The Nation Newspaper

Tag: canvas

  • Children’s voices on rule of law on canvas

    Children’s voices on rule of law on canvas

    Last Saturday, 30 students drawn from 26 schools in Lagos State demonstrated their creative talent in a live painting competition, Vision of the child, at the Freedom Park, Lagos. The students who were provided with brushes, paints and easels illustrated their literary presentation of this year’s theme; Rule of law and the law of impunity. Earlier, the children wrote poem and a short story on the same theme.

    The Vision of the child competition is sponsored by Diamond Bank and Lagos State government sponsored the youths’ segment of the Lagos Black Heritage Festival. It is a component of the yearly festival that focuses on the individual vision and artistic inclinations of children in Lagos State.

    The paintings will be assessed by a panel of judges, composed of the former Ondo State Tourism and Culture Commissioner and a renowned painter Chief Tola Wewe, Chief (Mrs) Nike Okundaye, Mr. Segun Almaroof, Mr. Folu Agoi, and Ms. Biodun Odunukan.

    The LBHF 2014 events will hold from April 14 through 21 at the Freedom Park (Old Colonial Prison), I Hospital Road, off Broad Street, Lagos.

    According to Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism and Inter-governmental Relations, Mr. Oladisun Holloway this year’s festival will take a break from its current series-The Black in the Mediterranean Blue to- focus on music. He observed that much is happening in the musical field and that there is a domination of Eura-merican pop forms, which near completely stifles the exploration of indigenous musical resources both in direct performance for audiences, and in their application to other disciplines-most notably in theatre and cinema/video.

    “Traditional drama was founded on what was generally dubbed folk opera, a form that is largely dying out. Additionally therefore, in an attempt to resuscitate this unique performance genre, so highly developed in other societies- see for instance, the heights to which it has been taken in countries like China-the festival yields Front Stage this year to Music, its fortunes under technological enhancements and the proliferation of foreign music. Music, we know, plays a dominant role in social life,” he added.

    Holloway disclosed that the festival will serve as platform to pay tribute also to pioneers- such as the late Steve Rhodes-whose struggling orchestra and choral ensemble won laurels in famous international competitions such as the Welsh Eisteddfod. He noted that it will provide a homecoming platform for contemporary composers whose works have been enjoyed for decades by foreign audiences but remain totally unknown in their own homeland.

    The festival, he said, plans to open the eyes of aspiring musicians to the vastly unexplored possibilities of the musical forms right in their own backyards, as an option to the largely imitative trend currently pursued by a new generation of musicians. Innovative African music, we propose, should not end with Afro-beat.

    Also, the festival is expected to feature drama, expositions, water regatta, street carnival, film and do your own thing- to showcase surprise talents and unpredictable presentations.

    The water regatta constantly outdoes its previous outing, festooning the lagoon in a blaze of pennants and choreographed motions, while the street carnival continues to complement its Calabar sister Carnival, which rounds up each year, even as the Lagos version ushers in the next every Easter Monday.

    There will be the Night of the poets celebrates the lyric voices of the living, then further down to the next generation which is represented in the Children’s Carnival.

  • History on Kelani’s canvas

    History on Kelani’s canvas

    Over the past five years, Kelani Abass’ artistic journey has led to his third solo exhibition which held at Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) in Lagos titled: Asiko: Evoking personal narratives and collective history.

    According to the artist, the event was a narrative of his family against the history of his community. The body works are about three historical materials and media; the inter-mingling of photography, painting and printing.

    “I started as a printer with my father then I went to study painting in Yaba College of Technology.Now that technology has taken over the world, I added photography. History will always come to play while reflecting in what you do,” he said.

    The exhibition is in three series namely, the ‘Family portrait series’ with a performotive installation of typewriter where he brought his mother into the space protraying the pain and joy she felt when she met his father and what they achieved together. Another work shows the letter press machines his family bought for the family business back then.

    ‘I use the element to represent my family because my father has always been known to be a printer. So, I am trying to immortalise it; to bring it back to life on my canvas,’ he added.

    The second is the Calendar series, which is about a particular calendar that was printed back then. According to him, people bring their photographs and it is super imposed against the background for the people to share the following year.

    The third is Family album series, which shows the trajectory of time,space and technology. ‘Back then,only professionals could take photographs with analog camera but now,even a child can take a picture with phones’, he recalled.

    Kelani noted that the exhibition has been successful compared to previous ones due to extensive research. He said the aim of the exhibition is to educate people about the family and also, to know more about arts.

    Curator, CCA, Bisi Silva said that over the last 150 years or more, the histories of both photography and painting are over inter-twined in the sense that painters say that photographers are not artists because photography comes from a scientific background and the photographers themselves have been fighting for their right to be considered as an art form.

    ‘Throughout the history of the 20th century, photographers were saying that taking photographs goes beyond just pointing and shooting but Kelani Abass captures the essence of painting as something that is more fictional. When you paint,it is what you are visualising that is being represented; It is what is infront of the artist that people are taking at the end of the process,” she said.

    Silva said to some certain extent,one is dealing with reality on one hand which is the photographs and painting which is the figment of the artist’s imagination.

    Kelani was born in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. He studied Fine Art at the Yaba College of Technology ,Lagos. The exhibition kicked off on October 25 and would end on December 21.

     

  • Trapping national dilemma on canvas

    Trapping national dilemma on canvas

    It was an exhibition loaded with messages on development in the polity. Last Sunday, an artist, Duke Asidere, flaunted his thickly layered paintings to awaken Nigerians to the unwholesome trends in the country’s socio-political life. It was his 10th solo art exhibition, tagged Encased . It held at the Alexis Galleries (The Homestores), on Akin Olugbade Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    Among the paintings on display were the Black series, the lesson in painting series as well as those that depict issues of emotion. Others were Face booking, Women, Bad government, Mumu banking, and Orelope Street. Apart from presenting many paintings that dwell on the theme of the exhibition, Asidere did not fail to thrill viewers to his stylized figures, near linear arrangement of forms, and balance of colours and content.

    But in handling his message using stylised forms and figures, the artist encases most of the critical elements within the paintings, thus allowing the viewers to interrogate what is contained in the underbelly of the paintings. The Black series for instance, is a quick reminder of the frequent power outage in the country despite government’s huge funds allocated for the power sector reforms.

    Other works on display dwell on the social vices such as violence and kidnapping that have become norms in today’s Nigeria. Beyond the Nigeria experience, the artist’s works are search light on the global insecurity spanning the Arab spring, to insurgencies in Middle East and other nations in the West where protest against injustice is the order of the day. He described some of the paintings on these issues as protest ‘paintings’ which have few spots of bright colours symbolising hope.

    For Asidere, painting is a spiritual energy which is determined by inner push. Little wonder most of his paintings are reflective of this burning energy in him. According to him, every work of art contains lots of things as the journey of a painting does not stop at the finished stage.

    The collections in Encased are loaded with lots of elements. “It is all about the pain of poor leadership, black out, how the state has conceded its power to militants and Boko Haram, and how Nigeria has become where its worst are being celebrated. How did we get here,” he said.

    Asidere is one of the most vociferous practising artists of his generation who has participated in numerous exhibitions and workshops since graduating with a first class from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1988. He got his MFA in painting in 1990 from the same university and has taught in Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State.

    Encased will run till May 18 at the Alexis Galleries.

  • Adverse use of social media on canvas

    As an artist, Gbenga Orimoloye believes the face holds many secrets. To drive home his view, he will be showcasing the use of facial expression as a means of communication during his art exhibition, Oju. It will hold at the Terra Kulture, Lagos, from May 4 to 9.

    According to him, facial expression is still the most dependable and more accurate to relate to because it is natural. He said: “The more you look at a person’s face, the more you begin to realise that what you see is not actually that person, but a transit point. This is that which helps you to register, in one moment out of eternity, whether by means of a smile, frown or whatever, an understanding of who and what lies beneath.

    “Being a figurative artist, I see a face as a landscape, especially when emotions can be attached. In a sense, valleys, mountains, rivers and indeed other geographical and physical features, each allegorical with its own respective set of differing opportunities, can all be present in a face.

    The Yaba College of Technology trained artist is also inspired by the socio-cultural developments within the context of today’s generation. He said Oju will feature new works that portrays the effects of social media on the young generations. “Today, our generation has become increasingly dependent on our smart phones and other handheld devices, making us rely less on ‘real-life’ face-to-face contact and interaction. I also use the social media in the likes of facebook, twitter and e-mail to communicate to my friends. An old friend of mine for example, got my contact on facebook by just searching my name. Social media also let me communicate my works to the world,” he said.

     

    His last exhibition was a solo. Ona, held last year. His works usually portray the unique features of women and the lavish use of the color blue. According to him, “They are the attraction, and they are unique and adorable. One of my favorite color is blue, and blue portrays the drawing well.”