IT was another moment of brainstorming when the stakeholders in the Nigerian visual art community converged last week to appraise the state of visual art in Nigeria under the theme‘Nigerian Art and Artists: The Challenges Ahead” courtesy the African Art Resource Centre(AARC).
Held at Terra Kulture, a cultural outfit situated in the highbrow Victoria Island, Lagos the event was tagged ‘Nigerian Arts Stakeholders Conference’. It was supported by the host art centre, Terra Kulture, the National Gallery of Art(NGA) and the Centre for African Art and Centre(CBAAC). In attendance were art patrons, artists of all shields, art journalists and the general public.
Mr Chuka Nnabuife, an arts journalist with The Guardian who moderated the event from the out set motivated stakeholders in the visual art terrain to explicitly take a crucial look at the challenges and prospects that are facing Nigeria artists and consequently proffer a lasting solution to them.
While speaking on the relationship between artists and art collectors and support for the emerging artists, Mr. Sehinde Odimayo, an arts collector, observed that the gallery owners from time immemorial have strived to maintain a good working relationship between themselves and all categories of artists in the country, having been providing in the first instance the outlets for them to showcase their works. He affirmed that by the use of their exhibition space, the gallery owners consequently showcases the creative mind of the artists. He said“ The patron must ensure that the artists get a consistent remuneration in order for him to sustain himself and his family. They must believe in the artist, challenge him in birthing his potentials and their emphasis must be on the artistic value of his work.”
Also, Mr Mike Omoighe, an art lecturer at the Yaba College of Technology who spoke on creativity in teaching and problems facing art students underpinned lack of good text books as part of the major problems facing teachers and students of Fine Art. According to him, availability of good textbooks on Fine Art in Nigeria will go a long way to enhance teaching as well as learning of the discipline in the nation’s institutions of higher learning.
On creativity in teaching, he noted that for a long time Nigeria’s teaching curriculum has always been fashioned after her colonial masters even when the colonial masters have moved to change certain outdated areas of what they handed down to the country. According to Omoighe, the onus lies on the government of the day to inject more money into the art sector, observing that ‘less than N 1 billion is being allocated to the Culture and Tourism Ministry”.
For Olu Amuda, artists and lecturer at the Yabatech, apart from textbooks, students of visual art can also make do with internet services to enhance their profession. Encouraging change of attitudes in the study of visual art, he said non availability of good books is rarely an excuse to mediocre, since the coming of internet has helped to bridge the gap between the study and teaching of visual art across the globe. Although, Amuda’s position however receiving some kind of disagreement from the floor re-energized the spirit to re-appraise the practice of visual art in the country .
But Bisi Sylvia, an art collector who spoke on argumentatively on Curating artworks expressed her concern about the use of the word curator. She said the word has for long been bastardized in Nigeria. In her view, a Curator is not someone who just decided to showcase the work of an artist because he considers it to be good. He must have been following the works of the artist for about a year or two. According to her, in the United States, a curator must be at least, a Masters Degree holder. He must have solid experience in the academic aspect of arts. In her position, Nigeria has exhibition organizers, and not curators. In the National Gallery of Arts, there should be curators who had been following the works of an artist for over a long time. Anybody can wake up and tag himself as anything but that doesn’t mean that it is a right thing to do. She posited hat when the so-called curator finds himself among his colleagues to discuss, he will know where he belongs. In a different view, Mike Omoighe believes that arts in Nigeria, compared with the Western world, is still maturing, it will take time to develop. What is being done in Nigeria is yet to be well structured like in the Western world.
However, speaking on how Nigerian artists can compete favourably at the global level, Mr Ato Arinze, a ceramist, counselled artists to always take a cue from the classical masters. Learning of their styles, how to manage their studios and most importantly, the artist's attitude to his business. He must not place value on money above his works.
Nelson Azuike, a lawyer and member of National Council of Arts, spoke on the role of the government in the promotion of arts. He stated his belief in the social relevance of arts in Nigeria. He said arts brings about development economically and technologically. To Nelson Azuike, arts is a source of entertainment which can replace sex, which appears to be source of entertainment in Africa. He further advised that arts could be used as a tool by the government to project the nation’s image, solve unemployment problem and used for social mobilisation. Lamenting on copyright laws, he said it needs special review, to take cognisance of urgent realities and the needs of stakeholders. The process of enforcement of copyright laws needs to be simplified, and the punishments need to be commensurate with the crime.
The end of the deliberation saw the moderator, Chuka Nnabuife, applauding the Nigerian artists for their creativity while also challenging them in his words “to seek good knowledge and shake off the dust of complacency.” |
