By Tajudeen Sowole
In highlighting the hypocrisy in
governments’ policies, Alex Nwokolo stumbles on sculptural and
assemblage-collage, which may turn out to be the artist’s new period.
Titled
Authenticity of Thought, which is
being presented tomorrow by Sachs Gallery at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island,
Lagos, will run till June 12, 2012. The solo show brings to the fore certain
similarities among developing and developed nations, in the area of disrespect
for human dignity.
Some weeks back, at the artist’s
studio, in Ajah, Lagos, some of the works produced via machines suggested that
Alex has turned 360 degree from painting to flattening of metal sheet. But not
exactly, as his guest engaged him from one work to another inside his studio,
which shows that Nwokolo has just adapted his painting technique for soft metal
construction, and still retaining the collage characters, which the textured
surface of his painting is known for. The result is an assemblage of
constructions in relief, via flattened or folded aluminum foil as well as papier mache on boards, and
spiced with enamel paint.
Quite instructive, and
thematic is Nwokolo’s two examples of abuse of power and lack of human dignity,
via despotic rules, which are not from the part of the world branded by Western
powers as ‘rogue nations’. One is from the artist’s fatherland, Nigeria and the
other is from the U.S. Still on paradox, each of these two nations, at the
period of the artist’s focus, had one thing in common: populism.
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Subsidy Unrest,
67 x 48 binchs, metal and spray-paint by Nwokolo
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For example, Subsidy Unrest, rendered in flattened metal sheet and spray painting,
depicting a sea of protesters, perhaps at the Gani Fawehinmi Park, Ojota,
Lagos, revisits the anger against the fuel subsidy removal of January 2012,
which nearly gave Nigerians the much-awaited revolution.
In fact the response of Nigerians to
the shocking announcement of hike in petrol pump price from N65 to N141, by Petroleum
Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) must have
shocked President Goodluck Jonathan and his admirers, given the much-perceived
popularity of his election in April 2011. And if Jonathan’s ‘popularity’ was,
indeed, real, he appeared to have overrated it by the sudden price hike in
petrol when debates and consultations were still ongoing.
Recapping the protests Nwokolo,
however, argued, “People believe that previous removal of subsidy
had added no value to their lives, and that this was another opportunity for
corruption to reign supreme among government officials and oil rich
politicians, who are untouchables”.
In fact, Subsidy Unrest captured from an
aerial view, and enhanced by virtually all the known colours, suggests that the
fuel subsidy protests – contrary to attempts by some
people to give it ethnic and political colourations – was indeed, an
unprecedented uprising against an insensitive government in the history of
Nigeria.
However, despite the monumentally
‘transparent corruption’ uncovered by the Hon. Farouk Lawal-led probe panel,
Nwokolo appears skeptical about justice. He said, “This illustrates the
Nigerian state. All those involved will definitely go free without
prosecution.”
IF
there was any sympathy for the U.S. after the infamous September 11, 2001
attack by terrorists, the issue of human right abuse at Guantanamo Bay, where
the suspected attackers were held also worried allies of Washington. In what is
now referred to as 9/11, over 3000 people died when two hijacked-planes were
rammed into the Twin Towers in New York and two others into the Pentagon and
another location in Washington, by terrorists.
Analysing the U.S. government’s human
right violations with the detaining of the suspected terrorists, Nwokolo, in a
three panel-like collage of binchs
triptych cans, metal and enamel paints titled Guantanamo Bay, presents a graphic impression of what the inmates
of the notorious detention camp went through to have attracted the attention of
human right watchers. With silhouette and semi-cameo application of light, each
of the panel retains a viewer’s illusory perception through the dominance of
black, white and red.
The artist argued that since Guantanamo
Bay came into the American public knowledge “in 1898 when the first U.S
casualties of the Spanish-Cuban-American war were dumped there under inhuman
conditions,” it has since garnered “a reputation as a place where the U.S.
infringed on people’s rights.”
The artist noted that “countless suspected detainees have been wrongfully held
at the bay for years without trial. Many have suffered torturous, inhuman
treatment and died.”
It’s not just a concern for the rest of
the world, but also a contradiction to the laws of the U.S., the artist
stressed. “This is a violation and a breach of human rights according to
international law and a violation of articles 5 of the American Convention,
which prohibits torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.”
The three stages of the Bay, he said,
are re-enacted in the colours as “the black and white panel represents freedom,
the orange panel indicates inmates while the chained-figures stand for new and
high risk inmates.”
And that President Barack Obama, last year, failed to
convince the U.S. Congress on the need to close down Guantanamo Bay, clearly
showed that the U.S. appears to have scored higher than the ‘rogue nations’ on
violation of human right.
Nigeria also has its own Guantanamo
Bay, so suggests works such as Holding
Cell and Black Maria.
As unpleasant as the themes of these
works are, the aesthetics, particularly as embossed in Nwokolo’s peculiar
rendition of silhouettes, however, diffuses possible tearjerkers, which the
human right abuses of constituted authorities may cause.
For the Bernadette Umeri-Mjalli-led Sachs Gallery,
which got support from Access Bank, Vueve Clicquot and Arra
Wines, Authenticity of Thought
stresses the gallery’s ability in “providing an ambience for the presentation of a
potpourri of artistic expressions within the confines of acceptable aesthetic
sensibilities.”
Umeri-Mjalli noted that Nwokolo’s work “is
intrinsically modernistic, while at the same time very expressionistic.”
From cutting metal and wood, to nailing
and assembling of these materials together, it does appear that there is a
close link between the artist’s technical skill in the business of framing and
his primary field of painting. Perhaps, these assemblages would not have been
possible if Nwokolo were not into the business of framing?
“Framing work or not, I would still
have done this,’ he argued, recalling that technical works such as carpentry
had been inculcated into his consciousness as “a primary school pupil in Lagos
Island, and I continued in that line even as a student in secondary and higher
institutions.”
However, Nwokolo must have stumbled on
most of the concepts for this show as he disclosed that when he set out to
produce the works “I started without really knowing which direction I was
heading.”
In the last one to two years, Nwokolo’s
canvas has been dominated with bold faces, mostly in close ups, which he called
Oju (Face). And a trace of the Oju period is in one of the soft metal
pieces titled Witness.
With Authenticity
of Thought, however, this may just be another period for Nwokolo.
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