A-ARTs: Bolatito Aderemi wins Art X Lagos Prize 2018

Tokini Peterside, admiring winner of Art X Prize 2018, Bolatito Aderemi (middle) flanked by finalists Williams Chechet and Ayo Akinwande with Amaechi Okobi, of Access Bank, during the presentation ...yesterday.

Out of three finalists selected from a pool of entries, Bolatito Aderemi has emerged as winner of the third edition of Art X Lagos Prize after being adjudged by a five-member jury. Master printmaker, Dr Bruce Onobrakpeya, Yinka Shonibare MBE, Wura-Natasha Ogunji, Sokari Douglass Camp and Oliver Enwonwu were members of the jury.

Officially announced yesterday afternoon by judges in Lagos, Art X Prize 2018 carries ₦1million grant for a project to be produced by the Prize winner. The proceed of the prize will be exhibited in a solo presentation at Art X Lagos 2018, holding from November 2-4.

Declaring Aderemi as the winner, Onobrakpeya commended the organisers of Art X for what he described as "a great job". He argued that "without efforts like Art X, the works of artists can't be known".

Explaining the criteria that gave Aderemi the prize, Ogunji listed "aesthetics, strong concepts as well as prospects for interaction with audience". Earlier, Ogunji had disclosed that the panel "have opportunity to interact with the concepts beyond what we see on papers". Williams Chechet and Ayo Akinwande were the two other finalists that competed with Aderemi.

Out of the five member panel, Shonibare and Douglass Camp are the diaspora based, whose contributions, according to Enwonwu, were sourced "via phone calls".

For Aderemi, whose proposal will germinate the prize work in November, the concept, she disclosed, was inspired by her trajectory of love for wax fabrics.

Shortly before the prize was announced, founder of Art X Lagos, Tokini Peterside said the hunt started over two months ago with flood of enteries. Explaining the mission of the Art X Prize, Peterside who also doubles as fair director said it was "based on our mandate to celebrate new generation of Nigerian artists". From what she described as less elaborate awards of the past two editions, the prize, according to her, has been upgraded by Art X Lagos sponsors, Access Bank. The past two editions, Peterside clarified, were for young artists, while the upgraded one, starting from 2018 "is for emerging artists." Who is an emerging artists in the definition of Art X Prize? "Artists with nothing less than five years practice".

The maiden edition of the Prize was won by Patrick Akpojotor while Habeeb Andu emerged winner last year. For his prize, Andu - during Art X 2017 at Civic Centre - presented 'Blacklist (Candle night Series II), a acrylic on canvas painting that depicts Nigeria's recurring power outages.

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For Access Bank, being what Peterside described as primary sponsors of Art X Lagos is a reponsibility the bank owes Nigeria. "As sponsors, we owe it to Nigeria to show the world the richness in Nigerian art", Amaechi Okobi, Group Head, Corporate Communications, Access Bank stated shortly before the prize was announced. "As the judges of the prize are legends, so Access Bank is aspiring to get the next generation of masters to be as great".

Art on chessboard with Tunde Onakoya, Lanre Olagoke