By Tajudeen Sowole
From two extreme ends of art
forms, Ibe Ananaba and Tony Nsofor perch on the currency of global issues such
as migration and social-media just as the artists offer a window into
comparative strength of communication in two different representational
narratives. Shown as Of Music, Migration & Meaning at Temple Muse,
Victoria Island, Lagos, the artists' thoughts provide two textures in figural
representation and abstract impressionism. With the styles and techniques of
the artists, curator, Sandra Mbanefo-Obiago brings together a mix not exactly
common on the Lagos art space in recent times.
For Ananaba, his oeuvre of fashion and other
pop culture themes find a soul mate in the inexhaustible musical resource of
late Afro beat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Nsofor's canvas of abstraction,
deeply hidden in uli content is as
academic as the artist's verbal explanation of his work. "I have been
following Ananaba and Nsofor, very keenly," declares Mbanefo-Obiago during
a preview. "The two artists represent our diversity."
Ananaba calls his main series Yeah Yeah,
a pop culture expression from which some of the musical contents of the
1970/80s till date derives their strengths. Some of his works clearly brings
back the conic poses of Fela, from which the painter distils quite a lot of
expression. "We only have one Fela, who stood for
something and he still lives on," Ananaba tells select preview guests
shortly before taking a tour of the works on display inside Temple Muse. Despite
watercolor dominant works, the few paintings on display appear to speak so
much, so suggest pieces among the Yeah
Yeah series. For example, from iconic stage poses of the complex musician
in his trade marks of bare chested fashion, comes most pronounced of Fela's
stage acts in the energy of raising either one or both arms, which Ananaba
captures quite thrillingly in oil on canvas painting.
There
may be are quite diverse cultural backgrounds to explain waist beads for
females. But the basic fact in generating sex appeal is most common among women
of different cultures who use waist beads. From the fashion series of Ananaba
comes Jigida, a painting that
captures women in native feminineness.
Red Boats by Tony Nsofor, acrylic on
paper, 2015
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"If
my work can't speak for me, then I am a failed artist," Nsofor boasts,
adding philosophically, "I love freedom and idea." Indeed, his canvas
is a haven of abstraction deep in intellectual contents. But the confidence
about his work "speak for me" cannot exactly be sacrosanct. As the
preview progresses, Nsofor ends up competing with his work; he does more of
explanation - though responding to questions - with so much energy than the
subject would keep pace with at a given time. But he defends his long speeches:
“people still asks me about something that are already in the work.”
And
when the subject is on his New Language
Series, Nsofor, b. 1973, ironically,
takes a position like someone whose palette has been mixing Ivory Tower colours
for over half a century. For an artist
whose generation, supposedly, is in the middle of old, modern and the
contemporary digital age, Nsofor insists that the new language of Internet in
abbreviations is at variance with proper mental or intellectual development.
The
more one tries to detach Nsofor's complexity from his work, the louder some
contents explain the artist's personality aura radiating through the canvas.
For example, uli as motifs on his canvas,
despite its importance to the theme of the work, takes a contentious tone.
Nsofor studied Fine and Applied Arts at the
University of Nigeria, Nsukka majoring in painting. During his third year, he
worked as studio assistant for Professor Obiora Udechukwu, whose mentorship had
a profound impact on the young artist.
In 1999 he opened his own studio in Owerri, Imo State, later moving to
Lagos in 2001. Besides fulltime studio work, Nsofor consults as a freelance art
writer and photographer.
Ananaba,
b.1976, studied Fine & Applied Arts at the Institute of Management and
Technology (IMT) in Enugu, where he majored in painting and graduated with
distinction in 1999. He currently works as Art Group Head at Nigeria’s leading
advertising firm, Insight Communications Limited alongside full time
professional work in advertising.
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