By Tajudeen Sowole
Unlike the previous year that
brought in quite a number of new art outlets and high commercial value, 2014
was not exactly as exciting. However, the last 12 months, which was regarded as
commercially inactive for visual arts, recorded a few remarkable events in the
area of content generation.
Early
in the year, Goethe Institut, Lagos, peeped into futuristic cities with a
photography and design exhibition titled Post-Oil City: The History of the City’s
Future as the show alerted city planners about widening urban and shrinking
traditional sources of energy. Presented in photography, drawing, digital
imaging and video, the exhibition, which the organisers described as a tour
event, coincidentally made its Nigerian stopover in Lagos where the government
was confronting the complexity of replacing antiquated infrastructures for the
prospects of a megacity.
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| Sculpture, Yemoja by Abayomi Barber |
In March, the Centre for Contemporary Art
(CCA), Lagos, celebrated 70th birthday of Ghanaian artist, El Anatsui, who was
described at the same event as a "Nigerian master born in Ghana." The
event had a special art exhibition titled Playing with Chance.
If awards were to be given for the best art
shows of 2014, a group exhibition titled Masters Series, organised by
Red Door Gallery, would have picked the top prize. It was a gathering of select
works by renowned artists from the collection of National Gallery of Art (NGA).
From Abayomi Barber's sculptural impression of Yoruba water goddess, Yemoja,
mounted at the immediate entrance of Red Door, to the cubism paintings by Yusuf
Grillo, pencil portraits of legendary theatre artist, Duro Ladipo and Picasso
by Theresa Lucy Akinwale as well as Ladi Kwali's mastery of pottery among other
works of 27 masters on display, the gathering assured that all was not exactly
lost despite Nigeria's unexplained lack of a national gallery of art space.
Joining Red Door's Masters Series in
the list of potential award winning art exhibitions of the year was Being and
Becoming, a solo by Odun Orimolade, which showed for over three months at
Art Twenty One, Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos. It was a show
that attempted probity of western and African scientific beliefs, on man's
state of mind. And as space was an issue on the Lagos art's scene, Orimolade's
exhibition confirmed that content need space to blossom in contemporary
practice.
In July the 80-days celebration of Prof Wole
Soyinka's 80th birthday had the visual arts providing a wide depth into the
career of the Nobel Laureate as a gathering of artists titled Calibrating
Kongi at 80: The Art Exhibition explained. Held at the top floor of J.P.
Clark Centre, Faculty of Arts, University of Lagos, Akoka, the group art
exhibition, in curatorial context, could make contents for a Wole Soyinka Museum
in the future.
The works, which included medium of painting,
mixed media, design and sculpture, placed Soyinka as a legend whose influence
on society has become a treasure to humanity across generations and cultures. A
well-researched exhibition by the curator, Prof Peju Layiwola, the works on
display consisted, largely, of Soyinka-related art pieces in memorabilia that
were as old as some of his books and plays or essays. Even, recently produced
art pieces such as posters that represent some of his staged plays strengthened
the museum content prospect of the exhibition.
What should have been a collective
celebration ended in controversy when a Briton, Mark Walker returned two
cultural objects of Benin, Edo State origin to the royal family in Nigeria. The
controversial event questioned the absence of international relation required
to carry out such mission in contemporary period. Ahead of Walker’s visit with
the two objects, the Benin royal house National Commission for Museums and
Monuments (NCMM) had disagreement over where the artefacts should be received
or who to hand them over to. Though the palace won the receiver or place of
receiving the objects as Walker handed the objects to the palace at a celebration
that had the Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in attendance, the NCMM was
"officially missing."
SEPTEMBER had history
revisited and recorded again when a group art exhibition titled New Order was
held at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos. With the works of Olu
Ajayi, Sam Ovraiti, Toni Okujeni and Pita Ohiwerei, the artists of New Order
attempted to use the exhibition in ushering in a new phase for Nigerian art.
Three of the artists, Ajayi, Ovraiti and Okujeni belong to those that were
christened "Colourists" in the 1980s for adding a new texture of
colour to Lagos art scene. Ohiwerei and other artists of like-mind later joined
the trend.
From the movie industry end of the arts and
culture sector came the premiere of Kunle Afoloyan’s film October 1, which had objects of great museum values as the flavours
that spiced the event. More importantly, the sources of the objects have
exposed inadequacy of government’s inability to preserve historical materials.
Organised by Terra Kulture in collaboration with Golden Effects, the premiere,
which held three days ahead of Nigeria's 54th Independence, featured art
exhibition that was really significant for the mood of the anniversary
celebration.
From the entrance of the Expo Centre, Eko
Hotel and Suites lobby - venue of the premiere - to the hall beside the cinema
space, props used in the movie were on display, exhaling a museum ambience into
the air as audience trickled in. As it took about one and half hours behind the
scheduled time for the gate of the cinema doors to open, the props in the art
exhibition section of October 1
premiere really engaged eagerly waiting first public audience of the film.
Still in October, new entrant, Sogal Art
auction house made its debut at Porsche Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, and had
what observers described as modest sales. The new auction house was from the
family of one of Nigeria’s leading art galleries, an Ikoyi, Lagos-based
Signature Beyond.
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| From the Calibrating Kongi at 80 art exhibition at University of Lagos. |
With
two Nigerian record sales, each for painter, Kolade Oshinowo and sculptor,
Bunmi Babatunde at the November 2014 auction of Arthouse Contemporary, held at
The Wheatbaker, Ikoyi, the number of top selling masters in the secondary art
market was on the increase. Since art auctions became regular features in
Nigerian art calendar six years ago, artists whose works made the top of the
five sales were always predictable. But Stilt
Dancers (oil on canvas, 160 x 90cm, 1981) by Oshinowo b.1948 sold for N6m
and a sculpture, Possibilities
(Bronze, 157 X 176.5 cm, 2013) from Babatunde's gymnastic series sold for N3,
740, 000, brought two additional names to join the list of masters in the top
sales. Oshinowo and Babatunde's sales are the artists' auction records in
Nigeria. For Babatunde, his world auction record remains Possibilities, (ebony wood, 255 x 16.5 x 42cm, 2014) sold for
(£31,250) at the last Bonhams Africa Now
auction, London. Until the Arthouse’s November 2014 auction, a painting
titled Two Sisters by Oshinowo was
sold for £43,000 at the 2013 Bonham's auction.
For elevating arts and culture to serious
business venture in Nigeria, Terra Kulture got rains of applause and great
commendations from admirers who filled a Convention Centre hall at Eko Hotel
and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos during its 10th anniversary. With Terra Kulture art gallery, a new phase
of art management and marketing surfaced on Nigeria’s
creative landscape in the last one decade. Recall, for example, that Terra
Kulture, in partnership with the then Tayo Aderinokun-led GTB, in 2007 created
a forum known as Arts and Business Foundation (ABF).
Among
the past four or more editions of the African Artists Foundation (AAF) and
Nigeria Breweries (NB)-organised art competition, the 2014 edition, held in
November, arguably, had the richest contents. However, the three winners
announced did not appear like a true reflection of the entire rich contents. A
wall and floor assemblage collage Lines, Patches and Pathos by Erasmus
Onyishi was announced the first prize winner inside the Civic Centre hall,
Victoria Island, Lagos. The Prof El Anatsui-led jury further picked two other
winners: a game house-like titled The People’s Algorithm and the Butterfly Effect by Modupe Fadugba for Outstanding Concept and The T Eye by Paul Mbah as Outstanding Production.
Asserting its lead as Abuja’s popular art
gallery, Thought Pyramid elevated its activities to the status of Art Centre,
with a group art exhibition titled New
Conversation as well as a new edifice, which was unveiled in November.
According to Jeff Ajueshi, Creative Director at Thought Pyramid Art Gallery,
the centre, which is located at Wuse II Abuja, has been designed to include a
large art exhibition space, café and restaurant for those who wish to relax in
an art space.
In December, the second coming of Abiodun
Olaku-led group of artists in the exhibition, Distinction-2, held at Terra Kylture confirmed the richness of the
2014 art space. Bunmi Babatunde, Edosa
Oguigo, Alex Nwokolo, Duke Asidere, Reuben Ugben, Segun Adejumo and Fidelis
Odogwu are the other artists of Distinction-2
whose works were featured.
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