As an artist, I am conscious of the images I project – Obi Nwaegbe

You featured several works at the Plates and Palettes Exhibition recently. What informed the choices of the works you selected for the exhibition? My choice of works for the exhibition was informed by the theme as well as the proposed locations. The convener of the exhibition, Mr Chike (Emembo) has a vision to broaden the […]

You featured several works at the Plates and Palettes Exhibition recently. What informed the choices of the works you selected for the exhibition?

My choice of works for the exhibition was informed by the theme as well as the proposed locations. The convener of the exhibition, Mr Chike (Emembo) has a vision to broaden the market prospects and scope of the art community in Abuja by creating alternative viable spaces for artists to reach their target audiences outside the constraints and limitations of the gallery spaces. This move, according to him, is not intended to deconstruct the strategic importance of gallery marketing but rather to decongest the space and reduce the overbearing influx of artists in the few and insufficient art spaces within the Federal Capital.  The result is that I exhibited paintings that I considered reasonably acceptable to the aesthetic tastes of the elite community in Abuja, which the exhibition is ultimately targeted at. 

In view of this, what kind of exposure where you hoping for when you were invited to join this exhibition?

I have since my relocation to Abuja from Lagos in 2015, featured in about eight exhibitions in the capital city. I saw this invitation from Chike, with whom I had a rather faint acquaintance prior to this outing, as a recognition of my activities in infusing myself into the art community here and making considerable impact in determining its creative and commercial direction. What I intend to get out from this experience (which is not exclusive to this event by the way) is to avail my creative enterprise to the public here as well as open up channels for creative dialogue with the art enthusiasts, aficionados, experts and consumers. It is also another addition to my resume as having participated in the organization of another exhibition. If I wasn’t involved, you would not have had real access to my work and most probably we wouldn’t be having this discussion. Now we are and that is something. 

True. There is a distinct quality to some of your works, an effect that makes your work seem like they’ve been aged, and giving one a sense of nostalgia. What informed the choice of this effect and how did you arrive at it?

I find it rather interesting that this question is coming up again seven years after a Lagos-based journalist asked same when I had my debut in Ikoyi. I am quite curious to engage this issue because there has been such enormous transformation of my art from the years of academic realism through other experiments and to the post-expressionist influences that dominate my palette knife strokes today. This particular inquiry about the ageing technique suggests that there has been a consistency, or better still, a connecting constant that has characterised my art through these transformations in a manner that suggests some modicum of professional integrity [laughs]. But then back to the matter itself; I did not deliberately set out to age my canvases or papers, but it seems there is some instinctive tendency within my creative energies that have a taste for museum quality finishes. I suspect being influenced by the wood finishing’s from the sculptures I encountered in the studios of the Fine & Applied Arts Department at Nsukka while I studied there. On numerous occasions also, I have had to work with earth and wood filings as media accessories to my paintings. Many of my works between 2007 and 2011 were dominated by brown, orange and other earth colours as a result. Today I have a much more colourful palette which is why your allusion to the ageing character is as amusing to me as it is flattering. 

It actually stirs up emotions in me and I suppose it does too to others. Still on your style, when you feature people in your paintings, you have a technique of leaving out their facial details. What is this conveying? 

Well, I actually subscribe to the school of thought that does not insist on the intrinsic details of a subject, and that one can still convey a message effectively by making a nuanced and less lucid presentation. When we engage in verbal communication more often than not, it is the summary of the statement made that registers. We don’t always pick every word that has been communicated and yet we have a good grasp of the message being delivered. It is the same with art making and I for one am someone that communicates in suggestive and figurative language. It is only natural that they reflect in my work.  The earliest group of artists who proffered this school of creative thought were called The Impressionists. 

Your work features a range of subjects, from women to workers and the likes. What influences the choice of subject you chose to portray in your work? 

I paint my everyday encounters and that includes women, workers, hikers, corporate personnel etc. I make motion paintings. This means that I go outdoors and paint my subjects as they go about their activities. It also means that sometimes I have to paint with ‘lightning speed’ and hoping to advance to a certain stage that enables me to complete the work in the absence of my ever vanishing mobile subjects. Sometimes the finishing touches are done in the studio, particularly when I am working with the ever slow drying oil medium.

Do you explore other forms for artistic expression or are you sticking to this style?

I let every day come with its own mavericks and I have a whole lot of interesting things in my head that I intend to convert to my creative realities. In the course of this I will definitely adopt other ideas and merge them into my current artistic character. However the identity of my art is unlikely to be altered in this journey of perennial discoveries. I intend to take this style of art into my planned advents into sculpture, ceramics and other forms of art.

Artists are said to be eccentric and have some peculiar habits when creating a work. Do you have any particular things you do before or while painting?

Yeah! Not too far from the truth. We tend to develop certain habits that help to make a recreational experience out of our practice, sometimes it is in the consumption of wine and other beverages in moderately acceptable quantities. Sometimes it is in smoking.  I have had my fair share of these, especially working in my earlier and formative years but these days I simply work and do not need any added incentives to keep me engaged. I think it has to do with getting more and more professional in my endeavours. So today, I don’t really have any painting idiosyncrasies outside the rigours of the exercise itself. 

While we are speaking of that, which artists have had the greatest influence in the development of your style? 

Amongst the world’s greatests, I like El Anatsui, Ghanaian sculptor and experimentalist and retired Professor. Maybe it is because I am privileged to know him in person as I grew up less than a kilometre from his residence. I am a great fan of Gustav Klimt, Willem De Kooning and Kay Hassan, German and South African expressionist and conceptual artists respectively. Also Georg Baselitz, Appel Karel, both Germans. And then we have Ghanaian Wiz Kudowor and Nigeria’s Ben Enwonwu as well. 

That is quite a comprehensive and an impressive list. Since you have been in the business of making art, what one moment would you say has been the most fulfilling for you?

I would say the first exhibition that set the stage for my establishment as an upcoming and prominent figure in the Nigerian art scene. It was my solo outing which held at the Omenka Gallery, Ben Enwonwu Foundation, Lagos. It received such overwhelming appraisal that gave me so much confidence that I was on the right path. Apart from the impressive media presence and the crowd of enthusiasts that gathered at the opening, there was also a successful commercial return on invested time and resources. I think it was the watershed of my artistic development. I am grateful to all those who participated in making it a success. 

At what point in your life did you decide to become an artist? What happened to guide you in this direction? 

I can’t exactly put a time to the period or the particular event. Let’s just say I was destined to become one and everything else worked out to that purpose. I remember having hinted at that enthusiasm for art as early as when I was six. My dad bought me a small ambulance and a water gun and aside from playing with them as was designed, I proceeded to make drawings and paintings of them. And then there is also the satisfaction of friends and sibling commending me for a good job done. These were little things but they had great impact. Subsequently, I moved to making other objects in sight and engage my imaginations in representing them on my paper and other surfaces. Through my secondary education I did exceptionally well in art class. This was not always the case with the other subjects. I happened to have been in science class but took art as one of the subjects offered and was eventually advised (by the school guidance counsellor) to go for that which I excelled best in and that was how I applied to study art at the university eventually.

The tendency here is that parents want their children to study medicine, law or engineering while growing up. Did you have this kind of challenge or was it easy for your family to accept your career choice?

Not at all! In fact they encouraged me. My parents were quite educated and exposed. My dad studied in different parts of the world and lived in Europe for close to seven years. My mum was born in Kaduna, grew up there and moved to Lagos in her teens. The result is that she is fluent in three Nigerian languages (Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba) in addition to English, and that is up until this day. My dad (of blessed memory) spoke English, Igbo and Yoruba fluently, and that is in addition to Deutsche, French and Spanish. He majored in English and taught it for the rest of his working life. My mum worked in several primary and secondary schools as an English instructor as well. I am not saying that these (or being proficient in numerous languages) automatically cures one of professional biases but I believe that their vast social as well as educational backgrounds enabled them to make informed choices in the encouragement and guidance of their children towards choosing their career paths and deciding their respective fields of endeavours. 

A lot of artists have their muse. What is your muse?

I have always had muses, but today I can hardly point to any particular subject or experience that gets me in a painting mood. It all comes naturally now, that sense of hunger, of responsibility to self and responsibility to the finer side of human social engagement and aesthetic appreciation. I guess that as one matures in practice it becomes a habit to put something down every other day. It’s like satisfying your urge to eat. When I am not making art an emotional void is created and it gets bigger and bigger with each passing day that I only get to reverberate myself when I get back to the studio and engage my canvas. That is my relationship with my work.

Artists have been in the habit of complaining about poor patronage in Nigeria. Do you still think that is the case now?

There is sufficient reason for that complaint. However, we should also be circumspect about how much responsibility we ascribe to others about what happens to our own lives and our visions. I have partaken in sharing these opinions (about Nigerian art patronage) but these days I spend more time trying to discover the reason for this dearth of patronage and how to turn the tide. I think that we as artists should do our best to reflect on the image that we send out to the public about who we are. Nigeria, as most third world countries, have got a large mass of her populace leaving in despair, buckling under the weight of decades of bad governance lacking in motivation and drive. The artist suffers these too, to be fair to him. 

However, we have the responsibility to present a brighter side of life that is yet to be engaged, sensibilities that are yet to be tapped into and defined. It is our call to let out the suppressed energies within the society’s mass of human potentials, to carve out the unseen paths. An artist is primarily driven by his imaginations and this equips him with the capacity to think beyond the constraints of his environment and to create objects of great emotional and aesthetic value. 

We should also look into how we present these valued creations to our target audience to give them reasons to key into our vision, our psyche and to become consumers of the beauty and hope that we sell.