The Nation Newspaper

Tag: TEMPLE

  • Temple hosts Connecting the Dotson

    To mark its 10th anniversary, Temple Muse on Victoria Island, Lagos, has opened Connecting the dots, a solo exhibition of paintings and sculptures by contemporary artist Olumide Onadipe.

    Curated by SMO Contemporary Art, the exhibition features over 40 of  Olumide’s thought-provoking works. The works reflect amazing artistic dexterity, sensitivity, and breadth in tackling urgent issues of global consumerism against the backdrop of daunting environmental pressures facing many Africans daily.

    Onadipe’s signature sculptures, made from up-cycled and re-purposed plastic shopping bags, water sachets, juice packs, cement bags and newspapers are presented alongside his paintings, which are a continuation of his eclectic palette of rich materiality and textural freedom, showing human forms emerging out of intricate tangles of roots and leaves.

      Connecting the Dots exposes the various layers of Onadipe’s artistic personality in which he grapples with identity and migration vis-à-vis a universal yearning for global citizenship and communication across a world of bold colour. His interpretation of these universal themes are presented through the tying, knotting, folding and melting of vibrant re-purposed materials used to create striking sculptures with life size legs and geometric shaped torsos and heads. They are a powerful counterpoint to the delicate brushstrokes of his paintings depicting human forms yearning towards emotional harmony and environmental balance.

    ”In Connecting the dots we see an artist who boldly questions the status-quo, and whose art has swept him to the very cusp of the rising tide of contemporary art coming out of Nigeria,”.

    “His expression is in-sync with the aspirations of millions of youths trying to seek better livelihoods within a totally overburdened natural and political ecosystem, Sandra Mbanefo Obiago, Artistic Director SMO, said.

    “The materials I explore, polythene bags, newspapers, jute and cement bags, electrical cables, ink, paint, wood, and metal reflect “ordinary” Nigerian life and question our consumerism,” according to Onadipe,  whose work is referenced against Africa’s rich history.

    “A continent that supports the economy of the rest of the world now has need for support and a people of earliest inventors and inventions have become consumers.”

    “For those of us who have followed him for more than a decade, his new works do not present themselves as a surprise or a rupture, but as an evolution and deepening of ideas and formal solutions. He is finding an aesthetic vocabulary and a formal language that allows him work with ideas and meanings in a much more forceful way,” Jess Castellote, a notable art critic, said.

    Onadipe graduated with a Bachelors’ degree in painting from University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 2008 and earned his Masters’ of Fine Art in 2012 from University of Lagos. He has taken part in numerous exhibitions in the United Kingdom, Ghana, and Nigeria and is in important local and international collections.

      Connecting the Dots is supported by VeuveClicquot, and runs through August 30.

     

  • Temple of buyers and sellers

    WHERE justice can be bought and sold cannot be called the temple of justice. It may be more appropriately labelled as the market of justice.  A temple is not a place for buying and selling, except for those who are controlled by market forces.

    The temple concept is at the core of the justice business, which is not to suggest that justice delivery is a business activity. But when the pure idea is corrupted by impurities and justice becomes buyable and sellable, the business side prevails to the detriment of justice.

    This is the picture as lawyers and judges in the country collectively face an ironic public trial on account of the spotlight on the putrefying underbelly of their work.

    It is a sign of the times that some lawyers, provoked by group stigmatisation, have formed a collective of “Concerned Lawyers” to reject the stigma. The lawyers, led by activist lawyer Femi Falana (SAN), on February 18 took their case to the Lagos office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) where they were received by EFCC Chairman Ibrahim Magu.

    Interestingly, Falana said to Magu:  “We also want to urge you to beware not to fall into the fallacy of generalisation. There are bad lawyers and judges, but there are also good ones.” This logic is understandable, but perhaps the greater logic is that justice is too important to be left to the logic of good and bad. In other words, although the categorisation may be considered a fact of life, there should be no place for bad lawyers and judges in the temple of justice.

    Falana continued: “We are embarrassed by a few of our privileged colleagues who bribe judges, talk to them behind doors to pervert justice…We have a duty to this country as ministers in the temple of justice.”

     When a temple is corrupted by unholiness, there are unholy consequences. A portrait of corruption in the temple of justice was painted by no less a person than the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption War, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), in a recent interview.

    Sagay said: “When we talk of the judiciary, we are talking of judges. As far as I am concerned, the judiciary is not the most blameworthy. That is the truth of the matter. The most blameworthy are senior lawyers – a number of senior advocates who have made it a speciality; who have developed particular skills to kill corruption cases so that their clients, after many years of delays and frustrations of prosecution, end up going away with their loot. And such lawyers, of course, share in the proceeds of crime. They get a part of the loot and that is why you see them buying private jets and so on. That amount of money from the proceeds of crime has completely blunted their consciences and they are as active as the accused persons – the looters – in trying to protect the loot because part of the loot now belongs to them by association.”

    Sagay added: “What I am saying, therefore, is that this is where it starts. These are the people who carry huge sums of money behind chambers to judges. They are the ones who corrupt judges. Really, if the struggle is going to be effective, we have to mark down the lawyers who are behind all these, not just judges. In fact, there are some retired judges too that are in the game. They are called consultants and they carry huge sums of money to their juniors they left behind in the judiciary and use their influence to get them to simply abandon justice and do the bidding of corrupt persons. It is a very serious situation. But, as I said, the very first port of call would be the lawyers that are behind it. Right now, they are doing it without control; they are doing it without consequences…”

    Relevant to this background, and perhaps a momentous test case, is the ongoing drama involving Lagos lawyer Ricky Tarfa (SAN) who is accused of willfully obstructing two officers of the EFCC, Moses Awolusi and Sanusi Mohammed, from arresting Gnanhoue Sourou and Nazaire Odeste, Benin Republic nationals suspected to have committed economic and financial crimes.  Also, and perhaps more significantly, Tarfa is alleged to have engaged in improper communication with Justice M. N. Yunusa of the Federal High Court, Lagos, and said to have sent money to him, while the case between the EFCC and two others was pending before the judge.

    Even more damaging is the EFFC’s allegation that Tarfa’s law firm made a habit of asking the Chief Registrar of the Lagos Judicial Division of the Federal High Court to assign his cases to Justice M. N. Yunusa, suggesting an unseemly rapport between him and the particular judge.

    Imagine a defence team made up of 99 lawyers, including 32 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN). This curiously large team of defenders of Tarfa was announced at a Lagos High Court in Igbosere on February 16. Was the intention to intimidate the judge with an army of lawyers, senior and not-so-senior? The trial judge reportedly “bemoaned the number of counsel” in court for the defendant.  She also noted that there was no need for such mega support which she interpreted as harassment and intimidation of the court. The judge’s observation is thought-provoking.

    There is no doubt that lawyers and judges have a defining duty to keep the temple of justice sacred. When the temple’s sacredness is desecrated, it is the beginning of the end not only for the temple but also for the society that depends on the temple for justice.

    There is no room for bad eggs in the temple of justice, and there is no argument for their accommodation. Justice is so socially pivotal that its devaluation is a societal minus; and the temple of justice should be so morally unassailable that only good eggs are allowable.

  • Temple hosts Kainebi, Isichei

    Temple hosts Kainebi, Isichei

    AN art exhibition by Rom Isichei and Kainebi Osahenye, opened penultimate Monday at Temple Muse, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    The exhibition of 35 paintings and mixed media works shows an intense exploration of texture, colour, scale, style, and technique by two internationally recognised experimental artists.

    It is curated by Sandra Mbanefo Obiago and supported by Temple Muse and Ruinart and runs till end of April.

    Isichei’s 15 artworks are mostly figurative in composition, focusing on society’s self-obsession and excess consumerism while searching for ideal beauty. His large works are sometimes heavily textured, sculptural mixed media paintings in which he uses glue, sawdust, acrylic paste, and kitchen towels to build up tactile surfaces. At other times, we see a master painter at work, using intricate lines and strokes which are more classical in nature. His subjects look contemplative, while inhabiting a world of red energy which is expertly juxtaposed by quiet reflective gazes.

    Isichei’s broad stylistic diversity is also seen in four unique archival prints from his deification series in which he presents faces created out of found objects such as corks, wire, plastic plates, clips and even a cleaning mop, over which he paints and drizzles with an intense abandonment. “The deification series are mixed media, enhanced archival prints that reference themes of consumerism, excess, and object transmutation which negotiate between local and global culture,” Isichei explains.

    These works are juxtaposed with Kainebi’s intense exploration of the human conditions through intricately layered, small and large collages of hundreds of eyes, which have been cut out of paper and stuck across canvases p

    Osahenye uses repetition and clustering of eyes to reflect on themes of spirituality, materiality, instability and redemption. Moving away from his usual large scale installations of found objects including water bottles, burnt, crushed and flattened beverage cans, the artist for the first time is showing a series of much smaller works.

    “Our world is suffocated with things. Lagos, the city where I live and work, typifies crowdedness. So, I use an assortment of objects to tackle issues of consumerism, spirituality and the environment,” Osahenye explained.

    Osahenye also presents works from his Isolation series in which he paints human figures curled into themselves suspended and almost floating across planes of colour – a totally different vibe from his pulsating, multi-layered busy, repetitive collages.  Viewers see the outer-layer of isolation in some pieces while, at a closer look, a world of eyes comes into view, reflecting a suffocating, over-populated, soul-searching society looking for redemption.

    Both artists are graduates of the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos and recently completed their Masters in Fine Arts in the United Kingdom.

    Osahenye graduated from Goldsmith’s College while Isichei graduated from the Chelsea College of Art & Design. They have held group and solo exhibitions in Nigeria as well as in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States.

  • Metal feast at Temple Muse

    Metal feast at Temple Muse

    Many artists, like their works, mature with time, especially in terms of craftsmanship and the message. Apart from experimenting with lots of materials while exploring modern trends, such artists tune their minds to creating works on issues that will uplift the spiritual growth of the people. One of such artists is Fidelis Odogwu, a renowned metal sculptor. Among his eight works listed for a forthcoming art exhibition, Metal Fusion, are Positive result, Unbreakable link, The man and the horse, The source and Aro meta. All these sculptures are wake-up calls on political leaders on the need to be tolerant.

    For instance, Positive result shows a symmetrically designed metal piece with bold interlocking curves surrounded by cubic forms that are symbolic of the result of the union. Odogwu will be featuring alongside three others, Billy Omabegho, Alex Nwokolo and a self-taught artist Uche Peters in a group show, Metal Fusion. To him, every relationship should be based on equity, peace and justice, be it business relations or relationship between neighbours in a community. The show opens at the luxury concept shop, Temple Muse, in Victoria Island Lagos, on September 16.

    Metal Fusion is a body of work which celebrates new expressions in Nigerian metal art, from the geometric stainless steel sculptures of master sculptor Billy Omabegho, to the symbolic forms created by carefully twisted and crocheted galvanised steel wires by Uche Peters, to the hammered and welded abstract mild steel forms of Fidelis Odogwu, to the layered metal montages of Alex Nwokolo. The collection is a diversified selection of 18 wall and free standing sculptures that touch on universal themes.

    The collection encompasses an intriguing range of the artists’ skill and expression including the forming, bending, cutting, joining, welding, twisting and layering of different metals such as steel, wire mesh, and metal scraps from beer and soft drink cans fusing into a carefully interwoven visual narrative.

    In fact, the four artists present a rich diversity of artistic experiences ranging from the classically trained Omabegho of the Cornell and New York universities and is known for his monumental modern sculptures, such as the zig zag Zuma sculpture in front of the Nigerian Mission in New York City or the massive sculpture at the Lagos International Trade Fair complex, to Nwokolo and Odogwu, both contemporaries and graduates of the Auchi Polytechnic art tradition, to self-taught financier turned artist, Uche Peters.

    Nwokolo will, among others, present Tree of Life, which shows ‘montage of a lone baobab tree that appears simple, but on closer scrutiny, consists of finely layered pieces of flat painted metal, set against a “ruffled” metallic background, to his multi-layered expansive abstract patch work panels, almost looking like a cityscape viewed from above, made from scrap metals, wire mesh, and even electronic panels.’ Nwoko’s other works are Age of terror, Urban project, and Scavengers.

    Uche Peter’s art works are a contrast to these lots. The young artist creates work by painstakingly twisting and crocheting of thin metal wires as reflected in his installation with fish, Bite what you can chew, and the life size human form entitled Weigh before you act. It consists of a man holding a symbolic magnifying glass and balance. His Rumples shows panel-beaten flexible metal sheet, which is a sarcastic commentary on the state of the nation. In fact, weigh before you act, speaks to all accross board, espcially those in leadershp positions.

    US-based Nigerian sculptor, Omabegho, who recently held a solo exhibition in Lagos, is showing works such as Divergence, which looks like a slim pillar that has an unusual twist made from polished stainless steel. Others are His Homage IV made of aluminum concentric circles connected on each side by a stylised male and female form cut out of brass, represents different levels of knowledge in the universe and how man and woman are connected to each other and the cosmos. The exhibition is being supported by Veuve Clicquot.

    Earlier this year, the Temple Muse expanded its focus to include visual art, with a maiden exhibition presenting the works of Victor Ehikhamenor, a multi-talented Nigerian painter, writer and photographer, which received critical acclaim. Since 2008, Temple Muse has established itself as a leading platform for luxury and design, showcasing the very best of world-renowned products, while nurturing home-grown talent.