Saturday 31 December 2011

IMF BOSS, CHRISTINE LAGARDE AT LAGOS MUSEUM

‘National Endowment for Arts may function under tourism fund’
 Recent revelation points to the fact that the much-expected National Endowment for the Arts may have been accommodated under Tourism Development Fund, writes TAJUDEEN SOWOLE
   In fact, the concept known as Tourism Development Fund, according to the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke “has been approved by President Goodluck Jonathan.” 
   Duke disclosed this shortly before he received the visiting Managing Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ms Christine Lagarde at the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos.

Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, Managing Director of IMF, Ms Christine Lagarde and D-G NCMM at the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos.

  Describing Largarde’s visit to the museum as “a classico,” Duke argued that after meeting the presidency and the economic management team, “none of those memories will last as much as when she walks through the national museum of Nigeria and sees some of our 40, 000 artefacts.” Such heritage, he noted, is an enduring kind “which cannot be valued in monetary terms.”
  Duke argued that if other ministries of the federal government can emulate the Ministry of Finance and get their VIPs to visit the museums and other places of cultural values in the country, “you can imagine how far we would have gone about promoting our culture.”
   Duke noted that Lagarde’s visit “will deepen her knowledge of the biggest black nation on the face of the earth. People visit other countries such as Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, for examples, but it’s not the same as coming to Nigeria to see the vastness of African arts and culture.”
   Perhaps Lagarde’s visit was in preparation for a possible partnership between the Nigerian culture sector and IMF. Duke said “we are not anticipating that.” The IMF, he reasoned, might not have the mandate to support art directly, “but when we have an Endowment for the Arts, they may have a network to introduce.”
   He however cited the Tourism Development Fund example and hoped that the sector could be linked to corporate bodies through international organisations like IMF.  
Lagarde receives gifts of Ori-Olokun artefact and some books from Duke

  Duke argued that “the Tourism Development Fund just approved by the president is an expanded platform for the creation of the National Endowment for the Arts. It may not be possible to say, this is tourism fund, lets go and look for an endowment for the arts.”
 He also disclosed that the tourism fund will be rolled out soon and “it’s going to be purely private sector-driven.”
  With this development, it appears that government’s interest in arts – the real contents in culture and tourism – is weak. This has confirmed the fears of observers who have, over decades, argued that tourism cannot be developed if conscious efforts were not make to fund creative enterprises sufficiently.
  And that Duke, proudly, hosted Lagarde at the Onikan museum underscored the leading role of arts in tourism. This much was in action when the Acting Curator of the museum, Victoria Agili took Duke, Lagarde and her entourage through the two ongoing exhibitions at the edifice. One of the exhibitions, Nigerian Art in the Cycle of Life, supported by Ford Foundation was opened few weeks ago.
   After seeing the exhibitions, Lagarde described her experience as “a very pleasant and interesting moment.” And shortly after receiving gifts of books on Nigerian art and one Ori-Olokun sculptural piece from Duke, Lagarde wrote on the comment book of the museum “very authentic and educational and vast.”  

IGBO HOUSEHOLD IN OWERRI


With Igbo Household, Owerri museum celebrates Ndi-Igbo’s lifestyle
 By Tajudeen Sowole
 The role of museum in the preservation of cultural and artistic heritage of a people is being reinforced through an exhibition by the National Museum, Owerri, Imo State, entitled: Igbo Household (Ezi na ulo Ndi- Igbo).
  Largely in contemporary rendition, but depicting Igbo traditional architecture, occupation and vocation, the works dwell on the people’s spirituality, within family and the extended communal level.     
The Ozuruigbo V of Owerri, Eze Njamanze (right) and D-G, NCMM, Abdallah Yusuf Usman

  The opening of the exhibition also marked the official presentation of the museum to the people of Imo State. Although it is one of the 34 national museums across the country, its collections have not been presented to the public since it commenced operation in 1988, as there was no gallery in place.
  During the opening, the Director-General of the National Commission for Museum and Monuments (NCMM), Abdallah Yusuf Usman stated that the conceptualisation of the Igbo Household exhibition is the fulfillment of the mandate of the NCMM “to integrate all aspects of the nation’s cultural heritage for development.”
  He explained that Igbo Household is in line with government’s involvement in the propagation of Nigerian culture as well as underscoring “the importance of culture in promoting unity and peaceful co-existence among the people.”
  As the curator of the museum, Mrs Chioba Francisca Uboh led visitors during the tour of the exhibits, the importance of preserving people’s cultural value, which the King of Owerri, Eze Njamanze (Ozuruigbo V) had earlier stressed in his palace, was felt.
  When the monarch received the delegation of NCMM, led by Usman, he lamented the destruction, particularly during the Nigerian Civil War (1967 to 1970), of vast cultural objects and monuments in his kingdom.
The huts section of the Igbo Household exhibition.

  Tracing the existence of the town to the “14th century,” he disclosed that the name, which means “I got my thing back,” emerged from a conflict between brothers.
  The Ozuruigbo however noted the importance of government in revival of cultural value and argued that development would continue to elude a nation that neglects its cultural value.
  The Igbo Traditional Architecture section of the exhibition also underscores the Ozuruigbo’s advice that “government should support the revival of culture in the villages.” 
  Native technology of the people is recreated in the Smelting and Smithing sections of the gallery. An inscription explains that blacksmithing was of ancestral importance “because of the myth that it contributed to the creation of the world.”
  The section on settlement and architecture shows a sense of sanity in such installations as the assembly hall (mgbala –ogo), The Men Hut, The Women Hut and Adult Male House.
  One of the inscriptions says the male house is located close to the assembly hall of the community. The women hut, according to the text “is the cradle of the household, where children are nurtured and groomed.” 
  In pottery, carving, weaving, the art of craftsmanship is  also celebrated.  However, each of these areas, according to a source, has peculiarity in certain sections of the Igbo people.
  For example, “Akwete weaving is most predominant among the people of Abia.”
  For the people of Okigwe, Inyi, Ekulu-Udi, Ishiagu, Afikpo and Abakaliki, it’s pottery, while carving was famous among the people of Awka, Afikpo, Orlu and Mbaise.
  Stressing the family value essence of the exhibition, part of the guiding texts explain that spiritual sanity, which has ancestral link “include moral codes and etiquette,” within and outside the purview of religion.
 Earlier, at the opening, the Governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha described the exhibition as unique and “congratulated the entire Igbo race for the revival of their culture through this museum display.” Represented by the Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Engr. Alex Ogwazuo, the governor also commended the NCMM for the commissioning of the museum and using a crucial aspect of the people’s cultural value, the household as focus of the exhibition.
Vocation section of the Igbo Household exhibition at National Museum, Owerri, Imo State.


  Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, represented by Usman, congratulated Okorocha for being the governor at a period of twin ceremonies: commissioning of National Museum Owerri and the opening of its permanent exhibition/gallery.
  Duke noted that the “famed Igbo-Ukwu Art corpus: traditional songs, music and dances, especially ikeji or Iri-iji, Ofala, igele ekpe and others have added to the immense potentials of tourism in Nigeria.”
  According to him, “the conceptualisation of Igbo Household was to recreate the Igbo life style, by exploring the people’s creativity, political, economic and social organisation around the household.”
  Tracking the history of National Museum Owerri, Usman recalled that it commenced operation at its current location in 1988 to fulfill the policy thrust of the government, which is aimed at establishing museums in each state capital to promote museum culture and national unity.
  He also commended the state government, the governor in particular, for “making our dream come though by providing another expanse of land for the construction of a new museum.”
  The House Committee Chairman on Culture and tourism Hon. Ben N Nwankwo described the exhibition as a “fantastic recap of the history of pre-colonial Igbo people”.

                   

 

Sunday 25 December 2011

RASHEED AMODU (2011)



Amodu…brushing in Sacred precints
BY TAJUDEEN SOWOLE

IT took over two decades of creative sojourn, for the painter Rasheed Amodu to arrive at what he describes as his artistic zone. This much he expressed in a recent show, featuring paintings, mixed media and drawings.

  Titled Sacred Precincts, the show, which held at Yusuf Grillo Gallery, Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech), Lagos, revealed Amodu’s creative prowess.
Rasheed Amodu's Mixed media Sacred (2011)


  Aside from the spiritual tone of the title, the contents of the show, to a large extent, appears a continuation of the artist’s metaphysical expression also projected in his last solo outing, Peculiar Parts, three years ago.

   The artist declares: “I have experimented with different media before getting to my Sacred Precinct.”

   He says it’s all about the awareness of sacred in the limit of possibilities and man “conquering the fearless frontier of creativity.”

  Amodu notes that the mastery of art leads to the production of classics, which cuts across various disciplines such as literary output in critiques, review and other theoretical expressions as well as oral rendition.

  According to him, “I am encouraged by this fact and never to look back. I trudge on fearlessly in my creative odyssey on colours and anything in my artistic expression.”

  However, that search for a comfort zone of creativity is not in conflict with the artist’s loyalty to Ona group, an art movement formed in the early 1990s to promote Yoruba aesthetics value. This, he explains in one of the works, Window into my Onaistic Soul.  “It’s an Ona-inspired naturalistic portrait.”

   STILL on creative identity, the softening of the metaphysical content in Amodu’s work appears like a subtle compromise.

  An artist, he responds, does not live or work in isolation of the society’s pulse. Within the space of identity, it’s still possible to accommodate people’s view. The softening “is in reaction to an observation that my work was too loud in mysticism. In fact, some people say, the contents were scaring.”

  And for those who are excited by the chill of metaphysical characters, there are still bits of such contents in works such as Higher Court Judges, Kindred, Playmates and Mask of Evolution. Even in a supposedly landscape piece, Mega City Dream, as well as drawings, this spiritual part of the artist’s identity, which he wants to suppress, would not just go so easily.

  In another of such work, Heaven’s Gate, he explains, “is a classical and academically inspired’ abstractive rendition ‘in a personalized creative diction of yore and present trials.”

  Also, Reflections of Wonder, he says, “is a naturalistic depiction waltzed in an abstracted sun, with his timeless rays reflecting on the water surface in an immortal conversation with Olokun, god of the Sea.”   
Higher Court Judges (mixed media, 2011) by Amodu
   Bringing his thought on the theme to bear on the challenges facing Nigeria, Amodu argues that the state of the nation is a reflection of the value of the people. “It’s everyone’s responsibility to clean up their act, and take it to greater height for a decent, moral and cultural as well as political level.”

  His artistic contribution to the development challenges of the country is also a wake up call “about high standards, good quality, and mastery of one’s trade or profession with good moral etiquettes.”

  From being a Graphic Artist in 1985, Amodu graduated as a Fine Artist from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in 1991.

Saturday 24 December 2011

ART GLITTERS OF 2011

ARESUVA… missing on the list of 2011’s glitters

By Tajudeen Sowole

The steam of hope and high spirit that trailed the 2008 launch of the African Regional Summit on Visual Arts and Exhibition (ARESUVA) appears to have evaporated with the inability, this year, to stage the festival, especially to realise the promised transformation of the project into a biennale as envisioned after its second (annual) outing in 2009.



AFTER two editions — in 2008 and 2009 —, ARESUVA did not hold in 2010. But the omission was deliberate. One of the resolutions reached after the 2009 outing was to redesign the event as a biennale with its maiden edition slated for 2011.  

  The organisers, the National Gallery of Art (NGA), were full of confidence that the whole of 2010 would be used to perfect preparations for the much-awaited biennale in Nigeria, similar to Senegal’s Dak’ Art

Stella Awoh (left), Sammy Olagbaju, Yemisi Shyllon, Princess Iyase Odozi and Nike Okundaye during the ArtExpo Nigeria Award 2011.
   In fact, 2011 was picked for ARESUVA to prevent a clash with Dak’ Art, which holds every other year with even number. Stakeholders had reasoned then that, this would give the event great attention across the continent and in the Diaspora.

   Unfortunately, those expectations and claims of big plan for the biennale had gone with 2011 winds. And the possibility of the event holding next year is remote.

  A source from the NGA disclosed that the event is not in the calendar of 2012, which is the same year of Dak’Art, meaning that the debut of the event as a biennale may not materialise until 2013.

  Observers have also argued that over three years of break for such an international event, which is just two editions old, may potend a bad omen for Nigeria’s flourishing visual arts enterprise.

   Lack of funding for the programmes of the NGA, this year, was cited as reason ARESUVA could not.

   However, several private initiatives, most yearly events – aiming at promoting art – filled the vacuum, as stakeholders continued to interrogate the relevance of government in the preservation and promotion of the country’s artistic and cultural heritage.

  Earlier in the year, the Bruce Onobrakpeya Foundation’s (BOF) two-week event, the 13th Harmattan Workshop, at the Niger Delta Cultural Centre, Agbarha-Otor, Delta State, engaged artists on copyright matter.

Artists during the Street workshop at Orelope, Egbeda, Lagos.


   The guest speaker and director, Nigerian Copyright Commission Institute, John Asein, in his presentation, urged the judiciary to be more liberal in its definition of what constitutes art.

  The 2011 edition of the Harmattan Workshop, for the first time, had an appointed director, watercolourist, Sam Ovraiti, who presided-over the affairs of the event.

  Perhaps to underscore the vibrancy of of Nigerian art in the Diaspora, U.K.-based Nigerian artist, Yinka Shonibare (MBE) made a brief visit to Lagos, in preparation for a project aimed at transferring his artistic exploits abroad to his homeland.

  During the visit, which was his first since he left Nigeria at 17, he toured some art galleries in Lagos Island and met artists at a gathering organized by Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Lagos at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos.

  About 24 hours ahead of the gathering, Shonibare explained that though he had been in touch with Nigerian art through artists who visited the U.K., “I need to know more, so it’s good for me to come here and meet other artists.”

  Also, in the first quarter of the year, the third in the series of the yearly exhibition and lecture organized by Grillo Pavilion, Ikorodu, Lagos, tagged Prince Demas Nwoko: Painter Sculptor Architect Designer celebrated the legacy of a master who has explored his nativity in art and architecture, despite the seeming disconnect between local content designs and African cultural values.

  Interestingly, five members of the Zaria Art Society – former students of College of Arts, Science and Technology, (now Ahmadu Bello University) Zaria – were present at the event.     

  Another milestone in the visual arts during the outgoing year, was the renovation, by the Natioanl Commission for Museum and Monuments (NCMM), of Ilojo Bar or Casa do Fernandez house, on No. 6 Alli Street, and No. 2 Bamgbose Street in the heart of central business district of Lagos Island. The building, which is among the odd mix of structures around the Tinubu Square, is, indeed, a symbol of cross continent cultural heritage. Estimated at over 100 years old, and one of several of such buildings, which are still standing in Lagos Island and Mainland, it represents over 300 years of history between Nigeria and Brazil.
Arch John Godwin (left), D-G NCMM, Mallam Yusuf Abdallah Usman, the former Assist Director, Heritage, Mrs Victoria Agili(now curator of Onikan museum and former Curator, Ronke Ashaye during the inspection of Ilojo Bar, in Lagos.


  The Director-General of NCMM, Mallam Yusuf Abdallah Usman, who led the delegation to the inspection of the building, in company of the architect in charge, Prof. John Godwin disclosed that the scope of the partnership in restoration was very broad such that success would be achieved in a short while.

   In May, two art auctions kept the visual art scene alive, soon after the general elections.  It started with the N13. 5m record sale of Ben Enwonwu’s Untitled (ink on paper, 37.5 x 32 in., 1980) at the third edition of Terra Kulture art auction.

  Five days later, at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, ArtHouse Contemporary’s seventh edition, though largely maintained its figures for most of the regular artists as seen, for example, in Ben Enwonwu’s African Dances (cold cast, resin bronze, 40.5 in., 1982-89), N8m, the auction also produced what was later dubbed “surprise sales.”

  Later in the same month, the aso ebi culture and over 50 years of Austrian-made lace in Nigeria was the focus of a tour photography and installation titled African Lace, A History of Trade, Creativity and Fashion in Nigeria.

  Jointly organised by NCMM and Museum of Ethnology, Vienna, Austria, the exhibition, which took off in Vienna and held at National Museum, Onikan Lagos, for the next three months, was planned to move to Ibadan before the end of 2011.
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Anyanwu by Ben Enwonwu sold at N28m during a November auction in Lagos.


  When it was not clear if Art Expo Nigeria and ARESUVA would hold, Art Galleries Association of Nigeria (AGAN), in August filled the gap with Art Expo Nigeria Awards, that acknowledged the support of art patrons, promoters and the media.

  Also, the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, Delta State University, Abraka showcased works of the anticipated first set of artists to complete doctoral programme in visual arts in a Nigerian university.

  Titled Visual Symphony and hosted at Quintessence Gallery, Falomo, Lagos, it featured works of students and teachers from the department.

   And the 50th birthday anniversary of cubist, Duke Asidere, brought a new dimension to how artists could engage their immediate environment, as Asidere and associates shared the depth of their profession with the rest of the community via several street art workshops.

  It started on Oreope Street, in Egbeda – where Asidere lives – as part of activities marking his golden jubilee. The workshops were also extended to Palmgrove and Ojuelegba.

  In October, African Artists Foundation (AAF) returned with the second edition of Lagos Photo Festival, which tailored towards booking a place on the calendar of global photography events.

  A large turnout of guests, within and outside Africa, gathered at the opening ceremony to view the works of over 40 photographers selected from across the world to participate in the festival.

  Themed What’s Next Africa? — The Hidden Stories, most of the images spotlighted the continent’s uncommon stories of places, events and people that hardly attract global attention. 

  In November, the mega bucks of art auctions returned, but this time, it was not just in Lagos; Abuja had a feel too. 

  At N28m, a bronze sculpture, Anyanwu by Ben Enwonwu was sold at ArtHouse Contemporary auction’s seventh edition in Lagos. It’s a record that beat the artist’s Negritude (N16m) sale at Bonhams auction, in London in 2009.
--> Photographers from across the world at the Lagos Photo Festival 2011


  About a week earlier, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, a debut auction recorded over 70 per cent of the lots sold at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre. The sales, a joint venture by two Lagos-based art groups, Terra Kulture and Mydrim Gallery, suggested that in the next few years, the Abuja art market could be as big as that of Lagos.

  In Lagos, about a week after, the partnership between the NCMM and Ford Foundation to restore the glory of the Onikan museum got a boost with staging of the exhibition, Nigerian Art in the Cycle of Life, at the National Museum, Onikan. 

  On the progress made since 2009 when the partnership was announced, the D-G, Abdallah Usman disclosed that the conservation laboratory to be built by Ford Foundation at the Onikan museum “which will serve as a facility for the conservation and restoration of our works of art as well as a training centre for conservators is scheduled to start by the end of the year.”

  However, NGA’s aim of keeping the spirit of its second biggest event, ArtExpo Lagos, alive despite the “no fund” situation, by staging the show early this month flopped as 2011 edition turned out to be the least attended show since its inception in 2008. 

  For the art community, particularly, AGAN, the year ended on a sad note as one of the key members of the union, Emmanuel Inua, an artist, was killed in an auto accident on the opening day of the ArtExpo Lagos. 




AAF / NB-ORGANISED ART COMPETITION 2011


Echoes of vibrant art in Documenting Changes

By Tajudeen Sowole
 An installation work of Uche Uzorka and Chike Obeago has been adjudged the best among the 12 works at the 2011 edition of African Artists Foundation’s (AAF) national art competition tagged Documenting changes in our Nation.
  Mural size mixed media work of Gerard Chukwuma and an assemblage in photography by Olayinka Sangotoye won the second and third prizes in that order.
  After the announcement of the winners at the grand finale and exhibition, held at The Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, the organisers, AAF and Nigerian Breweries Plc presented a dummy cheques of N2m to the duo of Uzorka and Obeago; Gerard Chukwuma, N1.5m; and Olayinka Sangotoye, N1m.     
 Aside the cash prizes won by the three winners, the depth of creativity in the works of the 13 finalists was awesome.
  Before one of the special guests, novelist, Chimamanda Adichie announced the winners, chairman of the jury and painter, Sam Ovraiti commented that the works “beat my imagination.”
  According to him, the panel went as far as having interaction with the finalists to gain deep insight into their works. Some of them, he said, “made good points, others did not impress.”
  However, two of the criteria for selecting the three top winners, according to another member of the panel, Femi Lijadu, “are relevance to the theme and creativity.” Other members of the panel were the CEO of auction house, ArtHouse Contemporary, Mrs Kavita Chelleram; a lecturer from Delta State University, Dr Onyema Emeni; photographer, Caline Chagoury; CEO, Abraka turf and country club, Mr. Albert Esiri; art collector Akinsanya Femi; and director, Goethe Institut, Lagos, Marc-Andre Schmachtel.
 The Managing Director/CEO of NB Plc, Nico Velverde noted that, in four years, “the competition has grown from strength to strength.” On the theme, he explained, “it’s about knowing the past to be able to know the present.” He however insisted that every artist who participated “is a winner; the competition has enhanced their skills.”
  To one of the first prize winners, Uzorka, the confidence expressed during a press briefing held about two months before the grand finale appeared to have worked out for him. Shortly after receiving the prize, he however explained that “during the briefing, I was just talking out of pride for the art.”
First prize work of the AAF and NB Plc-organised national art competition 2011, by Uche Uzorka and Chike Obeago

  Babson Babajide, Jude Aogwih, Chris Echeta, Taiye Idahor, Samuel Palmtree Ifeanyichukwu, Chidinma Nnoron, Temitayo Ogunbiyi, Folashade Ogunlade and Erasmus Onyishi are among the 12 finalists “selected from a total 300 entries” for what the organisers described as the process of making art.”
  When the competition was announced, the director of AAF, Azu Nwagbogu stated that the fourth edition would place emphasis on the processes of art creation rather than on the end product. That process of making art, the organisers said, was a 14-day workshop in Abraka.
 AAF stated that with its renewed focus on artistic processes, “we will pursue rigorously for a three-year period starting this year, with the theme Process to Product. Artistic genres to be covered including painting, sculpture, photography, mixed media, installation and video art or a combination of all these mediums.”



NYEMIKE ONWUKA IN MOODS


Moods… Onwuka’s thrive in mono theme
BY TAJUDEEN SOWOLE
 NYEMIKE Onwuka’s Moods, a solo show of paintings, mixed media and drawings, is a celebration of repetitive theme.
  Shown at Homestores Gallery, Victoria Island, Lagos, the works depict that Onwuka has joined other artists, particularly younger artists who have stuck to a mono theme, form, technique and style.
  Some critics of contemporary Nigerian art have observed that most artists are bereft of conceptual contents hence the flourishing of repeated themes.
  For Onwuka, whose Moods draws a faint line between his past two solo shows Lines and Forms at Sachs Gallery, Victoria, Lagos, and Elegant Urban Decay at Arc Gallery, London, UK, his admirers and collectors, he says, determine the direction of his works.
  Peculiar to his works are features such as elegant women, mostly in Igbo blouse and wrapper, distressed canvas and drizzling effects. When he had his first solo at Sachs Gallery in 2010, his style, technique and theme appeared refreshing. Over three years after, the artist seems to have found an identity in women figural, spiced with earth colour and distressed canvas.
Day-To-Day (2011), A Painting By Nyemike Onwuka

  He argues that if great masters of old stuck with one theme through out their career, it’s just morning for him. He explains, “most of my collectors just want me to paint these women.”
  In fact, no sooner than the show started that the red tagging began to show on the walls.
  In such works as Effusive, Broken Promise, Once Beaten Twice Shy, Trepidation and Contemplation series, Attitude of Gratitude and Enthusiasm, Nyemike’s consistent rendition of figures of the softer gender was greatly seen. This, perhaps, gives him a depth of knowledge in depicting diverse feelings. He explains, “though the theme of the show, Moods has no gender restrictions, my choice of women is unavoidable because I find the female figure more expressive.”
  He discloses, “philosophically, beauty is the focal point of my art, and women epitomise it.”
  And there is an extension of his last show Elegant Urban Decay, in which he highlighted the alarming lost of human value through urbanisation. That much he explains is the distressed canvas, insisting that the beauty of the woman is meant to diffuse this decay.
  Populating his canvas with women poises would not diminish the artist’s skill of a fantastic draughtsman. In fact, this skill seems to be the urging factor that is keeping Onwuka glue to the ladies’ form.
Nyemike Onwuka's Once Beaten, Twice Shy
  
PERHAPS to prove that his sticking to a mono theme is not for lack of idea, Onwuka showed just about three paintings and a drawing, which are in sharp contrast with the female themes. Such works include Entangled, Suitors and When We First Met, revealing comic rendition in impressionism form.
  In a visual arts scene, where, most artists use the female theme to promote nudity and indecent public exposure, it’s quite strange that Onwuka’s canvas is largely free of such images. Even in Broken Promise, a depiction of failed relationship, his model, though flouts her beautiful legs, but the artist shows how to present the dignity in womanhood. 
Nyemike Onwuka in his studio

  Between the periods of his first solo, Lines and Forms, and now, the drizzling effect has been softened and replaced with flowering. This to an extent appears to have removed a classic shade from his work, hence making it too common.  
  With his works featured at auctions such as ArtHouse Contemporary, Terra Kulture and Bonhams sales in the UK, the future appears bright for Onwuka.  
   In addition to his Art training at Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State, he upped has skills when he studied Character Animation at Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg, South Africa in 2008.

ABAYOMI BARBER IS 80


Dance of the Minds, Marks on the Sand of Time celebrate Barber 
By Tajudeen Sowole
(Tuesday, October 28, 2008)   
IT was a double honour for one of the nation's living masters, Prof. Abayomi Barber, over the weekend as two art galleries rolled out drums to celebrate the icon.
 Barber who marks his 80th birthday is being honoured with two art exhibitions, Dance of the Minds and Marks on the Sand of Time at Mydrim Gallery, Ikoyi, Lagos and Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos.
  The artist's last major outing in an exhibition was the much-talked about show, Living Masters, a gathering of artists whose selection for the epic show could not be faulted. Held at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos, but organised by Mydrim Gallery in 2006, other artists of Living Masters are print master, Bruce Onabakpeya; cubist, Yusuf Grillo, mixed media gurus, Isiaka Osunde and David Dale; one of Africa's leading carvers, Bisi Fakeye; a leading Osogbo artist, Muraina Oyelami; renowned sculptor and teacher, El-Anatsui;  prolific painter, Kolade Oshinowo.
Abayomi Barber
  For Mydrim which was the first to honour the master  on Thursday, October 23 through November 10, 2008, it was a gathering of the artists who trained under the celebrant's initiative of informal setting, the revered Abayomi Barber School. During opening of the exhibition, the artists, 14 in number, explained, through their works why Barber remains one of the most gifted artists in this part of the world. These artists, who, in their own rights, experienced men of the canvas are: Muri Adejimi, Olumuyiwa Spencer, Toyin Alade, Tayo Oguntoye, Busari Agbolade, Femi Atewolara, Kayode Lawal, Yemi Morolari, Olatunde Barber. Others include, Bunmi Lasaki, Adeladan Adesina, Otori Olusola, Kayode Fadipe, Mosunde Daramola, and Adebayo Akinwole.
  Few days before the opening of the Terra Kulture show on Saturday October 24, 2008, Barber, during the preview recalled that he was destined to be what he is today. He said that with the aid of the colonialists who infused art education as a must for all students, he discovered his talent.
 Highly respected for his exceptional details in landscape paintings, Barber however said sculpture was his first love until he later found passion in painting landscape.
    Barber used the occasion of the preview to explain that he never had formal training in art, either at home and during his stay in the U.K. He stressed that he is a self-taught artist.
"I never had any formal training in any art schools while in England. My scholarship in 1960 specifically stated that I should go to England and spend 18 months in a studio. The scholarship board of the Western Region then thought that it would not do any good to tamper with the spontaneity of my art. It was the belief then that the nation could not afford to have two Ben Enwonwus. According to them, formal art training reduced the talent of Enwonwu."
  Barber, however, retired as Associate Professor at University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka. 
  He explained that during his stay in England, which lasted for 10 years – instead of 18 months due to political crisis in Nigeria – he worked as studio assistants and artists at different times in several studios. Two of the studios, he said belonged to artists "Frederick Macinni and Prof. Oscar Nemon, a great sculptor."
During his remark at the opening of the Mydrim show, the director of the gallery, Simidele Ogunsanya noted that Barber has combined humility with creativity to be able to train so many artists, informally, at no cost to the artists.
Abayomi Barber (right) and veteran  highlife musician, Victor Olaiya during the exhibition to mark the former's birthday at Mydrim Gallery, Ikoyi, Lagos in October 2008
  Started in 1973 as a training ground for young art enthusiasts now referred to as Abayomi Barber School in the nation's art parlance, most of the artists involved in this show of gratitude include the pioneer and other students.
 As a talented artist of both visual and performance arts, he later found another home to express his immense talent at UNILAG. Barber was employed as a technician in the early 1970s working with the School of African and Asian Studies, involved in illustrations, posters and other graphic requirement materials for the school.
 During his days in the school he was so passionate about studio practice that he was said to have put on hold his resumption as a lecturer until a studio was put in place.
 Meanwhile, he had taken in his first student, Adejimi, but commenced training in 1973. And sticking to his idea of studio training, more students emerged, hence the birth of the Abayomi Barber School.
 At 80, works by his students on display at the birthday celebration were vintage Abayomi Barber School; consistent realism of an elevated kind and intellectuality that excites the soul.
 For Adejinmi, a classic painter, his invisible brush movement would  stirs a viewer's sensibility. Whatever subjects this artist of immense talent depicts on canvas is always in motion, most often in flight such that it would have attracted those motion picture animators of the old Walt Disney days, and perhaps makes the digital animator of today green with envy. This much was noticed in such work as Metamorphosis.
 In the surreal, Resurrection, Atewolara's brush into the extraterrestrial realm confirms the celestial effect of the blend of aesthetic and intellectuality on canvas.
 Lawal's Eko, a streetscape of the chaotic section of Lagos Central Business District, Idumota argues a case for the role of painter in architectural design, even in the age of digital imaging. From the skyline divide of the painting, right and left of the canvas, which offers symmetric aesthetic to the structural laying of each of the building, the artist has distilled beauty from this notorious part of Lagos.
  Whatever it means to hear From the Horses Mouth, Morolaran's interpretation of this old saying is as interesting as the British and Nigerian characters depicted through two horses who are ambushed by reporters.
Sinmidele Ogunsanya (left), Abayomi Barber and wife
  A tribute such as the Dance of the Mind would be an incomplete one without the master caught in action. This is what Lasaki's Creative Dialogue appeared to have done in the portraiture of his mentor, a capture that has the master caught in the studio, seated though, but in some spiritual dialogue with his canvas.
  Bred on what the Barber-trained artists agreed is "realism ideology", the artists reflected on what this identity means to individual skills and styles just as they douse the anxiety that this commonality could have unfavourable public perception of their works.
 "As regards the public, experience has shown that our work is well accepted and can only get better. One of the major reasons why most of us hardly organise exhibition is because our works are collected regularly, even before they are out of the studios," Alade said. He also argued that the kind of training they had is as good as formal.
  Olatunde who is privileged to have the master as his blood father stated that in any given situation, "the school does not sell the art, but an artist's prowess sells his art." And that quality, he stresses, as emphasised on realism and thought by Barber "is not just an ideology, but a spiritual commitment."
Encomiums galore really for the master, but how would the artists sustain the Abayomi Barber School legacy?
A proposal to set up a school in the master's name, they said, is under way.