It is indeed heartwarming to know that more hotels in Nigeria are opening up their spaces to help promote Nigerian contemporary art. This is what the management of Four Points by Sheraton hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, made known to the public last week. It was at a time when three Nigerian visual artists were unveiled by the hotel management. The three artists include Dotun Popoola, Segun Philips, and Akeem Adeleke. Their outing is simply entitled Art connect.
The exhibition which opened yesterday at the hotel premises will last till 28th of this month. In his reckoning, the manager of the hotel Jonathan Patterson told the press that the basic idea behind the gesture is to encourage Nigerian art to grow. “It is also to allow enough of our lodgers and visitors to come closer to Nigerian visual art. It is to equally appreciate these works and buy them”. He however noted that Nigerian contemporary art works are among the very best in the world. In other words, the more choice spaces that are given to Nigerian artists here locally by some of the five star hotels, the more exposures they get. it is not just to let the public, especially outsiders, to view these works in their totality, it is also for some of the works to find their ways out of Nigeria.
This will no doubt help to extend the frontiers of artistic glory of a set of people who have come to use visual art to key into the wider world. Patterson, a British citizen is also familiar with some of the artists who he confessed often dazzle him with their techniques, forms and styles. “Therefore, you are welcome to art connect which is an exhibition of synergetic sculptures and paintings from a few Nigeria’s most innovative and artistic talents. This is why we expected the presence of an international and diverse audience of art lovers”.
He went on: “my travels in the past three decades as a general manager in the hospitality world has taken me all over the world. But I am now specially pleased to be here in Nigeria showcasing its very rich and diverse art culture of which I and our owners are great supporters”.
Patterson noted that the exhibition constitutes part of its corporate social responsibility to the Nigerian public. “Yes, this is part of our corporate social responsibility and it is our responsibility too to Lagos community. When we were offered the opportunity to host this exhibition which showcases not only the works of iconic Dotun Popoola, but two other young and brilliant artists: Segun Philips and Akeem Adeleke, we jumped at it. We were indeed inspired by the array of their past and current works. We thoroughly and strongly hope it can help to inspire us all”.
Popoola, an Ife-based artist was a staffer of the National Gallery of Art (NGA) before he ventured full time into private studio practice. A former student of Araism art technique, he is a sculptor, deeply schooled in metal art work. He loves exceptional ornamental metals where he takes time to explore contemporary Nigerian issues. He is tenacious, purposeful and exceptional. He comes to the exhibition with 3 pieces of works with an additional two sculptures that are commissioned. He said: “this is the very moment for us to showcase the diverse beauties of not only our works, but the totality of contemporary works in Nigeria. It is good the Four Points hotel is doing this to encourage us and give us space to showcase our works”.
As for Phillip’s also a former follower of the Araism experiment, he has since gone into a new technique named woodism. Even though he is a painter, he indulges more in the use of sharp woods on canvass. “Araism offered me the opportunity to rummage in colours. Today I still do acrylic colours. I use it mainly for the creation of scenes. In my works I talk about the future a lot. I am almost like a prophet when I experiment on canvass. Indeed, my works are often fantastic. There have been cases I predicted on canvass they came to pass. So, sometimes I am careful not to be too hard so as not to sound like a prophet of doom. I painted why killing humanity in us yet not too long after that, it began in South Africa. See now”, he bemoaned, tinting his face.
Yet, Philips does not really relent. “At times too, I am more positive. I create to solve and resolve problems. In this outing, I have seven works, some of which dwell on how we treat women. It is basically from my own perspective. What is the position of women in Nigeria?”, he asked. “Yes, our women need attention, special attention, I mean”, he proffered, with broad smiles.
Adeleke loves landscapes a lot. As a painter he focuses on how to use this medium to explore the innermost foyers of the society. “I love landscapes, city landscapes”, he enthused. “My greatest love comes at night when I see the beauty of the city landscapes. I like to explore this a great deal. One of my works is therefore entitled life in my city. Where there is no electricity but the moon explores the illumination of nature. The night glows, it flickers in the bright light of the moon. In fact, I paint night scenes to explore some of these metaphors”, he decided.
For Adeleke, “I use my works to preach, to explore and expose some of the characters we have in Nigeria. However, I try to paint them beautifully well in order not to dampen morals and discourage the society. God has blessed Nigeria with a lot of good things and we have to look at those more often than not. One day, I believe our problem will be over. So, it is good to show our positives more than our negatives”, Adeleke said.
One of the works is on horses. He uses the work to depict the strength horses exhibit even when it seems they are tired and worn out. So together all these works made up art connect, a bloom at the Four Points hotel where art is on display at the moment. Art connect is indeed a way to prosper artists in more glorious ways. A way also to invite other corporate bodies to engage in corporate social responsibility.