Smart, Omovo Featuring at Nike Gallery’s Exhibition

Yinka Olatunbosun

Another Nike Art Centre’s Spotlight Art and Artists Review weeklong exhibition opens today at the gallery’s premises in Lekki, Lagos. For aficionados and the gallery’s habitués, this will be an opportunity to view the works of two artists: a male artist, Ovie Smart, and a female artist, Ayoola Omovo.

Owie Smart, a national diploma holder in general arts from the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, is a woodcarver and renowned bronze sculptor, whose sculpting skills extend to other mediums like fibreglass. Indeed, two of his works, done in fibreglass, adorn locations in Ikeja GRA and Victoria Island neighbourhoods of Lagos.

Talking about commissions, he was once commissioned by the late Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti for the two wooden masks on the stage of the Afrika Shrine and produced the wooden entrance door for O’odua Gallery on the top floor of Cocoa House in Ibadan, which is known as Nigeria’s first skyscraper. 

Also a skilled draughtsman, the artist’s illustrations are mainly inspired by nature and his environment, which he depicts in different mediums. As for his philosophy, he has his sights set on the preservation of African traditional history and the defence of human rights.

Informally trained in a traditional wood-carving household, he was, by the time he left secondary school, already proficient in the medium. He would, nonetheless, hone his skills under the tutelage of such renowned wood-carvers as Uyi Obaseki, the late Bisi Fakeye, the late Monday Akhidue, and the late Ifionayi. Besides, his joining the Universal Studios of Art in 2004, which is located in the National Theatre premises in Iganmu, Lagos, exposed him to a cross-fertilisation of ideas with prominent artists.

His exposure to the international scene kicked off with his participation in an artist residency programme in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. He would later hold a solo exhibition during the programme. This would be after his participation in several others in Nigeria, such as the Arthouse Contemporary Limited’s Auction’s March edition in 2010, Chief Edokpolor’s Ambassadors Nite’s first and second edition at the National Museum, Lagos in 2012, Lagos; Signature Beyond Art Gallery’s SOGAL Art auction in Lagos and the Jagart Gallery’s prestigious Annual Independence Exhibition at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja. 

The other artist, Ayoola Oluwaseun Omovo, who is a dynamic silhouette painter, teaches part-time at the Lycée Français Louis Pasteur in Victoria Island, Lagos. Her unique approach to painting – using “black and white” ink form – is remarkable for its vibrancy and evokes the early stages of photography. 

A 2006 University of Benin graduate of fine and applied arts with a previous diploma in arts and design, obtained in 2002, from the Institute of Technology in Oregun, Lagos, she is currently the Society of Nigerian Artists (S.N.A.) Lagos Chapter’s vice chairman. Before this position, she was also a former Goge Africa Ambassador and the previous Co-ordinator for the South-west zone of the Female Artists Association of Nigeria (FEAAN), among other leadership positions in reputable art associations.

Her works have so far been featured in several exhibitions such as Making Time for Your Art life at the University of British Columbia, Canada in 2019, Heritage Mirror Exhibition at Carnegie Art Gallery, Newcastle, South Africa in 2018, Be Bold for Change at the Nike Art Gallery, Lagos in 2017, Exploring Nigeria- Korea visual arts exhibition. Abuja in 2017 and UK-based Kambani Art Gallery’s Expression, which was held at the Silverbird Gallery, Lagos in 2006, among several others. 

Omovo, who also moonlights as a motivational speaker at many international schools across Lagos, is also an Arts in Medicine 2020 fellow and belongs to art organisations like Beyond Borders Art Association of Nigeria, Artist Association of Nigeria, Africa Art Association, Art Zero group and Ota Artists Group.