Guest
Speaker, Prof Jacob Jari from Ahmadu Bello University {ABU}, Zaria, Kaduna Syate
{left}, host, Prince Yemisi Shyllon and
visiting PhD scholar, Jessica Williams ,
a Research Fellow from University of Maryland, U.S., during the Omooba Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon
Foundation {OYASAF} Lecture Series tagged The
Price of Art and its Implication on Art Practice in Nigeria, held at
OYASAF, Maryland, Lagos, Nigeria…yesterday.
Parts of the text from Prof Jacb Jari's paper:
"The
point I have been trying to make since the beginning of this lecture is that
the manner in which works are collected in Nigeria encourages artists to remain
in a certain mould of creation which targets sales. There appears to be no
logic in why a certain artist’s work attracts a huge price against another artist’s
work which sells for almost nothing. There is therefore, the tendency for
artists who wish to sell works to ape those who successfully sell theirs. This
perhaps accounts for why forgery is particularly rampant in Nigeria not only
perpetrated by artists but by gallery owners. There is no place this situation
is better illustrated than in the workshops which expatriates set up in Nigeria
in the 1940s and 1960s.
"Take the case of the Oye Ekiti workshop set up by Fr.
Kevin Carroll in 1947. It was meant to employ already established carvers in
Yoruba land to create Christian art for Catholic churches based on indigenous
imagery. For about seven years the carvers in Oye Ekiti produced brilliant
works for the churches until the strong lure for money pushed Fr. Carroll into
accepting commissions to reproduce Epa
masks which were both highly sought after by traditional shrine keepers as well
as collectors abroad. Consequently, the workshop centre was closed down in
1953".
Details coming. 
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