A-ARTs: For Grillo, generational shift converges 'Lineage of Masters'

By Tajudeen Sowole

'Model Tina' (oil on board Masonite) 29x23 inches, dated 1985) by Edosa Ogiugo.

WHEN artists converge for the 4th anniversary of the demise of one of Nigeria's modernists, Yusuf Grillo, the landscape of the country's history will be etched with generational shift in the mastery of art.

Grillo (1938-2021) entrenched professionalism across the academia and studio spheres, spaning over six decades practice. Apart from being known for his mastery of the blue shades and hues, his work cuts across painting and sculpture. The sculpture aspect of his career was though less celebrated, he made quite some impressive public space art, particularly in the frieze sub-genre. The diversity of his work as well as the impact he emboldened among other artists of younger generation led to the rich selection for his fourth anniversary exhibition.

Celebrating the modernist with anniversary exhibition titled Lineage of Masters, showing from August 23, and ending September 13, 2025, unveils a fresh begining in the history of Nigerian art as the exhibiting artists connect the past with 21st century connoisseurs and followership. Perhaps, in recent times, the Lineage of Masters is such a rare posthumous exhibition for a departed artist where artists of younger generation converge for a Not For Sale (NFS) show. The exhibiting artists, not in a particular order, include Olusegun Adejumo, Kunle Adeyemi, Ato Arinze, Duke Asidere, Adeola Balogun, Samuel Ebohon, Lara Ige-Jacks, Ben Nwosa, Edosa Ogiugo, Lekan Onabanjo, Odun Orimolade, Sam Ovraiti and Kehinde Sanwo.

The unfolding enthusiasm of artists in the 21st century has its source to the generation of the last two to three decades of the immediate past millennium. Among the artists whose career took off in that era of last century are the exhibiting artists of Lineage of Masters. Some of them derived inspirations from the modern masters, and currently, relaying their experience to the new, subsisting generation.

From the celebration of beauty and elegance of women in Adejumo's brushstrokes, native motifs in the printmaking of Adeyemi, minimalist sculptures in fired-clay by Arinze, to the stylised figurative capture in Asidere's painting, metal dexterity busts by Balogun, as well as in the rare drawing by colourist, Ebohon, the gathering for the sake of Grillo asserts the richness of contemporary Nigerian art space. Further escalating the vibrancy of the contemporary Nigerian art are the streetscape capture by Ige-Jacks, deep minimalist abstraction from Nwosa, impressionist textures in figurative captures by Ogiugo, repetitive and multiplication of subjects from Onabanjo, colours of fantasy in paintings by Orimolade, Ovraiti's appropriation of an old masterpiece, and Sanwo's celebration of architecture history on canvas.

Beyond the natural period of practice, the exhibiting artists have the robustness of what it takes to represent the mid-generation of Nigerian art. Sandwiched by the old masters and the emerging young ones, the mid-generation's kind of art, themetically, connects the past with the 21st century artists, continuing the chain of the Lineage of Masters. While each of the exhibiting artists has chosen to be different from any of the Nigerian modernists – not a replicant of the past – some have direct inspiration being the then students. And for those that have no mentorship connection with the old modernists pasts, the inspiration of resilience, for example, from late Grillo has become assets to cherish.

"This landmark exhibition brings together 13 art masters, each of whom have been profoundly influenced by Prof. Yusuf Grillo’s artistic philosophy, and his robust studio art practice," the curator of the exhibition, Sanwo captured the gathering. "While some did passed through his mentorship at Yaba College of Technology, where he nurtured and guided their creative growth, others were mentored from outside the walls of the institutions."

Back to the art history value of the exhibition, some of the works to be on display are rare, enriching the provenance profile of the artists. For examples, 'Model Tina' (oil on Board, dated 1985) by Ogiugo, and 'Black Tutu' by Ovraiti are works that track the artists' trajectories in sharp contrast to their subsisting styles and techniques in painting.

And in the Nigerian art market where the windows of auctions have shrunk in boosting provenances, an uncommon exhibition as Lineage of Masters comes as documentation asset. The exhibition provides windows for new generation of art lovers and artists to learn from the glorious past, creating pedestal to better appreciate the current contemporary

-Tajudeen Sowole is a Lagos-based Art Critic

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