A Master, an Octet and Visions of Vibrant Diversity
A group exhibition featuring a coterie of the local art scene’s leading lights alongside the iconic Bruce Onobrakpeya complemented the official opening of a gallery in the upscale Lekki Phase I neighbourhood of Lagos. Okechukwu Uwaezuoke reports
A not-so-freakishly wet, drizzly evening in Lagos’ posh Lekki Phase I neighbourhood could easily have dampened—pun intended—the official inauguration of the Iwalewa Art Gallery on Friday, September 29. However, despite the fact that such weather has a history of ultimately wrecking events in Lagos, a record-breaking turnout of enthusiasts at the event, which centred around a group exhibition titled Beyond the Eye, allayed any lingering concerns of a potential flop.
There was indeed no shortage of surprises at this much-anticipated event, audaciously put together by a curatorial team led by Temitope Oladeji and consisting of co-curators like O. O. Kukoyi, Robinson Oseghale, Juliet Oluchi Ahuekwe, and Maryanne Obiora. To its credit, this curatorial team was able to highlight the vibrant diversity of the local art scene while also relishing the thrill of assembling a “dream team” that included Abdul Jabba, Ato Arinze, Duke Asidere, Don Barber, Edosa Oguigo, Nathalie K. Djakou, Odogwu F. Eze, Olusegun Adejumo, and Sam Ovraiti.
Featured as a guest artist—and not unlikely also as the gallery’s trump card—was the exhibition of the nonagenarian iconic artist Bruce Onobrakpeya, whose lustrous antecedents make him a favourite of the industry’s cognoscenti. His mixed-media sculptural triptych offerings, titled “Emotan,” “Ogiso,” and “Eweka,” which held court amid potted plants along the gallery’s paved entrance way, are eloquent testimonials of his steadfast devotion to upcycling discarded materials. This is besides the obvious visual tribute it pays to the old Benin Empire’s rich historical and cultural heritage.
The towering, larger-than-life-size semi-abstract sculptures of these historical individuals, which amply reward patient viewing, pulled a little portion of the curtain on this ancient empire’s enduring cultural legacies for the uninitiated visitor.
Onobrakpeya, an artist with a long studio history that no serious aficionado would overlook, remains one of the most sought-after figures on the local exhibition circuit. So, despite all odds, his physical presence as guest artist that evening at that event would have upped the ante.
Ditto the presence of the renowned Nigerian dancer Peter Badejo, the retired University of Benin art lecturer and the gallery’s founder’s father Professor Ademola Williams, the Luxury Network’s CEO Samuel Abiola-Jacobs, the art collector Kayode Aderinokun and the respected gallerist Olaseinde Odimayo.
Even a perfunctory glance—amid the hubbub of the chit-chatting guests, who were serenaded by musicians on all three floors of the gallery—at the exhibition’s offerings sufficed to ensnare the viewers into the exhibition’s breath-taking leaps across art mediums. It’s impossible, for instance, to gloss over Don Barber’s three photographs, “Wait for Me”, “Something Fishy” and “Deckland”. Ato Arinze’s fried clay sculptures, “Tolerance & Survival”, “Iroko Tree 2,” and “Tree Form,” are powerful testaments to his mastery and proficiency in ceramic sculpture. The same could also be said about the Cameroonian-born Nathalie Djakou Kassi’s glazed clay works, “Transactions” and “The Farmer”, as well as her bonded stone sculpture, “1000 Questions.”
Still on the 3D offerings, Fidelis Odogwu’s welded metal sculptures, “Masquerade Dance” and “Ballerina,” are works that deserve to be cooed over by his wide-eyed devotees. Similarly, Abdul Jabba’s scrap metal works, “Agboghonma,” “The Spirit of the Bull,” and “Obatala,” are works that can lull the viewer into those teary-eyed moments of awe before the fog of daily living dulls his aesthetic sensibilities.
Moving on to the paintings, few aficionados can resist the colourful effervescence of Duke Asidere’s oil on canvas works, “Strange Sisters” and “Thirty-Four Hours Later.” As for Sam Ovraiti’s oil on canvas offerings “Horse Riders” I and II and “Simple Rest”, the viewer easily senses the liveliness bubbling at the edges of the virtually blurred-out figures.
Olusegun Adejumo’s untitled oil on canvas studies of female figures were apparently included in the exhibition to serve as reminders to the audience that he is a self-assured artist who refuses to compromise his firm dedication to the time-honoured tenets of draughtsmanship.
Meanwhile, Edosa Oguigo’s oil on canvas paintings “Brand Ambassador” and “Edo Queen” are candid, visually appealing social documentary pieces that deserve to be numbered among his best.
As for the exhibition Beyond the Eye, had the host gallery not defied all odds to ensure a successful opening, it could easily have been numbered among the also-rans.
Perhaps one of its unsettling features and downsides was some visitors’ inability to tell it apart from the gallery’s permanent exhibition. Nonetheless, its impressive assemblage of the local contemporary art scene’s leading lights compensates for its oversights and places it as one of the month’s most important art events.
