At 60, Ayoade shows 'Faces and Figures', celebrates with 'twin sister' Nigeria

Uncertainty (alcohol ink on yupo paper, 2019), by Mukaila Ayoade. Pic: c/o the artist.   

FROM working in Lagos, Nigeria, to his current base in Chicago, U.S., artist Mukaila Ayoade brings into a single space his oeuvre of over 30 years.

Ayoade, whose mastery in collage painting covered quite some art appreciation grounds in Nigeria before his relocation to the US, opens a solo show titled Expressions: Faces and Figures Collection on October 1, 2020 at Bridgeport Art Center, West 35th Street Chicago Illinois. The exhibition of about 45 works marks the artist's 60th birthday and also serves as his contribution to six decades celebration of Nigeria's independence anniversary.

Self-reporting by celebrities killing gossip news media

Actress, Idowu Philips.
Pic: c/o Translucent S.I. Communication.

 

AS the new media space provides more freedom for everyone to publish their story, gossip journalism may be heading towards extinction. Most vulnerable are celebrity reporting desks of established news media organisations in Africa.

In Suowari's monochrome strokes, beauty, fashion blossom

  Ama' (ink and acrylic on paper, 5 x 8ft, 2020) by Jacqueline Suowari. Pic: from the artist.

DESPITE being the oldest form of art, figurative painting has been defined differently by each generation of artists across cultures. In the unfolding world of 21st century contemporary art that is giving figurative painting diverse tones, Jacqueline Suowari is one of such artists, whose brushstroke and ballpoint of fluidity are in romantic flow with monochromatic contents.

Future of Fuji music against past golden four decades

Founder of Fuji music, Chief  (Dr) Sikiru Ayinde Barrister (February 9, 1948-December 16, 2010). Pic: from 1991 album cover.

  
AS a teenage boy, growing up in Mushin, a Lagos suburb of the 1970s, the unfolding interest of the people in modern traditional music was, subconsciously, observed. Irrespective of what religion anyone belonged, it was impossible not to notice how every dawn period in the month of Ramadan included the 'Ajisari' culture, a musical known then as 'Were.'

Prof Tijani, Nigeria’s new helmsman of museums, monuments

Dr Abba Isa Tijani

After three years without a substantive Director-General, Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments finally got a helmsman. Lat week, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed announced Dr Abba Isa Tijani as the D-G of NCMM.

NGA-NCMM merger 'suspended' as new DGs emerge

Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture.

With the newly announced appointments of Director-Generals for both National Gallery of Art (NGA) and National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), the anticipated merger of the two government agencies under Ministry of Information and Culture may have been suspended.

Remembering Dr Adadevoh with '93 Days' of proudly Nigerian courage

Patrick Sawyer (Keppy Ekpeyoung) in '93 Days'

As Nigerians, today, remember Dr Ameyo Stella Adadevoh, a frontline medic who stopped the deadly Ebola disease from spreading in the country, the film that recaptures the tragic story comes as a major memory till date.

Thought Pyramid celebrates contemporary masters

Directors of Thought Pyramid Art Centre, Ovie Omatsoka and Jeff Ajueshi.

Exiting the first two decades of 21st century, art in Nigeria will step into a new dawn, specifically from next year. A select group of artists under Thought Pyramid Art Centre-led new project are getting set to boost their pioneering antecedence in full-time studio  practice.

Sharjah Art Foundation’s 2020 Focal Point's open call

Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF), UAE, today, announces an open call for the second edition of the Focal Point' Publishing Grant.  The open call extends the Foundation’s mission to advance scholarly research and publish content that generates a more expansive understanding of the history of art in the region and its relationship with the wider world.

Evolution of 'gele' as female fashion, from Nigeria to African diaspora stage

Gele head-wear in Black Is King. Pic: www.beyonce.com

A Yoruba adage of old that says ‘a woman’s fashion is incomplete without her gele’, has proven its resilience, even in the 21st century contemporary African culture.

With its creasing popularity, recently, on the international fashion space of ethnic minority, it is important to track the modern evolution of gele (pronounced 'gaylay'). The origin of gele as emanated from Yoruba culture and virtue is not exactly known. However, many archival photographs of over a century old suggested that gele must have been around much longer than the time those pictures were taken.

Ojih Odutola creates women's 'kingdom' in UK debut solo

'Establishing the Plot', a drawing from A Countervailing Theory (2019), © Toyin Ojih Odutola. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

In her short period of gradual climb on the commercial art ladder, Nigerian-American artist Toyin Ojih Odutola's interest is not just about counting the digits. She is also pushing her work into the critical appreciation space for broad followership.

Barbican Centre's Gallery, London will be showing Odutola in what has been described as her first-ever UK exhibition, titled
A Countervailing Theory, showing from August, Tuesday 11-Sunday, 23 2020. The announcement was coming barely one month after Portrait Gallery, London disclosed Ojih Odutola's commission of author Zadie Smith's portrait.

Nigeria's dominance of Caine Prize winners... diaspora, other factors

Irenosen Okojie, winner of 2020 Caine Prize for African Writing.

First awarded in 2000 to Sudanese, Leila Aboulela for her short story 'The Museum,' The Caine Prize for African Writing, has, however recorded more Nigerian recipients than any country on the continent.

With the announcement, on Monday July 27, of Irenosen Okojie's 'Grace Jones' as winner of the AKO Caine Prize 2020, Nigeria now has seven winners of the award. Helon Habila, 'Love Poems' (2001); Segun A. Afolabi, 'Monday Morning' (2005); Chukwuenweniwe Osondu, 'Waiting' (2009); Babatunde Rotimi, 'Bombay Republic' (2012); Tope Folarin, 'Miracle' (2013); and Lesley Nneka Ammah 'Skinned' (2019), are earlier Nigerian recepients of the prize.

Nsikak Essien (1957-2020), master of experimental art

Nsikak Essien (1957-2020)

Another prominent artist, Nsikak Essien, passed on, Wednesday night in Lagos. Essien, died of yet to be identified cause.