Onabrakpeya: A re-invention of the legend and his creative works

In about 24 hours from now, a living legends of Nigeria’s creative industry, Prof. Bruce Onobrakpeya will be stepping out for the umpteenth time with a solo exhibition of 63 works consisting of  metal foil pieces, prints, serigraphs, plastocasts, sculptures and paintings at Temple Muse, Lagos.At a pre-exhibition meeting with journalists in Lagos, the award-winning artist […]

In about 24 hours from now, a living legends of Nigeria’s creative industry, Prof. Bruce Onobrakpeya will be stepping out for the umpteenth time with a solo exhibition of 63 works consisting of  metal foil pieces, prints, serigraphs, plastocasts, sculptures and paintings at Temple Muse, Lagos.
At a pre-exhibition meeting with journalists in Lagos, the award-winning artist said the planned exhibition, more than anything, is meant to celebrate Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage and to provide the platform for art lovers and fun seekers to explore the many masterpieces in his collections.
“Nigeria is in the throes of change; it requires a type of art, call it modern, that will reflect its on-going effort to achieve meaningful development and cultural identity,” Onobrakpeya said.
He truly has lots to showcase. In a brief tour of some of the art pieces that will be exhibited, journalists were made to appreciate serigraphs from his famous “Sunshine Period” of the 1960s-1970s, and paintings and etchings that feature images from his “Dance to Enchanting Songs” series. There are also small pendants the size of a mobile phone, that reflect images and symbols drawn from his “Esirogbo” and “migratory media” techniques.
Also on the ground were numerous large and medium sized metal foil reliefs and deep etchings and plastocasts which he is famous for, and which draw deeply on the culture and language of Nigeria and his response to years of socio-political change.
Asked what seemed to be his drive in creating and re-creating many celebrated artworks even in his old age, Onobrakpeya likened himself to a scientist who never cease to experiment and mix chemicals to invent. He said his drive lives for as long as he lives.
 “I will say it is about wanting to see the next step. You produce something and you want to find out what else can be done to that particular idea you have in order to improve it. And as a printmaker, you are like a scientist who always experiment and who always mix chemicals together to invent. That of course is the same spirit that pushes my heart. When an idea comes up, you do it, and something else also comes up again and you start working on it and before that one ends, another idea has come up. So it becomes continuous. And so it becomes living, planning and executing.
“Some people do ask me: ‘you have been on this for sometimes now, when are you going to stop working?’ And I ask them back, when does one stop thinking? Because art is expressive, it doesn’t die except when one is six-feet under,” Onobrakpeya said.
The artist’s son, Onobrakpeya Ejiro, who himself is a renowned artist shared his father’s thought on relentless experimentations in the creative world.
“The art world is an interesting world. It is about idea. And an idea is like a vision. An idea can come from anywhere. It is more or less an inspiration. When you have an idea, you are like a pregnant woman and until the artwork is delivered like when a baby is delivered, you are not relieved.  And I think that is what has been driving my father. On a daily basis, he wakes up as early as 4 or 5 am. And you see him bringing out an art work which he has started about 15 years ago to continue working on it. If we ask him, he will say this thing is not ready yet and I still want to work on it. Creative world is a continuous one. But I do pity him because he may have no retirement until he leaves this world,” Ejiro said.
Yet, Ejiro isn’t the one admiring his father’s sagacity. Sandra Mbanefo Obiago is another long time admirer of the art professor and also the curator for the proposed two-week solo exhibition. In her words, Obiago described Onobrakpeya as a living legend whose “exceptional pieces for the exhibition capture over 50 years of his outstanding career.”
“Bruce represents the best of Nigeria. Curating this show has been a true adventure, and every time I go to his studio, I am amazed by increasing numbers of new works which show an artist who is reaching the pinnacle of his career at past 80 years of age!” Obiago said.
Obiago who had also produced the film, Red Hot Nigerian Creativity, which featured Onobrakpeya in his amazing studio, said that beyond the celebration of Nigerian cultural heritage which Onobrakpeya is trying to achieve with the exhibition, the younger generation of Nigerian artists also stand the chance of learning from the master artist. She likened the effort to that of the annual Harmattan Workshop series the octogenarian has devised to train more Nigerian artists.
“Last week, Prof. Bruce gets a Life Time award from Society for Performing Artist of Nigeria (SPAN) got a lifetime award for exceptional and transformational works in the creative industry. I am a member of the jury, nine of us in all, and what we looked out for was an artist whether in music, dance or any other aspect of art who has transformed the lives of others. And Prof. Bruce was actually acknowledged especially for the yearly Harmattan Workshop which he often organized for young graduate artists who are already working or planning to work.
“They do go and converge in Delta State and stay there for about four to six weeks and begin to socialize with other art practitioners and learn. So the harmattan series is a very important aspect of Prof. Bruce’s history.  It is not just about his works, but about the fact that he has succeeded in training generations of artists who have now made their marks in the creative industry. It is a very important part of his story,” Obiago said.
The torrent of accolades for Onobrakpeya and his works didn’t end there. The exhibition sponsors were quite delightful in their remarks.
“We see Prof. Bruce Onobrakpeya’s legacy as a quintessential symbol of Nigeria’s rich heritage and culture,” Ifie M.P. Sekibo, the Managing Director of Heritage Bank, which sponsored the exhibition said. The bank is collaborating with Ruinart, the world’s oldest champagne house, known to support leading global art events like Art Basel Miami and PAD London & Paris, to sponsor the two-week show.
“It is a huge honour for Temple Muse to host Prof. Bruce Onobrakpeya, who is truly a living legend,” said Avinash Wadhwani, Director of Temple Muse which is launching its end of year festive season with his impressive and diverse collection of works. “His art typifies what is truly magnificent and unique about Nigerian modern art.”
Onobrakpeya, has received many local and international awards including receiving an Honorable Mention at the Venice Biennale, and a Living Human Treasure Award in 2006 from UNESCO. He is one of Nigeria’s famous Zaria Rebels, an art movement started by Uche Okeke, Yusuf Grillo, Demas Nwoko and other students at the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria in the 1950’s.
His artworks command huge following in Nigeria and abroad.  In 2007, his work was the highest selling art piece in the Arthouse Contemporary auction, Nigeria’s leading auction house; a metal foil panel by Onobrakpeya sold for N9.2 million (USD 60,000) which was a local record at the time.
Since his student days, Onobrakpeya has rebelled against copying western art forms and has become a master at creating new art techniques which showcase Nigeria’s rich heritage and culture. And as the initiator of the famous summer artists’ retreats, the Harmattan Workshops, which is now in its 15th year, Onobrakpeya said he is more concerned about ensuring that art as a creative industry continue to thrive in Nigeria.
“When artists meet in the Harmattan Workshop, they exchange ideas and skills, and that helps them develop; over the years, we’ve had so many people come from Nigeria and abroad to work on print making, stone carving, textiles, jewellery making, metal sculpture, and mixed media work,” explains the Master Artist, full of enthusiasm. “But above all, we look at an art form that is dying and then we try to resurrect it. Like 2-3 years ago, we resurrected black smithery. We brought an expert from New York who worked with our artisans and artists from Awka (Nigeria’s ancestral center of ancient black smith traditions),” Onobrakpeya said.