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Why Art?

I came into art by
divine arrangement. I didn’t study art. I dreamt about it. I had two
significant dreams about 15 or 16 years ago. In one of the dreams, I
encountered a man using artwork on (his) floor. I mentioned it to my
friend who disagreed and called me a bush man. We pointed this out to
the man, who then said, ‘For the fact that you came here for the first
time and discovered that this is an art piece,’ he picked one and
handed over to me. I woke up and discovered the flair for me to draw.
This was 1993.

Training

I am basically
self-taught. When I was in school I used to draw but it was not
professional. After the initial set of commissioned works, I got close
to big time artists. I would invite them to come and critique my works.
I then build on the criticism.

Medium

I visited one of my
cousins, who was working on the medium called bone collage, using cow
horn. He gave me one of his old machines and I decided to be an artist.
I would go to abattoir, buy cow horns, clean it, segment it, cut it
according to the commissioned work and they buy. That time I was
working on purely bone. (Later), I elevated the bone to a graven art. I
am the only artist that has been able to elevate bone work, which is
craft, to what I call ‘graven art.’ Graven art is a medium (using) bone
and other materials. I incorporate other materials like sand, sawdust,
anything that people throw away, I pick them. I can even call myself a
recycler, I recycle waste. My mediums are bone collage, mixed media and
I have started painting.

Influences

I respect all the
masters of Nigerian art that have been able to elevate art to this
level, where other people come to benefit from.

Inspiration

Most of it comes in
dreams; some come when I’m talking with people. Inspiration comes
sometimes from what is going on in the country: some of my works
criticise government. What I see is what I put down in the visual form.

Best work so far

I don’t think I’ve
been able to come up with any. My best is yet to come. Maybe ‘The
Blood.’ Each time I do the work, people will come and as soon as I
explain (the work) they will buy. I have stopped doing versions of the
painting and I have only one now which I have refused to sell.

Least satisfying work

Do I know? It is
the people that will say that, not me. I keep improving every day. I
used to do only Christian-based works, but I discovered along the line
that I can’t limit myself, I have to be free; but there are some works
that I cannot do.

Career high point

I’ve been an artist
for close to 20 years now. The first newspaper that carried me, do you
know that I did not sleep throughout the whole night, because I was
surprised that, so, I can appear in the paper! I was also scared and
happy to be interviewed on live television by the late Fred Archibong.

Favourite artist living or dead

I give respect to
all the masters: Bruce Onobrakpeya, Yusuf Grillo and the contemporary
ones. They are the ones that have been able to path a good way for
people like us to follow.

Ambitions

I am trying to do a
solo show. There are a lot of modalities and input that I have not been
able to get a particular date and venue. As a family man, I mix art
with other things, but all (are) art related. What I’m looking at is to
have a solid group of artists that have been able to take the work of
art from a certain point to a higher point.