A painting
by Osazuwa titled ‘The Beach Area View’
By Tajudeen Sowole
Style, technique or medium,
as focus of art exhibition's theme would hardly attract attention. But when
such a central theme comes from an artist of nearly three decades practice as
Osazuwa Osagie, the contents deserve a keen attention.
In this
context, Osazuwa's nine years sojourn in alternative medium to oil painting is
narrated as My Journey in Acrylic in a solo exhibition currently showing
till August 30, 2015 at Quintessence Gallery, Lekki, Lagos. Perhaps, nine years
of focus on a specific medium - in more than 30 years of an artist's career -
is worth taking a look irrespective of the seemingly lightweight feel of the
subject.
It is
of note that Osazuwa is having his second solo exhibition in three years. Quite
a departure from what used to be a long break for the Auchi Polytechnic-trained
artist. His last solo titled Views In Colours held at National Museum, Onikan, Lagos, was in
2012 after a long pause. At a preview of the show, he disclosed that there
would be a new period in his art. He called it ‘Objective’ period, which he
described as “creating argument with images.”
Three years after, perhaps the expected
objective’ period is being explained in how acrylic "serves his purpose of
painting on site." It does appear there is more to the inspiration behind
the gathering of collection that has been resting for almost nine years in his
studio. His kind of plein-air-painting, he says, "is about documenting
places and events." And because he always likes to complete the works
right there at a given location, the acrylic paint, which dries faster, he
insists, meets "my challenge."
Indeed,
some of the works would be of interest to followers and historians of a new
Lagos, which is chasing what appears as a difficult megacity status. Remember the
old settlement of ‘illegal’ squatters off the waters along Osborne and Third
Mainland Bridge? How changes came so fast; the spot is the same Ilubirin, which
is currently a site for Lagos State Government’s housing project of 1,200 units
to be known as Ilubirin Foreshore Estate. However, Osagie's brush strokes were
fast enough to document the remains of the old settlement; he thus rescued
history from being lost completely. The artist recalls how "I used to
paint a lot of Ilubirin themes on the Ikoyi Peninsula. Today, Ilubirin as we knew
it is no more."
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| Abuja Suburb-1 by Osazuwa Osagie |
Osazuwa
boasts that his works focus on documenting events and places, as well as stress
their education content "and not necessarily aesthetics.” One of the works
titled ‘Ikorodu Foreshore’,
depicting a small riverside residential settlement off Ikorodu Road between
Mile12 and Ikorodu town confirms Osazuwa's visual documenting claims. "In
a couple of years, this settlement along the Ikorodu Road may just be no more
when government comes in," Osazuwa predicts. "Now, I have it painted
for the future to know what the place used to look like just in case the
bulldozers roll over some day." Another work, ‘Royal Procession’, which captures traditional African
leaders, reveals how far - beyond the shores of Nigeria - that the artist's
brush strokes have gone in the field of documenting events and places. "It
was a royal gathering of traditional rulers in Ghana," Osazua says,
recalling how he captured the scene during his residence years in Ghana over a
decade ago.
A clear
identity either in style or technique is usually common to artists. For
Osazuwa, the lack of a known style or technique in his work appears like the
artist's strength. Being eclectic in texture, he argues, is the real worth of
an artist.
According to him, “Artists should be
versatile." He insists that being known for just one form of expression is
dangerous. "In fact, artists should be able to sculpt. I do."
Osazuwa, a native of Benin City, Edo State, appears to be nostalgic with regard
to the direction of his art in the future. His next show, he discloses,
"would include some bronze sculptures."
Proudly a portraitist, Osazuwa is currently a
freelance cartoonist with The Nation
newspaper.
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