At £1m, Tutu painting sets new auction record

Sold for One million pound, hammer price.

Above the estimated sale of less than £400,000, a 1974 version of the  controversial 'Tutu' painting by Ben Enwonwu
MBE (1917-1994), has been sold for £1,000,000
few hours ago at the just held Bonhams Africa Now auction in London.
  Few weeks ago, the lot of the same 'Tutu' title was announced by

For Oshinowo At 70, Artists Regroup Over Science-Driven Art

Kolade Oshinowo

Started in 1989, as a yearly gathering of art teachers' exhibition, the 2018 edition is being dedicated to Kolade Oshinowo's 70th anniversary. Also, the exhibiting artists are using this year's edition to collaborate with the science departments of the academia.

 Titled Tribute to Kolade Oshinowo and currently showing till March 22, 2018 at the Yusuf Grillo Gallery, the exhibition features works of about 25 artists from School of Art, Design and Printing, Yaba College of Technology, Lagos.

  According to the artists, the exhibition is organised for two major reasons: honouring "our distinguished erudite scholar in the person of Oshinowo and announcing

Bolanle Austen-Peters, Wizkid, Davido Make '50 Most Influential Nigerians' List

Bolanle Austen-Peters.

With three  professionals from the arts and culture sector on the list of 50   Nigerians whose activities in 2017 had influence on the country, the creative industry, again, stresses its relevance in building a strong nation.
 Published on Monday, February 12, 2018, 'BusinessDay 50 Most Influential Nigerians in 2017', include who is who in the political and economy sectors. Based in Lagos,, BusinessDay is one of the leading newspapers that monitor Nigeria's financial sectors.  
  Among such influencers listed are top business moguls like Aliko Dangote, a well-known industrialist and Africa's richest businessman;

Wedlock Of Traditional, Contemporary Expressions In Williams’ Borderless Art

Sadiq Williams with some of his works in the background.

Across the landscape of visual cultural expressions, a quiet, but steadily growing young creative professional, Sadiq Williams, is making his presence felt. His fresh imprint on the city’s creative space combine traditional and contemporary expressions just as his art and design content generate critical and commercial appreciation, previewing futuristic appropriation of art.  
  From the background of architecture, Williams coalesces fine art, filmmaking, martial art, poetry and music writing. After his solo art exhibition titled

How Space Enriches Contents In Art Work 2018 Residency Show

Viewers at a section of the exhibits during the opening

A new curatorial design space with room dividers enhances what could be described as one of  the boldest visual expressions so far at the art exhibition-converted Kia Motor Showroom, Victoria Island, Lagos. The Saturday evening welcomes Lagos art enthusiasts to the opening of Art Work 2018, an Arthouse Residency group art exhibition that features paintings and mixed media by Francois Beaurain, Nengi Omuku, Kadara Enyeasi, Thierry Oussou, Jimmy Nwanne, Gloria Oyarzabal Lodge and Christian Newby.
After experimenting with a solo of U.S-based artist, Victor Ekpuk, three years ago, Arthouse Foundation expanded its residency to group participation.
  Last year, Tyna Adebowale, Jelili Atiku, Dipo Doherty and Olumide Onadipe were the beneficiaries of the Arthouse Foundation Residency who had a group exhibition under Art Work at the same Kia Showroom.
  In a Lagos art hub city where exhibition spaces are being expanded beyond the regular

Future Masters On Journey Of Self-Discovery

‘'Sleeping on Duty’ (acrylic on canvas) by Tolulope Mustapha

AS the burgeoning Nigerian art environment becomes more competitive, preparing young artists for the challenges of the future requires special attention. This much a new group, Jade Art has taken on, with artists who are mostly fresh from school.
  Last year, Jade Art, under the leadership of Ronke Jadesola, a former curator at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos, made its debut on the Lagos scene with Manuscript, a group exhibition of masters in drawing skills. For Jade’s next outing, the future focus is on 10 young artists.
  With Journey of Self-Discovery as theme, the artists’ works in paintings, mixed media and sculptures will be on display from February 24 - March 4, 2018 at Omenka Gallery, Ikoyi, Lagos.  Jadesola predicted that the gathering

Prof Akinwunmi Isola (1939 -2018)

Prof Akinwunmi Isola

Another Nigerian playwright icon, Prof Akinwunmi Isola died today, just about eight months after the country lost Adebayo Faleti.

  A source close to Isola's family said said the playwright had been "battling with illness for quite a while."

One of his works adapted for film of the same title, O Le Ku in 1997 was produced by Tunde Kelani's Mainframe Film and Television Production.

  Isola wrote what has been recorded as his first play, 'Efunsetan Aniwura', (1961 and 1962) when he was a student at the University of Ibadan.

 Born in Ibadan,1939, Isola was

Argungu Tribute To Oshinowo, Teachers of Masters

The Way We Are-4 ( OIL ON CANVAS, 20'' X 19'')

It's sheer boldness to keep painting and showing a single thematic series for as long as over four years. In fact, Moses Oghagbon's Argungu Series, currently in its seventh edition, has been defiant in an art environment such as Nigeria's. In this part of the world, a section of the country's art critics would odiously derogate Oghagbon as belonging to 'repetitive theme-artists.'

 Beyond the emotion germinated from the seeds of repugnant art critics, the reality is that it takes strong intellectuality for an artist to self-encircle his theme within a confinement, yet, remains obstinate for as long as he wants. Either in

Waiting For Watercolour Masters At 'The Content'

Sam Ovraiti’s ‘We Are So Many We are of One Mind. Why Are We So Different?

In its third of the series titled The Conten - Spring Edition, within one year, the organisers, Adam&Eve, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos, is showing the seven artists as watercolour masters from April 1 - 30, 2018. Adam&Eve started the series mid-2017 with The Content and later showed The Content - Harmattan Edition at the same venue later in the year.  
 Olu Ajayi, Ini Brown, Tayo Adenaike, Sam Ovraiti, Lekan Onabanjo, Kehinde Sanwo and Victor Obasuyi are the master watercolourists of The Content -Spring Edition show. 
  The exhibitions are aimed

New Visual Narrative With Young Contemporaries 2018

Surreal-like painting titled Olaju Yii bySamuel Olowomeye

DESPITE the misty and unnecessary controversy over the definition of contemporary Nigerian art, some young artists whose background are devoid of politics of space and period have been clearing the haze. They are known as ‘Young Contemporaries,’ a curatorial series that show artists of fresh ideas.
  In its 2018 series, the ‘Young Contemporaries’, an initiative of Rele Arts Foundation, continues with

Fact, Fiction Of Enwonwu's Iconic 'Tutu' Paintings

...holder of the stolen version 'known'.   

'Tutu' (1973) by Ben Enwonwu. Pic: from the artist's family.

 Contrary to the 'Eureka' in the air of Nigerian art, about the 'discovery' of an iconic painting titled Tutu, the search is not over. On Tuesday, many newspapers reported that one of the leading auction houses in Europe, Bonhams, announced it has found Tutu, a 44-year-old missing painting by Ben  Enwonwu.

 The artist painted the mystery princess, Tutu Ademiluyi in 1973 when he was Professor of Fine Arts at University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Osun State,  South-west of Nigeria. Sources from Nigerian art lexicon - over the decades - say that Enwonwu (1917 -1994) painted three versions of Tutu.

 However, so much interest has been released to unravel the identity of the princess as well as recovery of the painting since 1994 when the index version 1973, allegedly disappeared from thfe artist's studio. But a source in Lagos, few days ago,  has assured that the holder of the "stolen" Tutu (1973 version) is known.

 In 2011, late Chief  Rasheed Gbadamosi showed

From Niger-Delta, Ukpong Hits South Africa With Blazing Century

Scene from Wilfred Ukpong's performance in South Africa.

After returning to his native South-south, Nigeria, two years ago - from Europe - for an art project tagged Blazing Century-1, Wilfred Ukpong has taken the Niger Delta narrative to South Africa. But his new work, in  installation and  performance art, is laced with deconstruction of art from its widely held commercial context.

 Started in Eket, Akwa Ibom State with 50 works produced in four years, Ukpong's extended