Nigeria Content Online

Why Art?

I could have been a
lawyer. That is what my parents wanted me to be. It took the
intervention of my brother to let them allow me read Fine and Applied
Arts. I chose to be an artist because I realised that I had the traits
while growing up. I loved drawing, carving, and re-creating my toys as
a child.

In secondary
school, I was attracted to the art studio and spent time there.
Basically, being an artist is a passion. Art is like priesthood. It is
a calling; you just find yourself driven towards it.

Training

I studied Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Benin. I specialised in painting and graduated in 1996.

Medium

I do more of mix
media and oil painting. My mix media are basically fabric collages on
acrylic and paper collages with pastel on oil. I use thick impasto in
my oil works, which incline towards fauvism and cubism.

Influences

My art is
influenced by my wife. I have painted her over a thousand times because
she serves as my model. When you see a painting titled ‘Cynthia’ that
is one of the many paintings influenced by my lovely wife.

I am also
influenced by fauvist and cubist painters like Paul Cezanne, Henri
Matisse, and Pablo Picasso. Things that happen around me also influence
my works. I enjoy painting figures, so the dresses and hairdo of men
and women influence what I do.

Inspirations

There are many
things that inspire an artist; politics, society and happenings on the
international scene are some of them. An artist is a mirror of society.
I can’t leave painting the crazy Lagos traffic to paint quiet streets
with flowers. I can’t paint happy people when people complain about
electricity. What I pour on the canvas are my emotions, unless I am not
being sincere with myself.

Best work so far I don’t have a best work

Art is like a man
in a relationship. You can’t say I love my wife then leave her for
another woman. The creative ability and energy I put into each work
might be different, but I love all my works.

Least satisfying work

Each work has a
soul and a buyer, so I cannot say I have a least satisfying work. When
I paint I have to satisfy myself first, I have to feel alright with the
work. If a painting stays with me a year or two, I normally add
something else to it, though I still have some paintings that I have
kept for at least 10 years and I have not changed anything. They are
like my wives, so I have refused to sell them.

Career high point

First, I have not
arrived. Art is an endless search. I will create it till I die. I want
to take art to a level where every artist in Nigeria can benefit. I
desire for Nigeria to be out there. Though we have been able to create
a book on contemporary African artists and I have curated shows in
Lagos, Accra, and Duala, much still needs to be done.

When there is the
“I” syndrome amongst artists instead of “We”, how I can say I have
reached a high point? We need to help ourselves; we need to export our
talents.

Favourite artist, living or dead

Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Armando Modigliani, Chris Ofili, and Duke Asidere.

Ambitions

Now, I am combining
art with publishing. I hope to expose Nigerian art to the international
market by coming up with more books on contemporary arts and having
exchange programmes. I hope to have a book tour in the United States
with some of the artists that are featured in the book.