Jimoh Buraimoh is in many ways like the Biblical prophet who is without honour in his land. In Nigeria, his homeland, very little is known about Buraimoh and his achievements. But in the US, he has successfully etched his name in gold in the city of Atlanta, US.
Though a successful hotelier in Osogbo, Osun State, Buraimoh made his marks as an artist. He has also made his marks as a member of the Osun Festival Committee.
In the US, he was honoured with a honorary title for his contributions to the development of the city of Atlanta.
He also received an Award of Excellence from the Atlanta Urban Design Commission as the Best Mosaic Mural of the Year.
Interestingly, the success which Buraimoh enjoys today came from doing something seemingly impossible when he introduced bead painting in 1965.
At the time, the feat was a revolution of sort in Africa because the only thing they were conversant with was oil painting. He made fortune from his paintings. The fortune he made from his unique painting before veering into the hospitality business.
While it is true that it is his unique style of painting that brought him international recognition and fame, it was his entrance into the hotel business in the early 80s that earned him the little fame he enjoys at home.
And since then, he worked hard to remain in business despite the very unfriendly business climate. Almost three decades after, his hotel, Heritage Hotel, in Osogbo is waxing stronger, leaving its contemporaries in its trail, while pointing to the ruins of many others in the capital city.
Asked what his staying power is, Buraimoh smiled, then slowly shot back: “I work hard to maintain a standard. I also make sure that we are not left behind. So we moved with the trend, making sure that we are ahead of our competitors.”
Aside his hotel business, the life of the first African bead painter revolves around culture. And his early hours are still dedicated to painting, a routine he has faithfully kept for ages.
“My hotel started about 29 years ago. The reason for its establishment being that when Duro Ladipo died, we were not able to use the place we were using for arts because that was where he was buried. So, we could no longer have exhibitions where we used to have them. This situation made me to think of creating a studio for myself at home. I later created a place where other people could do their exhibitions like what we used to do there at the hotel.
“Primarily, it wasn’t a big hotel, but a nite club. The club was for people around here to bring life into them. But back then, there wasn’t any life at all. That was how I started my own hotel. But after some time, there were a lot of demands. So, I started by including five rooms. Later, I increased it to 10 rooms. Now, we have about 49 rooms in the hotel. Mine was not intentional, but to create an awareness and to create life in Osogbo.
“However, getting the land to build the hotel was not a tea-party business, as he had to face many battles and protests from neighbours. But he refused to give up, scaling all the hurdles that came his way.
“In order to stop me from continuing with the hotel plan, one of my neighbours’ decided to start a farm to raise pigs beside the hotel. The idea then was to discourage me from embarking on the project. You know anywhere they do piggery, the place is bound to have offensive odour, emanating from the faeces of the pigs. But I remained undaunted.
“The battle was much then. And when Sunny Ade saw that I could expand the hotel, I approached the owner of a property beside me to sell the property to me. Initially, he refused, but finally gave me conditions.
First, he said I should get another property for him and pay him certain amount of money. I got the property for him in town which was to cost about N1 million. But because I could not raise the money, the property was sold.”
Rather than give up, Buraimoh kept faith with his dream, and finally got another property for his man at a place very close to the hotel. “He agreed to take over the property. That was how I was able to acquire the property where the hotel is standing today”,Buraimoh said.
Though a highly successful businessman, Buraimoh’s early childhood was rough. Born to poor parents, young Buraimoh seemed condemned to a life of poverty. But his resolve to extricate himself from the firm grip of poverty which had dealt severely with his parents later paid off when he fell in love with arts.
“I was born in Osogbo on April 3, 1943 to Mr. Oladapo Buraimoh of Alagba’s Compound, Osogbo and Simbiatu Abeke from Igbesa in Ogun State. I was not the first child of my parents. The first child died very early, perhaps a few months after I was born. This event thus made me, at least in a functional sense, the first-born. My mother had a total of eight children, including two sets of twins. Only Lasisi, the last born and one of the last set of twins survived Thus, for very many years, I was the only child,” he said.
His first contact with the arts came from his mother who was a mat weaver. Watching his mother weave, young Buraimoh gradually fell in love with the arts that would later in life earn him fame and wealth. But he almost ended up not going to school.
“I really worked hard. I had so many sleepless nights. When I started my art, I never knew where I was going. I tried my hands on so many things that I hardly slept. My parents had little or no money; they were both poor. Even when I wanted to go to a technical college in Abeokuta and Ijebu-Ode, they couldn’t afford it,” he said.
Though he failed to attain his dream of a university education, Buraimoh is happy to have found love and happiness in the arts.
“My aim was to go to the university or any higher institution and end up as a white collar job-man. Though I was pained that I didn’t go to the university, but I later realized that it wouldn’t have helped me or my inner talents. Perhaps, I would have wasted away with many ideas. But entering into arts has allowed me to express myself freely, promote the African culture the way it should be done.
“I have no regrets as I have duly realised that arts is my life. It is the blood that flows in my veins. It is the water that I drink every day. I am happy that someone was able to discover me very early in life, and this is the reason I also have done many trainings for the young ones that are arts inclined,” he said.
Inasmuch as he would have proceeded to secondary school after his primary education, but the fact that his father could not afford to send him to there made him opt for modern school.
Buraimoh further said:”I did not even bother to seek admission into such schools. Rather, I focused on the modern school because the required fees were considerably lower than those for the secondary schools. Soon after I completed my primary education in 1959, I sought and gained admissions into two modern schools in Ilaro. One was the I.D. C. Modern School.”
But his parents’ inability to pay his school fees somehow altered his destiny. He later became an apprentice to an electronics repairer before fate took him to the late Duro Ladipo with whom he grew and rose to become the Manager of the Duro Ladipo Theatre Group. But he left the group to concentrate on bead painting in 1965.
He said:”I keep a good record of my paintings, since I don’t have to sell all I produce to live well. When you talk to any artist, you will find that artists produce works that they will prefer to keep. Regrettably, many artists are
painfully compelled to sell these special works, sometimes at ridiculous prices to meet their obligations. In my case, I don’t have to. If I fall in love with any piece I produce, I keep it until such a time I can afford to part with it. And you can be sure I won’t sell such pieces at prices less than I think they are worth.
“I’ve got some followers both in Nigeria and abroad. I have trained some people and others that I have influenced. Among them is David Dale, while others that are not known are using beads. It costs more to produce bead painting than oil.”
Though he struggled to have the little education he has, his children are enjoying the best of education in Europe and the United States. His passion has brought him honours and laurels. He was the first Nigerian to be awarded a membership in the Contemporary World Association of Mosaic Artists (Associazione Internazionale Mosaicisti Contemporanei), an organization based in Ravena, Italy. In 1996, he was also the recipient of a lifetime Achievement Award from the Center for African American Art and Culture, California; and in 1997, his work, mosaic mural, The Elders, commissioned by the City of Atlanta, Georgia, United States and installed in the City Howell Park received an Award of Excellence from the Atlanta Urban Design Commission as the Best Mosaic Mural of the year. He was one of the judges in the art competition organized by Access Bank for youngsters.
