecturer at Yaba College of Technology, Awoh, in 2008 had her debut solo art show titled, Hibernation and Rejuvenation.


Sunday 23 December 2012

Ahead of Lagos Black Heritage Festival 2013, Samba Girls peep in


Prof Wole Soyinka, speaking during the presentation of Samba dancers from Brazil, to audience at Freedom Park, Lagos yesterday, perhaps as preview of what to expect at Lagos Black Heritage Festival (LBHF) 2013. The LBHF holds yearly April.


If display such as witnessed at Freedom Park, Lagos Island, last Saturday is what to expect as part of the 2013 Lagos Black Heritage Festival  LBHF, some explanations would be needed to blur the line between culture and indecent exposure. For example, one may ask: do we really need to import or duplicate the Samba nudity from Brazil to promote tourism in Nigeria?

In fact sources say the Samba girls seen in Lagos on Saturday were on their way to Calabar Festival 2012.
  

Communique from 2012 Achebe Colloquium on Africa


Issued at the end of the Chinua Achebe Colloquium on Africa (December 7-9, 2012) at Brown University, Providence, U.S.

The fourth edition of the Chinua Achebe Colloquium on Africa convened by Nigerian novelist and humanist Chinua Achebe, the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies, was held at Brown University on December 7-8, 2012, at the Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts. With its theme as “Governance, Security and Peace in Africa,” the 2012 colloquium attracted leading experts from academia, business, non- governmental organizations, and governments from Africa, Europe and the United States. 

The Colloquium was well-attended by delegates who actively participated in two days of intense deliberation and exchange of ideas on the importance of strengthening democracy and peace on the African continent. The Colloquium featured panel discussions which highlighted the complex security issues that confront African nations, security challenges surrounding the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, homegrown terrorism, and the persistence of ethno-religious insurgency. The colloquium noted that these were serious concerns that challenge the establishment of institutions and principles of good governance on the continent.

Highlights of the Colloquium included four keynote addresses by Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim, founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation for the promotion of good governance in Africa; Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, the executive governor of Lagos State, Nigeria; General Carter F. Ham, Commander of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), based in Stuttgart, Germany; Ambassador Bisa Williams, U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Niger; Professor Emma Rothschild of Harvard University, and Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, South African anti-Apartheid activist and former managing director of the World Bank.

The Colloquium acknowledges the fact that the main driver of conflict in Africa is poverty originating from the failure of leadership and governance. Among the resolutions advanced at the Colloquium are:

1.  The Colloquium urges governments in Africa and bold private initiatives to work to grow additional, dedicated indigenous investment and entrepreneurial groups rather than depend largely on foreign aid. To paraphrase one of the keynote speakers, foreign aid is morphine; what is really needed in Africa is a dedicated and thorough operation to remove debilitating poverty that robs the people of their dignity and makes them vulnerable to the manipulation of corrupt, self-serving, and divisive leaders and warlords.

2.      The Colloquium calls on Africans at home and in the Diaspora, as well as members of the international community, to promote good governance in Africa by acknowledging the outstanding examples of remarkable African leaders such as Joaquim Alberto Chissano, former president of Mozambique, Pedro Verona Rodrigues Pires, former president of Cape Verde, and Festus Gontebanye Mogae, former president of Botswana. The Colloquium encourages African ruling parties in particular to respect three essentials to democratic governance: an independent and credible election system, viable and vibrant political opposition, and free and rigorous civil society engagement in politics.

3. The Colloquium reviewed the strategic role of the United States Africa Command, AFRCOM, in relation to the role of African peacekeepers, and the success of the African Union Mission in certain flashpoints on the continent such as Somalia, Sudan, and Mali. The Colloquium welcomed the participation of AFRICOM Commander, General Carter Ham, in passionate debates on the role of the United States in African security, within an intellectual space dominated by scholars and diplomats from Africa. The Colloquium acknowledges the idea of ‘partnership’ between African states and the international community to maintain peace and democratic governance. However, the Colloquium believes that the international community should be wary of the unintended consequences of military support, such as training and arming ambitious elements and war mongers who disrupt democratic regimes and the rule of law in parts of the continent. More resources should be committed, instead, to developing education, technology, health care, agriculture, and basic infrastructure. The Colloquium recognizes AFRICOM’s efforts to collaborate with African governments in their fight against terror groups on the continent in particular, but cautions that any US military activities in Africa must be restrained, must reinforce African government efforts to seek peaceable solutions to their conflicts, must support democratic development, and should be sufficiently transparent and responsive to African civil society review and feedback.

4. The Colloquium recognizes the teeming youth and children of Africa as the hope for a new cultural politics and for the development of the continent. The Colloquium encourages African governments to create opportunities for citizens, especially the youth, to freely express themselves. By ensuring openness in governance, transparency, and increasing social spaces for young people to participate in the democratic process, African leaders could create a more conducive environment for politically negotiated settlements of conflict through dialogue instead of through arms. In thinking of mediation and resolution of conflicts, African leaders should not forget African traditional peacemaking as exemplified by the elders in Ethiopia.

5. The Colloquium highlights the valuable and continuing roles of women in all African communities and countries and calls on all African governments to enhance and institutionally empower more women in leadership and government. The Colloquium agrees that the case-study of Moroccan feminism and Islamism presents a unique opportunity to interrogate the tremendous role that women played in both the Tunisian and Egyptian revolts in terms of a “movement moment”; the Colloquium further supports the view that such an exposition represents an example of the Islamisation of the women’s movement in these countries, and urges scholars and policy makers to look more deeply at these trends.

6. The Colloquium recognizes that the vestiges of race and racism do indeed continue to impact the progress that is being made in modern-day southern Africa. Race was the fault-line of the 20th century and will continue to be for some time to come, particularly in countries such as Angola, South Africa and Zimbabwe. This is manifested by the structures of the economies of these countries and the roles played by multinational companies. While the Colloquium acknowledges the injustices of the past created by race and racism, it is important for the current post-independence and liberation struggle heroes to take responsibility for their own shortcomings in addressing issues of economic disparity, inequity and good governance. At the same time however, there are still residual issues to be dealt with that were largely papered over by post-independence settlements, for example, the trauma that liberation fighters went through in their struggles against colonialism. 

The Colloquium recommends that the next steps therefore are:
a)      Acknowledge the past and move on to deal with current issues b)      Focus on dealing with residual trauma in these societies c)      Citizen engagement to hold leaders accountable for good governance.
7. The Colloquium notes that the history of violence and wars in all countries is often contested, and calls for adequate attention to be paid to the task of preserving the continent’s memory. The Colloquium therefore encourages relevant institutions and authorities on the continent as well as the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to address this issue comprehensively by investing in, and promoting research and archiving of Africa’s history and cultural production. UNESCO and international donors could partner with one university in each of Africa’s five subregions in a pilot project to spur the development of research networks on this matter across the continent.

8.  The Colloquium celebrates the exponential growth of the artistic expressions of African youth via creative writing, music, film, and theatrical performances inside Africa and all over the world, and calls on African governments to demonstrate greater commitment to supporting the creative enterprise of African youth.

9.      The Colloquium calls on African governments to develop a Diaspora Engagement Plan to promote more robust ways of harvesting and leveraging the rich and diverse experience of Africans in the Diaspora.

10. The Colloquium notes Prof. Achebe’s particular commitment to Nigeria, and in that regard raises specific concerns that the current terrorist attacks and other increasing acts of violence across Nigeria reflect deeper socio-political inequities and pathologies. The Colloquium recognizes in particular the significance of Prof. Achebe's recent book on Biafra (There Was A Country) and the much-needed debate that it has sparked, not only about the war, but about the scars it left on southeastern Nigerians (and the areas which constituted the Republic of Biafra) that remain unaddressed 45 years after the start of the war in 1967. The Colloquium notes that these scars also have detrimental effects on the entire country.



Saturday 22 December 2012


Odutola is among Forbes’ best young artists of 2012


Forbes’ 30 under 30, a list of selected creative young people around the world for 2012, which was released this week has included Nigerian-born portraitist Toyin Odutola, 27.

Odutola creates portraits using marker and ballpoint pen, and rendering mostly silhouette forms, giving her work a unique identity.
One of Toyin Odutola's works
Odutola grew up in Alabama, U.S. where she got her BA from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Recently finished her MFA in painting and drawing at the California College of the Arts, San Francisco, Odutola’s solo exhibitions include Toyin Odutola: (MAPS), Jack Shainman Gallery, New York (2011); Toyin Odutola: A Colonized Mind, University Center Gallery, University of Alabama in Huntsville (2008).  
Toyin Odutola
She had also featured in group exhibitions such as Geoffrey Chadsey, Toyin Odutola and the Artifacts from Nagaland, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York (2011) Frontrunners: The San Francisco Foundation 2011 Murphy & Cadogan Fellowship Awards Exhibition, SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco; The Black Portrait, Rush Arts Gallery, New York (2011); Common Ground, Artlab33 Art Space, Miami (2010).
  Her work is currently featuring in The Progress of Love, a three venues collaborative project between the Menil Collection, Houston, U.S. Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos, Nigeria and the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St. Louis, U.S.

Friday 21 December 2012

Soyinka’s 'Harmattan Haze on an African Spring' presented in Lagos



'
"Take 5" seemed to be the action of former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili to the author, Prof Wole Soyinka during the presentation of the latter's latest book Harmattan Haze On An African Spring at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos... few days ago.

Some of the participants and discussants at the presentation included moderator Dr. Kanyiolu Ajayi; Director, Lagos Business School, Prof. Pat Utomi; a former minister Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi; poet and commentator, Odia Ofeimun; lawyer and economist Prince Yemisi Shyllon; CORA Secretary, Toyin Akinoso.  

Revisiting how African art shaped post-Renaissance Europe

Some of the works on display at the ongoing show 'African Art, New York, and the Avant-Garde at Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, U.S. 
More: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/21/arts/design/african-art-new-york-and-the-avant-garde-at-the-met.html?_r=0

Paucity of funds cripples 'Int'l Art Expo Lagos'


 By Tajudeen Sowole
 For the second year running, International Art Expo Lagos, which has been prospectively seen as Africa’s largest art show seemed to have been stunted by inadequate funding and crack in the leadership of the galleries owners.

The paucity of fund, which resonated in poor planning showed clearly during the opening of the 5th edition, few days ago, at its regular venue, National Museum, Onikan Lagos. It was a repeat of low attendance and zero publicity that heralded the 2011 edition.

Organised yearly by National Gallery of Art (NGA) in conjunction with Art Galleries Association of Nigeria (AGAN) since 2008, the last two editions have brought a shift in date from August to December. The shifts in date, according to the organizers, were unavoidable “because of reasons beyond our control.”

During his opening remarks, Mr Sammy Olagbaju who was the chairman of the occasion could not hide his concern about the future of Art Expo Lagos as he noticed that publicity, if there was any at all did not commiserate with the status of the event. Olagbaju, however urged more support for the organizers in the future so that the event would be the attraction in art marketing like similar shows in New York and Las Vegas, U.S.  International Art Expo Lagos is our own, therefore I call on all stakeholders to join hands with the biggest art show in Africa with the same popularity and patronage as the aforementioned “

Designed as a Public Private Partnership (PPP), Art Expo Lagos, however, have been solely funded by the NGA since 2008. This, according to investigation has affected the projection to meet the required standard.

More worrisome, signs of sharp disagreement and crack in the leadership of AGAN were also noticed few days ago as some galleries did not participate in the opening. In fact, some of them, who were strong members of AGAN pulled out of the event at the last minute, sources disclosed. For example, the director of Omenka Gallery, Ikoyi, Oliver Enwonwu who is a key member, during a telephone chat shortly after the opening, said his gallery could not participate because “the notice was too short.”    
One thought by now, AGAN members should be familiar with short notices: the previous edition was also organised in the same pattern when participants alleged short notice. Perhaps, there were some other reasons that led to what an observer described as “massively boycotted.”

One of the founding members of AGAN Moses Ohiomokhare who is also the curator of Quintessence Gallery, Falomo ikoyi, disclosed that the boycott of the opening by members was aimed at demonstrating their lack of trust in the leadership of the galleries’ umbrella body. “We are not satisfied with the plan of the current executive to perpetuate its stay in power even when we all agreed it was time for a change. Plans will unfold within the week about how to effect changes in the leadership. Our not being present at the opening was to demonstrate our protest.”
Chairman of the opening and a prominent art collector, Mr. Sammy Olagbaju (right) admires a sculptural piece.

About two weeks ago, an SMS was circulated, which informed members about election of AGAN scheduled to hold before the Art Expo Lagos 2012 opens. But a day ahead of the scheduled election, the president of AGAN, Chief Frank Okonta, during a joint press briefing with NGA organised to formally announce the date of Art Expo Lagos countered the planned election when he said “AGAN will hold its election next year.”
   It appeared that the angst of some members who disagreed with the change in election date was carried over to the Art Expo Lagos show. This much was gathered from Ohiomokhare and another member who boycotted the opening, Juliet Ezenwa Maja-Pearce. “What we all agreed to do is quite different from what they have told the press concerning the change in leadership,” Ohiomokhare argued. “I decided not to participate in the Art Expo Lagos 2012 because I believe the association is being run like a one-man company where all decisions are taken by one man,” Ezenwa Maja-Pearce of Yemaja Gallery said.

Similarly, a source said another member, Biodunomolayo Gallery pulled out of the opening at the last minute, citing the same reasons mentioned above.

Disagreement among members of a professional body is not peculiar to AGAN. However, bringing such disagreement to bare on a big even as the Art Expo Lagos is worrisome, observers noted. The core of the issue creating friction in the group, according to sources, was “lack of transparency” in the management of fund received by AGAN from NGA. Such allegation has been a recurring issue of which Okonta, severally, had argued that the leadership of AGAN has been transparent enough in the management of the event’s funding from NGA.

For the NGA, sole funding of Art Expo Lagos may have to continue. “The NGA will continue to provide financial support for the expo until such a time when the event will be fully championed by the private sector,” the Director-General, Abdullahi Muku stated during his welcome address read by the director of curatorial service, Titus Akusu. 

From the debut edition, in 2008, which had more than 50 galleries showed over 700 works, participants have been dropping in the last three editions. The challenges not withstanding, galleries from neighouring Ghana and Togo who still believed in the prospect of Lagos Art Expo were seen among the participants during the opening. 

The Hon Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Duke, whose address was read by the director of National Troupe, Martins Adaji said “in line with the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan, visual arts is one of he priorities of   my ministry to promote and boost tourism as a major contribution to the economy of our great nation.”
 Shortly before visitors were led through the works on display, Dr Bruce Onobrakpeya whose 80th birthday celebration was recognized with by the gathering used the occasion to thank NGA for supporting the celebration.