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Why Art?

Art is me. It’s
like asking, “Why are you who you are?’ From a young age, I knew who I
was. I was not one of those people who had a problem discovering what
they wanted to do. I knew I had to be an artist. It’s like being born a
female and you know you are. It comes naturally to me.

Training

I studied
architecture at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH),
Ogbomoso, Oyo State, which I am grateful for. In secondary school I
took classes in woodwork, technical drawing, and fine art. With some
guidance from the career counselor at school, I eventually dropped fine
art for technical drawing. He felt I already had an innate inclination
for painting and needed minimal studying in that regard. Before getting
into the university, I met a student of the University of Lagos
studying architecture who told me it would be a good course of study
for me. During strikes and breaks in school I was working at the
architecture firm of a family friend until I came across the works of
painter David Dale. I was fascinated and immediately told my father
that I wanted to drop out of school to practice art professionally. My
father put his foot down and insisted that I complete my studies.
Architecture is like a science of art. It teaches a certain kind of
discipline that I am not sure fine art could have done for me. It made
me more grounded. As an artist, it helps me understand materials.
Having applied my knowledge of architecture to art, it is amazing.

Medium

I use anything that I can understand. Anything that speaks to me.

Influences

Almost everything.
My biggest influences are my experiences, and seeing what other artists
are doing because I live in a creative world. And I like to meet people
like myself, so like attracts like. Also going on the internet to see
what’s going on in the art world is essential to me. You cannot live a
fool’s paradise and say because the people here do not understand art
you can sell them mediocrity. It is my ambition to stand in any part of
the world and present my work. Materials influence me as well. I dream
of an image and for me to bring it to reality, I have to find the
material I saw in the dream.

Inspirations

I used to have
dreams about works I would eventually create. Sometimes when I wake up
in the morning, I find solutions. Now, I have learnt to dream when I am
awake. You see a tree branch and it tells you, “You know this and this
is possible.” You dream things and you look for materials that will
represent what you saw.

Best work so far

I am very partial
about ‘Adamu’ downstairs. Also ‘The Tree of Maya’. My interests change
too. There is this work ‘81’ which is a black and white painting of an
81-year-old woman. It is very lifelike and I was impressed that I was
able get her cataracts in black and white.

Least satisfying work

Nobody will ever see it. I’ll pour white paint on it and start over. So that does not exist.

Career highpoint

It is yet to come,
but so far it’s been good. Sometime ago I was working at Obudu Cattle
Ranch and I got a letter from Olusegun Obasanjo. He had seen my work
there and the letter was to thank me for beautifying the country. That
was really cool.

Favourite artist living or dead

From Nigeria, Ndidi
Dike. As a young artist I was first exposed to the works of David Dale
and I thought he was amazing. There is also this Chinese artist I have
been following; his name is Wei Wei. He designed the stadium which was
used for the last Olympics games in Beijing. He is amazing. I also like
Rembrandt even though I am outgrowing him. I copied him for a while as
a young artist.

Ambitions

I am already
achieving it. To keep doing my best. To give the best of me and to grow
to my fullest capability. To also remain relevant to my generation and
environment. That is a must.