THE PRESENT STATE OF CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN

ART AND PROPOSALS FOR THE THIRD MILLENIUM

BY

DON AKATAKPO, Ph.DDEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTUREUNIVERSITY OF LAGOS.

A PAPER PRESENTED AT THE NATIONAL SYMPOSIUMAT •ON CONTEHPORARY NIGERIAN ART HELD/AHAMADU

BELLO UNIVERSITY ZARIA.

9'1'11- 11TH NOVEMBER, 1998.

ABSTRACT=1:===::':======='::::=

The paper examines the present state of contemporary

Nigerian art aqa ins t the ba ckqr ound of contributions made

by members of the II Zaria Art Society" - an association of

fine art students of the Nigerian College of Arts, Science

and Technology (NCAST), now Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria -

who abandoned the Western artistic orientation being given

to them for our indigenous art forms whi ch they explored

as vocabulary for expressing themselves. This was forty

years ago (1958). After stating s orre of the conseq re nces

much decision have had on Nigerian art today, the paper

con cLudos Ly out Lin.i nq , Borne prOI?OB a.ls [or the deve Lopmcn t

of art and artists by the third millenium.

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If scientists have endlessly tried without success to

pre di c t when the worl d is like ly to cone to an end, WI.; in

the hwnanities can hardly state what Nigeria's artistic

terrain would be like at the turn of the this century. But

from the present state of our art sc.e ner i.o , certain deduc-

tions could be made based on the study of its evolutionary

processes from traditional to modern tim~s, thus making it

possible for us to predict its future direction to sorre

extent.d i>JiPE~·i

Our in tention in this essay is to dis cuss sorre of

these on - going perceptible changes with a view to making

proposals for the third millenium.

By 1960, two years after the Zaria Ar.t Society was

inaugurated with their creative .i deoLoqLes already trans-

forming the entire outlook of art in Nigeria, Dennis Duerden a

Bri tish Art Histori an was able to abse rve that Nigeri an

art could no Io.nqe r be perceived from only one perspective

but from seve ral ways. But what appeared to be of serious

interest and' concern to him then, was that, our traditional

artistic heritage was already asserting itself and standing

2

out as source of unity in terms of its formal interpreta-

tion and application thereby infusing modern Nigerian art

with their essence 'oe yond what prevai led during the late

1930's when s orre bronze heads were excavated at lle - lfe.

But one interesting question Duerden asked, which he

probably might have found an answer to at this poin t in time

has to do wi th what has happened to Nigerian art since then.

Answer to this ques :ion is clearly revealed in certain

comrrents Uche Okeke made much later ooncerning these artistic

changes being referred to .•..He noted that, "artists having

consolidated their positions on the use of indigenous forms,

went ahead to establish ways by which an identity that is

distinguishably African can be forged for Nigerian art;"

a direction which virtually all members of the Zaria Art

Society were in agreement with. And for four decades (1958 -

98), their efforts led to the founding of art insti tutions

wi th identifiable styles. It must be stated here that time

would not be spent discussing their indi vidual con tributions

to contemporary Nigeri an art since a comprehensive accoun t

can be found in the te xt title d i Zari a Art Socie ty: A New•

Can t:Ici OU!-Ille H U •

Our focus is on the present state of our arts and proposals

for the future.

3

Stylistic studies of Nigerian arts today reveal that

artists are becom~ng more inclined towards the use of forms

adapted from, or borrowed directly from our indigenous

culture than ever be.tore, and eclecticism. 'l'hese are in

additfon to the exploration of indigenous t.henes , Aside

from the Uli group, a lot of Nigerian artists are not even

able to engage in effective emotional dialogue with some

of these borrowed forms which they now make use of to enable

them properly in terprete and proje ct them meaningfully

because of commercialization. Such artists who are mostly

young, vacillate between the worlds of total abstraction,

semi - abs t.r act i on and realism depending on the needs of

art collectors. "The Masters" in whose honour this symposi urn

is being held never worked that way. But then, if we have

to make generalizations, we always have to Leave some allo-,

wance for exceptions. My recent studies show that apart

from these "Masters", (Yusuf Grillo, Bruce Onobrakpeya,

Okechukwu Odita, Uche Okeke, Demas Nwoko, Simon Okeke, Felix

Ekeada, Oseloka Osadebe, Ogbonnaya Nwagbara, William

Olaosebikan and I.M. Omagie/Omigie) "the immediate generation

that came after them who have worked consisten tly and also

evolved new design vocabulary are artists of the early

1970's who incindentally are Zaira trained also. They

4

include, Kolade Oshinowo, David Dale and late Sina Yusuff.

Another artist who a lot of people often lump up with them

is Gani Odutokun who is now late. He graduated in 1976

from this same institution.

Jlowever, the most vibrant and most competitive and

challenging period in our country's visual arts history is

between the late 1970's and early 1980's when artists were

turned out in large numbers from most art institutions.

The period also cre ated opportuni ty for on ly those who were

prepare d to go through the mills of hard work to f lower.

It equally led to the energence of seasoned practi tioners

that I would prefer to classify as the "third" generation,

if we have to start counting from the Zaria Art Society

group. Presently ,some of these third generation artists

work as art teachers, art administrators and. in other priva-

tely owned organisations although some of them have opted

out for full time studio practice. There are others who

have remained full time art practitioners ever sin ce they

left school.

Examples of persons in the first group we have ment.Loned

are; Jerry Buhar i , Jacob Jari, 'l'ony okpe , Ken Okoli, Mathew

Ehizele (all Zaria products), Osa Egonwa, Ben Ekanem,

5

Frank Ugiomoh, Moyo Okedij i, E:fe Ononerre, AdemoLa Williams,·

Kunle Fi lani., 01u Amoda, Mike Omoighe, Oladapo Afolayan and

Don Aka t.akpo , to mention a few of them. Sam Ovraiti, Nsika.k

Essien, .Chris Echeta, Ben Osaghae, Tola Weweand' Biodun

Olaku also had some stint with teaching while, Victor

Ekpuk worked for the Daily Tirres of Nigeria. 'I'he list is

endless.

The se cond group cate rs for artists ,like Idowu Otun

and Kunle Akran who once worked as cultural administrators.

The last set comprise of artists who from the onset prefered

to operate pr i vate studios. In this cadre are Joseph Shyngle,

John 'I'uk ur a , Rashec d Amodu, Bunmi Isab a t.unde , Sequn Adej umo,

Muri Adejimi, Olu Ajayi and Ndidi Dike. There are several

others. In fact, a lot of younger artists are already

taking after them.

However, if this apparen tly new trend is examined side

by side with the present economic downturn affecting every

aspect of our socio - political and economic life of the

nation, certain questions readily corne to mind.

Firstly, how many artists will be able to survive economically,

irrespective of their creative abili ty and high production

capacity backed by skill..under such a climate.

6

Howwill those who have worked extreme ly hard but left

undocumented because they are not positioned in the lime-

light of artistic activities feel?

'I'hc s o Lu t i ons to t.hc se pc r t.i no n t q uc s ti oris sh a l l, form

our conclusion s ince they are matters of future concern.

Therefore what follows are my proposals.

I will start by suggesting that artists should enforce

aspects of the Nigerian copyright law, (part 1, section 2,

sub-section 7.4) which has to do with the'signing of con-

tracts wi th whoever is purchasing their works to enab le

them monitor the move rren t, of such pieces and also collect

percentages aqre ed upon whenever art works change hands

through sales. 'I'h i s would reduce to a large extent the

prevailing si tuation where collectors are stinkingly rich,)

while artists remain impoverished and always, at their mercy.

Nigerian artists should engage in the reproduction of

their works by publishing them as print reproductions in

case of" pain tings .and batik works and mass produce them

when it CQIl'eS to sculpture and ceramics while the original

painting or maquette is retained by the artist. This has a

wuy 01l!llhc.lIlCllllJ the mouet ary V

7

becomes more effecient and disposed towards its responsi-

bilities as an association and is equally prepared to

channe 1 efforts towards the realisa tion o£ such goals.

'l'he society already has the support of the National Gallery

of Art (NGA)who has consistently showed interest and concern

for the welfare of artists, the promotion of art and art

matters in general.

I also expect that by the third milleniurn, a national

compendiurn for artists would have bee n c6mpile d, th us making

it possible to establish contact with one another. Further-

more, the issue of copyright infringement as stated in

Part 1, section 4, sub-section 4.1 of the copyright law,

which most artists usually overlook is expected to have

be corne a matter of se rious concern to them since it is also

an avenue £or realising money.

I propose too that, both Nigerian artists, scholars,

historians and cr i tics should take up the responsibili ty .

of documenting our contemporary arts and also create regular

forum for intect ual dialogue through con ferences, semin ars,

workshops and symposia. Documentation is an issue which

should be taken seriously because it was the up-to-date

records of Zaria Art Society's activi ties kept by Uche Okeke

8

and some others which has made the book ti tled; The Zaria

Art Society: A New Consciousness, the most authoritative

text on the group.

I'u r thcrmo rc , 1 Lore see a si Lua Li on whereby I n dl.qe no us

curators w i L) o nqaqc t.homac Ivca mo ro wi th tho e xpos i ti on

of our arts through exhibitions, while historians will

develop more interest in writing and re-constructing our

art historical past for posterity and also formulate methodo-

logies and paradigms for adjudging contemporary Nigerian

art notwi thstanding the foundations on which they are bui It.

9

1. Abayomi Barber Studio (1998) i Interview, with artists and

one time apprentices, University of Lagos

cumpus, Ak ok a .

2. Aseni , J.O. (1995); Nigerian Copyright Law (with Notes and

Amrnendments). Nigerian Copyright Commission,

Lagos Nigeria.

3. Dale, David (1998) Personal Interview, Artis:t:.s residenceSurulere, Lagos.

4. Duerden, Dennis (1960) "Nigeria's Art" in A special

Independence issue of Nigeria Magazine

(English Version) pp. 24 - 37.

5. Ekpo Eyo &. Frank Willett (1982), Treasures of Ancient Nigeria

Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

6. Okeke, Uche (1979) "History of modern Nigerian Art" in

Nigeria Magazine. nos. 128 - 129, pp. 100 - 118.

7. Other conclusions reached are bas e d on various interviews

with artists and studies of the contemporary

Nigerian art scenario.