By
Tajuden Sowole
Behind
the heartbeat of art appreciation is one of Nigeria’s quiet collectors, Chief
Okakuro Ede Dafinone whose passion for collecting has nothing to do with
investment value and master signatures. In fact, he would not part with any of
his precious vast collection in exchange for anything.
As
crucial as art collecting is to the nerve of art appreciation and the entire
strings of professionals attached to the business of art, it’s an irony that
people like Dafinone who spend fortune on art hide behind the red tags. Apart
from the few names that usually come to the public glare at art events, there
are quite a large number of passionate collectors who prefer to remain anonymous.
And when an opportunity comes to meet one in Dafinone, a chattered accountant,
not even a horrendous vehicular traffic on Wharf Road, Apapa would abort the
scheduled meeting. After nearly two hours in the traffic – at one of the
glaring evidences of Nigerian government’s deliberate wickedness against taxpayers
– going through a journey of less than one kilometer, the art ambience of
Dafinone’s office comes with the balm needed to be in the right frame of mind
for the scheduled chat.
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| Chief Ede Dafinone. |
Dafinone is a Fellow, Institute of Chartered
Accountants in England and Wales, (2000): Associate Member, Chartered Taxation
Institute of Nigeria, (1991) and Fellow, Institute of Chartered Accountants of
Nigeria, (2000). He is currently at Horwath Dafinone Chartered Accountants,
Lagos, a growing dynasty he joined in 1989 where he became a Partner from
March 1997 after he leaving Touche Ross & Co. Chartered Accountants,
London, where he worked from 1984 to 1988.
His
job experience, basically, includes financial waste management that covers
auditing of conglomerates, government parastatals, building contractors,
manufacturing, transport and haulage contractors as well as consultancy in reorganisation
of private companies. Others are Reporting Accountant, including the Initial
Public Offer for Nitel Plc and NAL Merchant Bank Limited for the Bureau of
Public Enterprises (BPE). Also consultant for the Budget Office of the
Federation on the verification of local debts; the Office of the Auditor-General
of the Federation for a diagnostic review of Universities; in the establishment
of companies in the Insurance Brokerage and Mortgage Banking industries, among
others.
Attempting to distil any art stint from
Dafinone's long list of job experience wouldn't just produce any link. Clearly,
art collecting has been a passion he developed outside the job of being an
auditor. On the walls of his office this scorching afternoon are art pieces
that relaxes the nerves. The works, from art value perspective could make an
art dealer sit on the edge of a chair. The works include wood panel of El
Anatsui, large Edosa Ogiugo’s figural on canvas and some pieces by Abiodun
Olaku other top artists
An accountant and a passionate art collector;
where is the link7 Searching for a response, Dafinone falls back on his
philosophy of someone who does not "like to box people." He apparently
expects a reciprocal situation. "So to suggest that accountant may not
have the capacity to appreciate art is unusual." Just in case the message is
not clear he stresses that as accountants, like every other person in the
society, "we have the tastes to appreciate quality art."
As much as art appreciation at whatever level
should be commended, there are certain categories of collections that cannot
just be lumped into the crowd. And when a collector is on the Board of Trustees
of Guild of Professional Fine Artists of Nigeria (GFA) as Dafinone is, it
suggests that his collection has strong depth. "I started collecting since
1990,” he discloses. "My interest in art started from the period I studied
post-impressionism artists as an alternative courses at school." Now the
accountant-art collector link is getting clearer. His tracking of the creative
sector over the decades has convinced him that
"we have a burden of talents within our shores that coincidentally
just beginning to enjoy international appreciation."
The visual arts, perhaps unavoidably, is
elitist to a large extent and potentially a strong partner for corporate and individual
business class. But art patronage by the Nigerian corporate sector appears less
active as expected. At this moment, Dafinone, who has put into the Nigerian corporate
class about 15 years experience is the 'spokesperson' for the sector. The art
market, he notes, "is growing," and "there are several corporate
organisations and companies that appreciate art both as a decorative and
investment to yield returns." Art, he stresses, "is a major form of
storing wealth," for some companies.
"Art can make returns as much as what we have in the petroleum and
banking sectors."
Given
the challenges of managing full-time studio career, artists are better placed
concentrating on creating art and leave the business aspect to others to handle
on their behalf. So, most often artists reach the corporate sector and
individual business class professionals via art dealers. And it seems the art dealers are intercepting
most of the benefits from the corporate sector before it gets to the
artists. From the experience of being a
collector in the business and corporate class as well as BoT member of artists’
professional body, Dafibone argues that artists prosper more if art dealers
flourish. "Our art market is still
young, making people think the dealers are shortchanging the artists. Maybe for
now, so long as significant profits exist in selling art, more people will
enter the market, and when there is proliferations of art dealers, it shows
that the market is growing, which in turn is good for artists.”
As the art market grows, raising the bar so
some artists are being left out of the mainstream art scene. Again, the growth,
Dafinone assures, is a prospect that should take every artist along, maybe not
at even level. "Yes some Nigerian
artists have been finding it difficult to get to the mainstream of art market.
But that is changing as there is wider appreciation and awareness. More
young Nigerians are appreciating, buying art and the market is taking an
international dimension." He agrees the last ten years has really changed
the scene, noting that the art auctions have given a secondary value to the
market. "This suggests that art collectors, investors have a market in
which they can now trade their art."
With as long as nearly 25 years in the
passion of art collecting, Dafinone must have come across Nigerian artists
across generations, and perhaps, a patron to many artists. But why a member
of GFA BoT and not other body of
artists? "I don’t think anybody on
the board of trustees of GFA lobbied to be a member; we were invited by the
artists. Each member is well known as individual that appreciates art. It was
based on the passion for art collecting."
As a professional whose career in auditing
has helped corporate groups managed financial wastages and increased wealth of
clients, art collecting perhaps comes as an extension of his personal
ventilation for investment. "I did not start collecting because I wanted
to invest in art." Really? "I
collect for my love for art, the aesthetics. I don’t buy for investment, but
for aesthetics." In fact, he does not trade the aesthetics passion for
masterly names. "I buy pieces that I like, not big names or art that could
worth millions of naira in the future."
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| Few of Dafinone’s collection |
For Dafinone, relativity of aesthetics comes
with his belief that every art piece is different. "So, I can’t place a
particular likeness to one." While he has no particular
"formula", something is however consistent in his choice of medium.
"The only thing that is constant is that I don’t buy watercolour
works." Not necessarily for lack of good warercolourists. "There are good
water colour artists, Sam Ovraiti for example is fantastic, but I just don't
have passion for it."
GFA was founded over a decade ago, but
formally launched in 2008 by a group of artists who are the bridge between the
old masters and young artists. More importantly, the artists take pride in the
commonality of full-time studio practice. Quite a number of recent strides of
Nigerian artists at home and the Diaspora have the touches of GFA members. How
far can the GFA go under the current BoT members? "The guild is populated only by the
brightest of best Nigerian artists," Dafinone boasts. "We could be moving faster, but the fact
that the artists are the managers of their affairs comes with several challenges."
However progress has been made and significant breakthrough achieved for
Nigerian artists here and abroad, he argues. "Yes, the guild has
challenges today, maybe tomorrow too but the strength is the family-like
attitude among members. The main goal of promoting Nigerian art at
international level is the strength."
On his vast collection, the importance of documenting for the benefits of the
larger society is not exactly lost. "I hope to catalogue my collection in
future." Still on sharing with the larger society, Dafinone and his family
"have had in-house exhibition for friends to come and share in our collection."
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