Gandi Obiefule: Mixing arts with fun

This desire led to the creation of Casalinda Gallery Lounge, an exclusive spot in the Maitama area of Abuja where art marries fun. It is a high brow happening place, where people could unwind, lodge, eat and drink. But what makes it stand out is the huge number of exquisite art works; paintings, sculptures and […]

This desire led to the creation of Casalinda Gallery Lounge, an exclusive spot in the Maitama area of Abuja where art marries fun. It is a high brow happening place, where people could unwind, lodge, eat and drink. But what makes it stand out is the huge number of exquisite art works; paintings, sculptures and reliefs that litter the place.

For the man behind the idea, art has been a passion right from childhood “I’ve always been a lover of arts from childhood. I was trying to be an artist myself as a child. So the interest has always been there, for the love of arts. And then my background as an architectural engineer, the love of beautiful drawings and creating beautiful images, whether by way of arts or building.”

He never quite became the artist but his passion never waned. When he went to the United States, first to study public Administration with Civil Engineering Minor and later Architectural Engineering, his interest peaked. Soon after graduation in the 80s, he ventured into the business of taking African arts to the United States.

“This has been inherited from my father who has always been an innovative business man. I studied early in the United States and right after the university, I formed a company called Afarac (African Arts and accessories) in the mid 80s. I was bringing arts and accessories from Nigeria to the US and I was doing shows and exhibitions in California and New York and other southern parts of the US. That’s where the passion to promote African Arts began.”

His trade in the arts blossomed and he realised there was more talent than has been recognized. He decided to create a platform for these talents to be showcased to the world. He began organizing exhibitions in the United States for Nigerian arts. That, he said, brought him a lot of satisfaction.

“First of all, it’s a passion to me. It’s not a big business yet to take care of somebody of my calibre but what drives me is the passion,” he said.

The passion is evident in his modulated voice and everywhere around him. A bevy of arts works hang on the walls where he hosted Sunday Trust. The seats and tables in the bar are exquisite wood carvings. Among the pieces, Gandi reposes like a content lion after a sumptuous feast.

Been there and back again…

In his three decades of collecting arts, he has been impressed by the increasing appreciation of the arts in the country.

“If you go back twenty, twenty-something years, you won’t see any piece of art on the wall but this day, if you go to the homes of people you see a piece of painting that they actually bought with their own money hanging on the wall,” he said.

Also, the fact that young people are taking time to study the arts has impressed him greatly and he points at the increasing number of graduates of the arts from top universities all over the country and abroad.

Gandi has traversed the country and parts of the world collecting and exhibiting art works. One of the most interesting things he says he has come across is a Nigerian artist who spent three years working on a single piece.

“To come across an artist in Nigeria who has put three year into a piece of work, he‘s a wood carver’ if you put in three year to do a piece of work, you should know the value of that. So I have seen things like that that really marvelled me,” he said.

Because Gandi does not take his collections strictly as business, he doesn’t feel he has been disappointed in all his years in the trade. He said he has sometimes put in a lot of money and has not got his money’s worth from the piece but this has not let him down.

“If I get a good piece of work which I have not got my money’s worth from, well, I keep it. If I can’t sell, I keep it and the longer I keep it, the more I appreciate it,” he said.

But there have been challenges as well.

“There are lots of challenges. People here don’t appreciate arts, they don’t see it as something that someone has put in time to create, some even think they could do it. Whereas we are blessed with lots of talents, Africa itself is a piece of art, natural piece of art from our landscaping to works of our great grand fathers. Just that westerners took it to a different level, [they] put value to it,” he said.

Making arts fun

His passion for the arts led him to develop the idea of Casalinda Gallery Lounge. He wanted to close the gap between the arts and the people. He was driven by the works of young artist who he felt needed exposure.

“I said let me collect these works and find a way to expose them. I thought of doing a gallery but thought that was a cliché, people don’t go to a gallery where you see a few foreigners and that’s it. What other way to do this than to set up a place where they go to eat and drink, where they go to pass the night and bring it to them,” he said.

The venture took off in 2008 and he says it has begun to pick up. Casalinda has organised two exhibitions in its two and half years of existence and Gandi is glad that the exhibitions have showed signs of improvements. The last one held a couple of weeks back had 20 ambassadors in attendance.

“Nigeria is an art country but doesn’t have a culture of arts,” he said and this is the perception he is determined to change.