Thursday 5 September 2024

'Women of Elephant Tusk' in empowerment, cultural cohesion.

The artist, Rewa, in front of one of her works. 

Portraits of traditional matriarchs that celebrate century old systems of African feminism and leadership, coinciding with Black History month in the UK, and the Africa Center’s 60th anniversary opens at the center in London on September 8, 2024, showing till end of the month.

Thursday 29 August 2024

How Prof Buhari captured 'Yusuf Grillo like you've never seen'

'Omi Iye' (oil on canvas, 61 x 122cm, dated 2018) by Yusuf Grillo.

CURRENTLY showing as Yusuf Grillo's first posthumous solo art exhibition at Yusuf Grillo Museum, Ikeja, Lagos, the works on display have strengthened to the rich visual vocabulary of Nigeria. Titled Yusuf Grillo Like You've Never Seen, the exhibition opened on August 24, ending 30, 2024.

Monday 5 August 2024

Art on chessboard with world record holder Onakoya, artist Olagoke

Chess world record holder Tunde Onakoya (left) and artist Lanre Olagoke MBE.

WHEN a U.K-based group, Powerful Media, organised 50 of the Most Influential Nigerians Worldwide event in late July, art and chess met. The chess record holder, Tunde Onakoya and artist, Lanre Olagoke MBE used the chessboard to showcase intelligence and creativity.

Thursday 1 August 2024

Onwenu's last major honour of 'Art of Afrobeats' award

Onyeka Onwenu during the Art of Afrobeats Award night in Lagos.

AS the music industry mourns the death of singer, actress, and journalist, Onyeka Onwenu, documenting her sojourn would be incomplete without one of the last major honours she received recently.

Sunday 14 July 2024

Soyinka at 90...reflection on Maya Angelou, superlatives of Nobel Prize



Prof Wole Soyinka speaking at Africa Centre, UK, during one of the Soyinka@90 events.

WHEN Prof Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka was given the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, American author, Maya Angelou (1928-2014), had predicted the event a year ahead. In 1985, Angelou nominated Soyinka to win an international literary prize of which she was pained that her expectation was not met after a German picked the award.

Sunday 7 July 2024

Separating Yorùbá religious tradition from Ìṣẹ̀ṣe (2)

'Arugba' religious scene associated with 'Ìṣẹ̀ṣe', during a yearly festival, Osun Osogbo, in Osun State, Southwest, Nigeria.

•historically, there was no  homogenous Yoruba religious belief 

•facts have uncovered widespread Yoruba atheists of ancient eras

By Ayojinmi Adeolu, Biodun Olojede-Akiola, Idayat Obaduwa-Babajide, Matthew Ola Adejinmi, and Bunmi Olokiki

FIRST part, published on August 21, 2023, of the same research work titled 'Separating Yorùbá religious tradition from Ìṣẹ̀ṣe', has established the difference between the two subjects. We established, with facts, that Ìṣẹ̀ṣe as a religious belief is different from the tradition and culture of the Yoruba. 

Sunday 30 June 2024

Fiofori, Ibrahim, Orara...leaving strong legacies of visual culture

Book cover of Tam Fiofori's celebration of the 1979 Benin monarch coronation.

HAMID Ibrahim, Tam Fiofori, and Zinno Orara threw the community of visual arts in mourning within few months. Most disturbing was June 25, 2024 when Fiofori and Orara reportedly died on the same day. Ibrahim died on March 31, 2024.

Sunday 23 June 2024

How Prince William, Musawa others celebrated Olagoke's British honour

Lanre Olagoke MBE with his wife, Simone, displaying his award inside Windsor castle, shortly after the ceremony led by Prince William.

THE Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) award to Nigerian-British artist, Lanre Olagoke started at Windsor Castle, U.K. Conferring the MBE on Olagoke, representative of the British monarchy, Prince William described Olagoke's activism in art as long service to humanity.

Friday 21 June 2024

Monochromes of feminity with Sholola's 'Be Here Now'

'Grounding I' (black tea, ink, charcoal, pastel and acrylic on canvas, 24 x 38in dated 2023) by Laju Sholola.

RENDERED in black tea, ink, charcoal, pastel and acrylic, the figurative expressions of Laju Sholola brings freshness onto the Lagos art space. Sholola's works, devoid of stereotypes loud colours, capture the tender, candid emotions of feminity.

Wednesday 12 June 2024

For Soyinka at 90, ‘Ebrohimie Road, A Museum of Memory’ premieres in Lagos, Ibadan, other cities

Prof Wole Soyinka, captured in an archival picture on Ebrohimie Road.

AS part of Prof Wole Soyinka at 90 celebration, a documentary titled Ebrohimie Road: a Museum of Memory, based on the little building on the University of Ibadan (UI) campus, where the poet, playwright, memoirist, essayist and polemicist, once lived will be premiered. While he was a teacher at the UI, Nigeria's premier tertiary institution, Soyinka loved in the building.

Six artists' 'Matters of Essence II' explores materiality, tangibility

'Waist Deep (The Living Water), conte crayon, spray paint, acrylic and oil on canvas; 34 x 24 inches, dated 2024, by Christopher Samuel Idowu.

MIMI Adu-Serwaah, Sika Amakye, Elfreda Dali, Nwakuso Edozien, Christopher Samuel Idowu and Omolade Ogundimu are showing in a group art exhibition titled Matters of Essence II, which opens on June 15, 2024 at kó Gallery, Ikoyi Lagos.

Monday 27 May 2024

Adeyemo's 'Breath of Novelty' for batik art

'Celebration' (Screen printing on brocade, 127 x 457 cm, dated 2023) by Hakeem B. Adeyemo. PIC: C/o the artist.

WITH his solo art exhibition titled Breath of Novelty, shown from to May 8-15, 2024, at the Department of Industrial Design,School of Art, Design and Printing.Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, Hakeem Adeyemo has added another texture to batik art. 

Sunday 26 May 2024

How artists recorded big sales at AMIAF's 'Sculptors Odyssey'

Guests, including Dr Bruce Onobrakpeya, viewing a section of AMIAF 2024 edition.

AFTER three days of large scale exhibition at the just concluded third edition of ArtMiabo International Art Festival AMIAF, the results of sales showed that most of the exhibited artists had great patronage. Also, from the high number of guests that visited the masterly display of exhibits, AMIAF 2024 opened a new chapter in large scale art exhibition as the biggest art event in every Q1 of Nigerian art economy.