Simeon Mpamugoh
Over 20 body of works are on display on a group exhibition by Nigerian contemporary artists who share similar goals. The 14-day exhibition, which kicks off over the weekend, is at the curatorial occurrence of Patty Chidiac, and holds at Alexis Gallery, Akin Olugbade, off Idowu Martins Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The exhibition is showcasing works of artists from different environment outside Lagos art characters to depict their environment art-wise.
One of the artists Olorunfemi Kinrin is coming to the exhibition with a lot of Lokoja artsphere ambience in Kogi State, and wouldn’t mind the vibrant art scope that has been associated with Lagos.
“If we put that into consideration, we would be thinking with the same mindset and consciously or otherwise, the environment affects every artist’s pieces,” he said, adding, “oftentimes I think it is not good for creativity when an artist want to create an art, and he starts thinking about certain factors.
“A times an artist is basically at the mercy of his imagination. Most people who go into the studio and start brushing often times are not people that trained in art school. If you were trained in art school, you want your work to generate debate. And, if you start thinking about colours and themes, you are certainly at a decreasing process and you’ve compromised. The basic objective is to put out your individuality as an artist with hope that what you have done would be accepted with open hands.
“This exhibition is entitled Triad: A travelling painting exhibition. It is about three artists with different studio orientations coming together to show case their current works. It promises to be a refreshing show in the sense that all the three artists are not resident in Lagos. Suraj Adekola works in Ogun State, I and Mosur Awotunde are based in Lokoja, Kogi State. So, we are bringing different perspectives with regards to influences.
“Basically, we are not being influenced by the elements of the environment, culture, lifestyle and issues that epitomized and influenced Lagos art painters. Our influences are different and we are bringing them to bear in the works for exhibition at Alexis Gallery and to be reflected in full measure on the paintings we have on display at Alexis Gallery,” Kinrin added.
The artist, who revealed his apolitical stand and chose not to discuss issues that border on social commentaries or things that are sensitive in this country for personal reasons, ended up reflecting on issue of corruption and how to deal with the scourge in one of his works entitled Human Scull.
“The message in Human Scull is that: most people think corruption is our major problem and a big drawback we have in the country. It is not but being sentimental is our major drawback.
“Everybody in any part of the world has the potential to be corrupt but the difference between Nigeria and other countries is the fact that we tend to make decisions based on sentiments; ethnicity, and other philosophical backgrounds. If we make our decisions based on objective reasoning rather than subjective, we will have qualified people in decision making places of the country,” he said.
Suraj Adekola, on his part, waxed rhetorical and philosophical during the press preview when he posited that Triad had been on incubation for more one and half years reiterating that it was muted by a group of artists coning together to showcase what each artist has been doing in his studio.
“Some of my body of works have the titles As We live, So We’ll be Remembered. It is a theme that represents the relationship between man and his environment. “If you live for good, definitely you’ll be remembered for good. Many people came to this world and left unsung while others came and etched their name in the sands or time such that till tomorrow they are still remembered,” he said.
“One of the works has landscape and rooftop and entitled Victory. It speaks of the need to have a positive mindset in order to attract good things into one’s life. There are different body of works line up and entitled Purity series, some of which would be showcased at the exhibitions stand.”