The Relevance of Art and Culture, Prospects in Schools and Society

The Relevance of Art and Culture,

Prospects in Schools and Society

By Prof. Bruce Onobrakpeya, MFR

At Lagoon School

Lekki, Lagos.

I have to thank the management, teachers and pupils of Lagoon School, Lekki, for honouring me with an invitation to come and talk to the pupils on the subject of “The Relevance of Art and Culture in schools and society”. In this regard, I will be speaking from the perspective of the visual art, an area I have been practicing in for over six decades.

I’d like to inform you that coming here evokes a nostalgic feeling of my beginning as art teacher, first at Western Boys’ High School, Benin City, after then at Ondo Boys’ High School, Ondo and finally at St. Gregory’s College, Lagos, where I spent 17 years before retiring as a teacher. Beyond my career as a teacher, I still interact with pupils in their scores whenever the annual Harmattan Workshop I organize holds and when schools come with their pupils to visit me at work in my studio. One thing I have come to realize as an art teacher is that every child is born with a talent and has something to express and art is usually the primary medium through which they express it. The beauty of children’s art is that their simplicity, directness and innocence will make even great and experienced masters want to be able to repeat those attributes in their art. This was the case with me particularly in the 60s at St. Gregory’s when I sometimes copied pieces of my students. A specific one I can recall was the drawing of a strange animal which the student called a cow. Over the years I could not reconcile the name to the image until I named the animal Ubido, which is an Urhobo word for one of the animals in their folklore. I know some of you here are naturally talented in art. My advice to you is that some works of art produced by you now should be carefully kept and if you can, glazed. You will be amazed at the beauty and freshness when several years later you bring it out to view.

Art and culture can be described as two sides of a coin. One is incomplete without the other. Art and culture are innate to man. In other words, man did not have to go school to acquire the knowledge of art and culture even though education in those subjects is very important. The earliest men made drawings and images in one form or the other to communicate. We have the cave drawings discovered in caves around the world and some of these drawings scientists tell us are thousands of years old. Over the years, man has developed what he probably acquired by instinct. And this is where education is very important for it is through education that he can scientifically develop what was a natural talent.  The school environment helps the child to recognize particular innate talents and teaches him or her skills to develop them. So what is Art? One dictionary definition of art is “ human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature”. Another definition describes art as “ the conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colours, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium”. In the two definitions, the word Nature, Colours, Forms, Movement and beauty should be borne in mind especially with regard to visual art which is what we are concerned with.

Culture according to my dictionary's definition is “the arts, customs, and habits that characterize a particular society or nation”. It is also defined as the beliefs, values, behavior and material objects that constitute a people’s way of life. From the definitions of Art and Culture, you will notice that they both have been with us right from almost the beginning of age when civilization started. 

In contemporary times, Art and Culture permeate the entire spectrum of society. There is nothing you touch that does not imply the prevailing culture of the place and that object touched has art as an intrinsic part. As students, most of you have for example, a mobile phone. Mobile phone ownership is almost the culture of all modern city dwellers for it is something most people cannot do without.  Art comes into the equation when one considers that the phones which come in various shapes were designed by artists at the stage before they were manufactured Culture learning which truly begins with the mother tongue at home and continued at school becomes easier as we apply the principle of moving from the known to the unknown.  Art and culture education at home and in school is to help us realize who we are as a people thereby helping us fulfill not just cultural expectations but life expectations as well. 

To drive the argument for the relevance of art and culture in the school curriculum further, I’d like to state that visual art forms the basis of any educational discipline as it runs through all the subjects.  Art helps to train the eyes to observe, the hands to mold objects and give illustration to ideas. It helps the mind to imagine and project ideas.  There are inter dependencies and inter relationships among subjects taught in schools and to neglect or eliminate art and culture is to create an imbalance in knowledge that is imparted at schools.

Visual art studies lead to graduate and post graduate degrees in our educational system.  This opens up a vast array of professions from which one can choose a career from either in government or private setups. Two of my colleagues in the now defunct College of Arts and Technology, which later became Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, are examples of people who went into art education and rose to the top.  Professors Adamu Baike and Solomon Wangboje became the Vice Chancellor and Deputy Vice Chancellor respectively, of the University of Benin.

Another college colleague, Demas Nwoko who specialized in Painting while at the college and became one of the very few architects who have created buildings that can truly be termed African.  A great number of trained artists became professionals.  They are self - employed and produced art works in their studios. 

At this point I’d like to talk about the relevance of the visual arts in society.

1.     Art history and civilization

Art is a measure of civilization.  The first thing that puts Nigeria on the map of the world is her art.  The Nok terra cottas, Igbo Ukwu figurines, Benin and Ife bronzes and other antique works produced in the past have classed us as part of world civilization.  The works of our modern pioneer artists like Aina Onabolu, Ben Enwonwu, Felix Idubor, Lamidi Fakeye, Ladi Kwali, and others are iconic and constitute very important legacy.

The post independence period of Nigeria produced a group of artists who were members of the Zaria Society to which I belong.  Their philosophy of synthesis (recourse to the roots and fertilization from abroad) created a revolution which is reputed to have forged a direction for contemporary and modern Nigerian art.  They are Yusuf Grillo, Simon Okeke, Uche Okeke, Demas Nwoko, Emmanuel Odita, Josephine Omigie, Nwagbara and Felix Ekeada.

One must mention that El Anatsui, a younger generation artist who has gained international reputation, although Ghanaian born, but matured in Nigeria.

2.     Art and Environment

Villages, cities and town squares, buildings and parks are beautified with art.  Historical monuments like soldier Idumota (now in Abuja), sculptural portraits of Dr Nnmadi Azikiwe in Onisha, Herbert Macaulay in Yaba and, Obafemi Awolowo in Ikeja, the prancing horses at Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos make visits to these places memorable and interesting. Sculpture gardens both at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and at the Auchi Polytechnic are examples of parks that have been beautified with art.  These and vast indoor decorations of murals, stained glass and mosaic in many of our buildings, including places of worship are proofs of the relevance of visual art in the society.

3.     Art and Diplomacy

Because of the art shows they hold abroad and the good image of the country that the artists’ works project, our artists are regarded as “ambassadors.”  Also, Timothy Fasuyi while holding the post of Nigerian Federal Art Adviser was on the basis of art, at the United Nations Assembly in New York to present our cultural policy.

I have had numerous art exhibitions abroad and my art works have been used to fulfill diplomatic roles by the federal government.  In 1996 my art piece was given as a present by Dr. Walter Ofonagoro, the then minister of information to Saddam Hussein, the then Iraqi president. It earned me a travel grant to visit Iraq and experience their art and culture and only two years ago, my art work “Oracle” was acquired for our President Goodluck Ebelle Jonathan as a present to President Barack Obama of the United States of America.  So many of my friends tell me they see my paintings adorning the walls of Aso Rock when the President is holding the cabinet meeting with his ministers. They see them when watching the television.

4.     Art and Politics

Artists use their works to draw attention to what goes on around them.  An example is a body of work called “Totems of the Delta” which I created to draw attention to the environmental impact of oil exploration and extraction in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

During the Nigerian pre-independence political era, a Nigerian artist, Akinola Lasekan drew powerful cartoons in the pages of the West African Pilot, which became weapons in the political struggle championed by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and others for the emancipation of Nigeria from colonial rule. In the ongoing electoral campaigns, artists use their cartoons in funny ways to disseminate information on the pages of newspapers.

5.     Art and the Nigerian Economy

Art and craft is a renewable source of wealth for any nation.  In our country Nigeria, it employs a great number of people and alleviates poverty.  Traditional crafts men and women and those trained in schools and workshops create items which we use for dressing, furniture and ornaments.  These have huge local and foreign patronage which create immense wealth for the country.

6.     Art and Tourism

Our art and craft attract a large number of people, local and foreign to our markets, boutiques, art galleries and museums, carnivals and traditional festivals. Art supports tourism which is estimated to employ eighty per cent of labour force when we consider services that have to be provided by the hospitality and transport industries.  To reap its maximum benefits as alternative source of income to oil, we need more investments in infrastructure and security for the safety of lives and property.

7.     Secondary Art Market, Art Auctions and Super Prices

Relatively new developments on the Nigerian art scene include the appearance of secondary market in which one can resell art works and the institution of auction houses which sell art to the highest bidders.  Both artists and art collectors have experienced surprises as pieces fetch high or super prices.  Auctions become a gauge for measuring the importance of an artist or an artistic trend.  They help discover new artists particularly the younger ones. Older art works and works of more established artists tend to fetch more money in those markets.

It is important also to mention that collectors would rather buy works from artists who are faithful and enduring in their commitment to the practice of art, and in the process gain reputations which invariably add to the value of their pieces.  In case you have an art work to sell you can consult any of the following auction houses which organize consistently about two times in a year. They are The Art House Contemporary Limited and the Terra Kulture Ltd. Terra Kulture is in partnership with Mydrim Gallery, Nike Gallery and recently, the Signature gallery.

8. Art and Investment

Art works now enjoy investment value in Nigeria.  Like gold, landed property, stocks and shares, one can invest in art and expect good returns.  Also, art works are now being accepted by the banks as collaterals for loans.  This development calls for a new line of study which can be called “art valuation”

9.     Art and Religion

This talk on the relevance of visual art in the society will not be complete if I do not mention the role which art plays in religion in the present Nigerian society.  First, I’d like to say that the use of art for religion is growing.  The murals and sculptures including my works in St. Pauls Catholic Church, Ebute Metta, Lagos, until recently before they were removed from the walls are an eloquent example of the use of art in religion.  Stained glass works by Yusuf Grillo and David Dale are visible in many of our churches in Lagos.  Many of the churches are replete with carvings and paintings which help convey the essence of Christianity.  However there is a kind of negative attitude which is working against the use images in holy places particularly when local figures, motifs and symbols are employed.  The issues become serious as the trend extends to decorations and art works in our city squares and public places.  A beautiful and imposing Ikenga sculpture was pulled down in one of the south eastern states of Nigeria.

Similarly, actions have been taken against sculptural monuments at the Warri round about in Delta state and on the campus of University of Ibadan, Oyo state. 

We know that visual art which is part of culture is not static but dynamic, and accept that no one should impose any idea through art on any community or society.  However, the world is now a global village, and through technological advancements, a lot of people can easily be assimilated into other cultures, thereby losing the sense of who they are.  Artists should be commended for being an important agent in the transfer of our timeless values from one generation to another.

I thank Lagoon School for the honour and privilege to talk about a subject which has given me fulfillment and recognition.  Whether one is in or outside the school, art and culture are very important.  I hope this presentation will always generate healthy discussions in and around the classroom. 

Thank you boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen. 

Bruce Onobrakpeya

The Harmattan Comes to Dakar in 2012

 Dakar Exhibition Poster

 

Bruce Onobrakpeya and the Harmattan Workshop: Artistic Experimentation in the Niger Delta

 

The Harmattan Workshop is an annual event organized by the Bruce Onobrakpeya Foundation (BOF), a non profit, non governmental organization registered in Nigeria. It was established by Prof. Bruce Onobrakpeya, who celebrates his 80^th birthday this year. He is a renowned Nigerian artist of international repute, who has featured at the Venice biennale, and shown in the Master Category in Dakar Biennale 2006.

 

The Harmattan Workshop is a forum where artists can inspire one another, as well as expand their aesthetic sensibilities, techniques and practices. The workshop is widely recognised as “one of the extremely few opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa for artists to come together annually”. It promotes creativity through the sharing of ideas…..a heady mix of experimentation, lectures and presentations. According to Christopher Reardon, a close watcher of global art trends, “During the event… artists hone their skills, learn about development in Contemporary African art and forge ties with peers in Nigeria and abroad”

 

The workshop started in 1998, appropriately in Agbarha-Otor, the village where Onobrakpeya grew up in the Delta of Nigeria, with 18 artists. Since then the annual workshops have recorded over 500 participating artists, and is credited with being one of the longest running non formal Workshops of its kind in Africa

 

The exhibition which takes place at the Kajinol Station in Dakar, Senegal from 10 - 24th May 2012, features some of the best examples of the experimental works resulting from the Harmattan Workshop, undertaken by a constellation of artistic stars. These include Sam Ovraiti, Duke Asidere and a host of other artists. Bruce Onobrakpeya will show an installation titled Jubilee Dance and several experimental works that have been closely associated with Onobrakpeya’s innovative career over 50 years. There will be a total of about 40 works on show in this exhibition.

 

Tribute to Ulli Beier By Segun Sofowote

On Saturday, July 2nd in the Osun State capital of Oshogbo, was held an event to ‘Celebrate Ulli Beier'. The event was attended by notable artists and several well wishers, many of whom had been associated with the Great Ulli Bier, who passed away at the ripe age of 88. Among those present were: art patriarch Segun Olusola; artist Bruce Onobrakpeya; and veteran broadcast person Segun Sofowote who gave a tribute to Ulli Bier. Please find the full text of Segun Sofowote's tribute to Beier.


ULLI BEIER

A TRIBUTE BY SEGUN SOFOWOTE

OSOGBO, JULY 2, 2011

As the host on Artists Showcase, which was regarded as the definitive Art and Culture programme on the Nigerian Television Service (NTS) Lagos in the decade from the mid-nineteen sixties to the mid-nineteen seventies, I once asked Ulli Beier a question which I should not have been obliged to pose.

He had lived and worked in the country for two decades. During that time he had cultivated quite a wide local circle of friends, a circle however that hardly extended beyond the interesting mix of the culture crowd, traditionalists, writers, dramatists, painters, sculptors and other categories of artists, many of them in their youth and fired in their creativity by the new nationalism of the period. So ubiquitous was Ulli Beier within the immediate space of his cultural field that if you were ever involved to any significant degree in some artistic expression, you were virtually inescapably bound to cross paths with him.

This fact underscores one of the essential features of the Ulli Beier agency in unveiling to the outer world in the second half of the 20th century the cultural realism of the land in which he operated. He beheld intently and recorded a lot. He had been hired to come and work in Nigeria’s premier tertiary institution of academic learning – the University College of Ibadan as it then was. But it must have clarified inside Ulli Beier either at the time he took up the appointment or pretty soon after that he was not the usual strictly curriculum- or lecture room-bound, campus-dwelling kind of creature. There was by far more town in him than gown. UNESCO, conceivably, would have been a more logical employer of his genre.

He was a lot more restless and more earthy than was regular in the exalted profession of tutoring young people in the appreciation or criticism of great works and great observations which have been captured in books and learned publications. Rather Ulli Beier was by inclination essentially a practitioner or, at the least a front-row spectator of events and practices as they unfolded in the groves, the shrines, the workshops, the smithies, the looms, the dyeing pits, the marketplace, the streets and the home. For his own personal fulfilment he needed to know names, hands, minds, myths and products that were not essentially used in the university.
That his was not the dabbling interest of a dilettante with touristic exploits or material exploitation on his mind is reflected in his path which led him to his soulful haunts and abodes and the company that he kept at Ibadan, Ilobu, Ede, Osogbo and all other locations in Nigeria and indeed the world, and what he then did with the cultural milieu and artistic setting that he came into.

His relating to what he found was not with a scalpel and forceps and such other clinical tools – if he were ever capable of that kind of relationship at all. Rather he used his cutlery and heartily partook of what was served up in this encounter. Indeed, figuratively speaking, he actually discarded such exotic picking tools and fed himself full with his fingers in the tradition of the culture that inundated his soul. In many aspects, small or big, he depicted the toiler’s status in which he had fixed himself within that culture.

In his total self-recast as a Yoruba person, as a result of which, for example, he was never again to be seen in the usual Western mode of dressing, he did not see himself in the flowing robes of the affluent ones (or pretenders to that status) or in the ceremonial paraphernalia of chiefs and titled personages. Ulli Beier never used any of his titles and never cared to look any grander than his stylised buba or dansiki could make him. And concerning such essential matters as his creative writing, quite objectively I have to say, I once remarked as director in a production of one of the plays which he wrote behind the literary mask of Obotunde Ijimere that he created the drama of an Ijaw myth with an incurable Yoruba mind.

Anyone who is so unfamiliar with the facts as to consider that observation a bit of grandstanding only needs to be factually informed that beyond Woyengi, Ulli Beier is quite consistent with that strain in the whole lot of his works, especially those standing in the names of his alter egos. Such a doubter would also have to be reminded of the way this aspect partly accounts for the compatibility between Ulli Beier and Suzzane Wenger, with whom he had started out on this journey into trans-racial self-discovery and the well-known fact of Adunni Olorisa drinking herself to complete immersion into the Osun deep.

How did the two surmount such mountainous notions as ‘fetish’, ‘primitivism’, ‘mumbo jumbo’ etc to become capable of resonating with the tones, rhythm and values which others from their background usually fail to perceive in technology-deficient cultures? It must have to do with a kind of seeing through the opacity of that background and a personal fascination with the quality of the unmechanised human essence that they encountered. They found traditional arts and crafts talking intelligibly to them.

Further, they recognised creativity in people who had not presumed to attract a lot of attention to themselves. In Suzzane Wenger’s case, it was enough for her that she was welcome and that she could freely unwrap her soul and bare her artistic insight in this environment. On his part, as far as Ulli Beier was concerned, he had found a head-shrinking rationality from which he had to offer the world another hue and taste of culture and creativity.

Having remarkably deepened himself in this culture in the manner, and to the extent to which, very few of the active and enlightened generation of the heirs of the culture themselves ever cared to apply their creative and intellectual faculties to do, Ulli Beier extensively documented, created, motivated, managed, organised, promoted and networked, all to see indigenous expressions of culture and creativity set on a footing that is self-assertive. Today the hub of cultural expression that Osogbo represents in the perception of the world cannot be divorced from the one-time synergy of activism on the part of Ulli Beier, Suzzane Wenger and Georgina Betts, later to become Georgina Beier.

Certainly a lot of reference must be made on this occasion to the historical theatre of Duro Ladipo, the new art of the set of Muraina Oyelami, Jimoh Buraimoh, Twins Seven-Seven, Rufus Ogundele, Nike Okundaye and the others, the peculiar stone accompaniment of Ademola Onibon-Okuta’s music, the widely patronised Ifa consultation and facilitation of Yemi Elebuibon etc, etc. Naturally a lot will be said about how much the emergence of Osogbo as the base of all these owes to the exegetic and analytical pen of Ulli Beier, his ever clicking camera, his cultural zeal, his knack for conceptualisation, his organisational ability and his international connections.

To all this I shall now add one more account which you may not be familiar with. It is about a unique entity, a world first. The inventive conceptualisation involved Segun Olusola and Ulli Beier. It was christened by me as Theatre Express. In concept it was a theatre group entirely made up of three persons. This unique concept was inspired by the chance assemblage at the time of three young theatre men who related, each in his own way, to the Nigerian Television Service (NTS) Lagos where Segun Olusola was the Controller of Programmes.

At the birth of Theatre Express in 1965, Wole Amele after studying drama at the University of Ibadan was in employment as a set designer for television; Wale Ogunyemi had just started work in the same station as a typist fresh from Ibadan and with significant theatre experience on the cusp of Wole Soyinka’s 1960 Masks transforming into Orisun Theatre; I was back in Lagos working by choice as a non-staffer broadcaster on radio and television after my years on the staff of WNBS-WNTV Ibadan and with a theatre experience that included having been a member of the 1960 Masks right from its inception. It is relevant to mention here that Wale Ogunyemi later returned to Ibadan and his place in Theatre Express was taken by Segun Akinbola, another product of the University of Ibadan who came to work in NTS Lagos.

Without any immodesty, Theatre Express is enough subject for a book or books. Similarly Ulli Beier’s support can be more copiously documented than this occasion can accommodate. Still we can voice briefly an appreciation of Ulli Beier for a number of specifics.

Though itinerant, Theatre Express was Lagos-based. That base was sourced by Ulli Beier. It was at Mbari Mbayo House where Mr & Mrs Tayo Aiyegbusi were our kind and accommodating hosts.

In contemporary times you can easily search the internet and come up with a long list of two- or three-character plays. Curiously though, that is not known to have resulted in a proliferation of three-man theatre groups. In its days Theatre Express was considerably challenged in regard to repertoire. Apart from what the likes of W. B. Yeats and Anton Chekov yielded us for adaptation, and Wole Soyinka’s The Trials of Prophet Jeroboam (for which we had to have recourse to a few guest actors), we had to depend on ourselves to come up with our own plays and sketches.

In this regard, the earliest pieces written by me and by Wale Ogunyemi were soon in print, published by Ulli Beier along with two others sourced by himself, one of which was written by him purposely for our repertoire. He called the collection the Theatre Express Sketches.

But his help with our repertoire was by no means limited to all that. As resourceful as ever, he also sourced two- or three-character plays for us from non-English dramatists who were as at that time yet unfamiliar. It was a task that involved him in translating such works from German – and maybe Portuguese too, actually.

Theatre Express was frequently on the road. With Ulli Beier’s unflagging support, Osogbo was the most constant stop in our itinerary. And Ulli it was also who made all the arrangement for the Theatre Express tour of Britain in 1967. Indeed so fond was he of this successful theatre innovation that when the time came for him to go away after more than two decades here, he endowed Theatre Express with his Citroen truck, thus giving my trusty Volkswagen beetle (my dearly loved LG 1630) a much deserved break from so much country road run.

On one of his few visits after he had departed from Nigeria the second time, he heard as Georgina and I were chatting and discovering that we were born around the same time – about the beginning of the Second World War. We then compared our experiences and perceptions of life in our different locations in the world at the time. It was enough to give Ulli one of his well-known brainwaves. “Segun,” he said, “why don’t you and Georgina write down these separate accounts in full! Together,” he added, “they’ll make such an interesting book.” There is no doubt that he would have got such a book into many a world reading list if we had obliged him.

Why do I recall this now? It is to substantiate that Ulli Beier was that kind of a tireless cultural worker, an artistic workaholic who never allowed any creative impulse to go to waste – whether his own or somebody else’s.

Well, yes, there was that question that I posed to him in my television programme, the one that I wish I did not have to ask him. It was about what a very few but quite vocal ones of the new intellectual elite of the period had started saying, to the effect that what the likes of Ulli Beier were doing was meddling in indigenous artistic traditions and that was creating a distortion in the normal development. What would he say to that, I asked him. In doing so I was only engaging in the best media practice of course.

One of the aspects of media practice that I like most is that it is not for the ignorant or the uninformed. In taking on an expert or specialist in any discipline for example, an interviewer would quite rightly declare himself a layman. In the best practice however, he ought to have taken the trouble to educate himself on the subject matter far beyond what a layman commonly knows. That is the only way he can adopt the layman’s position, assume the layman’s posture and employ the layman’s parlance to plumb the depths of his subject thus serving the best interest of both layman and expert. Quite often he plays the devil’s advocate and deliberately rocks the boat to test the stability of the expert’s vessel and/or demonstrate the same to any doubters.

So it was that I suddenly sprang this question on Ulli. I had hoped that it would provide him with one opportunity to enlighten all such cynics. But I had miscalculated! What did Ulli do? He simply waved it off and dismissed any obligation to engage in a response! Well, one is not unfamiliar with the disposition of people who are not inclined to talk about themselves, which would then make it necessary for one professionally to chip in here and there with subtle bits of the much that one knows of them. That skill was needed on that occasion and one had to steer shrewdly away from a dead end… Interestingly however, many of those who posited that way at the time are known to have since turned into avid collectors of the works of those Osogbo artists who had their technical initiation from Georgina Beier and were so actively promoted by Ulli Beier.

And now Ulli has aged and gone, the one who gave that institution in Bayreuth, Germany set up for African creativity the name of Iwalewa Haus, a name that resounds in the tones and ethos of his soul’s favourite place on earth. It cannot be doubted that Obotunde Ijimere, or Tunji Sangodare, or Ulli Beier, father of Tunji Beier would have preferred to live his last years here, for his soul to depart the earth from here and for this land to have his bones. As to why that was not permitted to be, only those who saw to it can answer.

But his extensive and priceless artistic and archival collection of Nigeriana, Africana and Oceania is firmly in our hands. So this is not in the nature of an isipa ode, or in the tradition of burying treasures with their noble collectors. We keep those treasures and send after Ulli Beier our deepest wishes that his ever active spirit will continue to mature towards an eternity of joy, unfettered by any kind of jingoism.

Good bye, Ulli.

Bruce Onobrakpeya on El Anatsui and the Annual Harmattan Workshop Experience

“El Anatsui’s works have not only impacted on several upcoming artists, but his work continues to impact on, even his peers. It is this kind of relevance and creativity that institutionally the Harmattan workshop Series strives to rekindle and replicate in the contemporary art of Africa.”

Prof. Bruce Onobrakpeya in 2009, speaking during the presentation of the Prince Claus Fund Award to the Nigerian/Ghanaian artist El Anatsui at the Dutch Embassy in Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria on the 18th of Dec 2009. The award was accompanied by a modest purse of 25,000 euros. This award is widely considered a befitting tribute to the artist whose work, while in Nigeria in the last 35 years has influenced a lot of younger artists.

Immigraliens:Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture

The Harmattan Workshop Gallery is pleased to invite you as a Guest to an Art Exhibition

Titled: Immigraliens

A Solo Exhibition of Paintings on Canvas and Sculpture

By Godfrey Okorodus
Nigerian artist based in Belguim
and artist of the Harmattan Workshop Experience

opening at 4:00 p.m.
on Saturday 10th October, 2009

@ Harmattan Workshop Gallery, 10 Elsie Femi Pearse Street, Off Kofo Abayomi st, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.

Guest Of Honour: Chris Parkes

Father of the Day: Prof. Bruce Onobrakpeya MFR

Exhibition runs in the Gallery till 19th of October, 2009
9:00 a.m. - 6 p.m. daily
On Sundays 2:00p.m. – 6p.m.
RSVP
Mudiare Onobrakpeya
0705-634-6458

International Art Expo Nigeria 2009

Mudiare Onobrakpeya and Chief Nike Okundaye at Art Expo in Lagos

Art Galleries Association of Nigeria (AGAN) in conjunction with The National Gallery of Art, (NGA) Abuja, will stage from Aug 22-30, 2009 the International Art Expo Nigeria, the second art fair of its kind in Nigeria. This fair will take place at the National Museum Onikan, Lagos.The fair is conceptualized to be an annual event for the Visual Arts sector, and a tool for promoting Nigerian visual art market to the international market.
This year's art fair shall feature different genres of art including installations and photography, and will attract about 35 galleries across Nigeria and have participation from several countries in the West African sub-region including Ghana, Togo and the Republic of Benin. It is also expected that over 100 artists cutting across several generations of artists will feature works of arts through the galleries.
The event will be opened formally at the National Museum Onikan, Lagos, Nigeria, on the 22nd of August, 2009 at 12.00 noon. According to the President of AGAN, Chief Frank Okonta who is also the proprietor of Nkem Gallery, there will be an opportunity for all those who love art to come and see the richness of Nigerian, and indeed West Africa's dynamic and robust visual arts market. The Nigerian Art fair proposes to be one of the most prestigious international contemporary art fair in Africa, and will take place for a second year running in Lagos, Nigeria's visual art capital.
According to the organizers, over 1000 art works including paintings, sculpture, photography, prints and installations, will be on display through the galleries, and much like established Art fairs around the world, for instance the Art Expo New York and ARCO-Madrid, it is hoped that the Nigerian version will ultimately become one of the biggest art shows in Africa. The intention is to create an art marketplace that will offer the general public an opportunity to see great art presented in a professional manner and setting. Whether you're a seasoned collector diversifing your portfolio of visual artworks, interested in adding to the allure of your home's interior design, or simply an art enthusiast interested in viewing the latest trends in the visual arts, This year's art fair in August 2009, will have something for everyone. This year's show is expected to attract about 10,000 guests, about double of 2008.
The art fair is a collaboration of Art Galleries Association of Nigeria (AGAN) and the National Gallery of art. AGAN is a new body that was set set up in 2008 to bring all galleries in the country together under one umbrella. It membership cuts across the country. Conservative estimates of contemporary African art market for the visual arts has been placed at between 25 and 50 million Euros annually internationally, with an estimated market growth rate of about 12 percent annually.