Painting is like silent poem, said Simonides, poet from ancient Greece.Paintings are icons, doors to the Platonian world above the heavens. Paintings on my blog are just those icons, which lead a viewer into the magic world of harmony and beauty. Artists who present their achievements on my blog have a very different cultural and national background, they represent variety of artistic traditions and schools
Showing posts with label African contemporary art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label African contemporary art. Show all posts
Bruce Onobrakpeya
Bruce Onobrakpeya was born in Agbarha-Otor in Delta State, son of an Urhobo carver. He was raised as a Christian, but also learned the traditional beliefs. His family moved to Benin City when he was a child. He attended Western boys High School, where he was taught art by Edward Ivehivboje, among other subjects.
He also attended drawing classes at the British Council Art Club in Benin City. He was inspired by the watercolour paintings of Emmanuel Erabor. After leaving High school, he was hired as an art teacher at the Western Boys High School (1953–1956). In 1956 he left for Ondo, where he taught at the Ondo Boys High School for a year.
In October 1957 he was admitted to the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, now the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Funded by a Federal Government Scholarship, Onobrakpeya was trained in the Western tradition of representational art. At the same time, he began to experiment with forms in relation to Nigerian folklore, myths and legends. Much of his work uses stylistic elements and compositions derived from traditional African sculpture and decorative arts.
The Zaria Arts Society, later called the Zaria Rebels, was formed on 9 October 1958 by a group of art students at the college led by Uche Okeke with the aim of “decolonizing” the visual arts as taught by expatriate Europeans. Onobrakpeya has said that the college gave him technical skills but the Zaria Arts Society, a discussion group, shaped his perspectives as a professional artist. The society gave him the confidence to seek a personal expressive idiom. He elongated his figures, ignored perspective and evoked the supernatural through ambiguous decorations.
He later attended a series of printmaking workshops in Ibadan, Oshogbo, Ife and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Maine, USA. His first one-man exhibition was held in 1959 in Ughelli in the Niger Delta. Later he exhibited in the USA, Italy, Zimbabwe, Germany, Britain, Kenya and elsewhere. Onobrakpeya was an important force in the renaissance in contemporary art in Nigeria. For many years he taught at St. Gregory’s College, Lagos.
He created the Bruce Onobrakpeya Foundation, of which he is President, and which organizes the annual Harmattan workshop in his home town of Agbara Otor, Delta State. The foundation is an artist-led Non-Governmental Organization formed in 1999. It aims to encourage the growth of art and culture by giving artists opportunities to gain skills, while increasing public awareness of African art and its benefits to society. The foundation organized the Amos Tutuola Show, Lagos (2000). It has participated in many other shows. ( thepointernewsonline )
He also attended drawing classes at the British Council Art Club in Benin City. He was inspired by the watercolour paintings of Emmanuel Erabor. After leaving High school, he was hired as an art teacher at the Western Boys High School (1953–1956). In 1956 he left for Ondo, where he taught at the Ondo Boys High School for a year.
In October 1957 he was admitted to the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, now the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Funded by a Federal Government Scholarship, Onobrakpeya was trained in the Western tradition of representational art. At the same time, he began to experiment with forms in relation to Nigerian folklore, myths and legends. Much of his work uses stylistic elements and compositions derived from traditional African sculpture and decorative arts.
The Zaria Arts Society, later called the Zaria Rebels, was formed on 9 October 1958 by a group of art students at the college led by Uche Okeke with the aim of “decolonizing” the visual arts as taught by expatriate Europeans. Onobrakpeya has said that the college gave him technical skills but the Zaria Arts Society, a discussion group, shaped his perspectives as a professional artist. The society gave him the confidence to seek a personal expressive idiom. He elongated his figures, ignored perspective and evoked the supernatural through ambiguous decorations.
He later attended a series of printmaking workshops in Ibadan, Oshogbo, Ife and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Maine, USA. His first one-man exhibition was held in 1959 in Ughelli in the Niger Delta. Later he exhibited in the USA, Italy, Zimbabwe, Germany, Britain, Kenya and elsewhere. Onobrakpeya was an important force in the renaissance in contemporary art in Nigeria. For many years he taught at St. Gregory’s College, Lagos.
He created the Bruce Onobrakpeya Foundation, of which he is President, and which organizes the annual Harmattan workshop in his home town of Agbara Otor, Delta State. The foundation is an artist-led Non-Governmental Organization formed in 1999. It aims to encourage the growth of art and culture by giving artists opportunities to gain skills, while increasing public awareness of African art and its benefits to society. The foundation organized the Amos Tutuola Show, Lagos (2000). It has participated in many other shows. ( thepointernewsonline )
Art that inspires you
African Contemporary Art - Twins Seven Seven
Twins Seven Seven 1944 - 2011, in Ogidi, Nigeria, was a Nigerian painter, sculptor and musician.Born in Nigeria in 1944, Prince Twins Seven-Seven ’s career began in the early 1960s. He has since become the most famous representative of the renowned Oshogbo school of painting, which is at the heart of Yoruba civilization. His work reflects the cosmology and mythology of the Yoruba culture.
Though is given name is Taiwo Olaiyi Salau, Twins Seven-Seven has chosen this pseudonym as a reference to his birth: he is the sole survivor of a line of seven sets of twins.
A multidimensional artist, Prince Twins Seven-Seven is also recognized as a singer, musician, actor, writer and poet. His work has been shown in numerous exhibitions throughout the world, notably at France’s National Museum of Modern Art – Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Houston Contemporary Arts Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C. and the National Modern Art Gallery in Lagos.
His encounter with the graphic arts and painting came about in 1964 when he met a group of artists known as the Mbare Mbayo Group. This is where the Oshobgo School had it's origins.Twins Seven-Seven began by drawing on paper. Drawing and engraving have remained a constant and central reference in his work. The originality of his line comes from the fact that it appears to unfold blindly, with no plan, through a progressive invasion of the entire surface. This technique gives his paintings their extraordinary detail.
With the exception of a few paintings which represent "profane" themes, the universe of Twins Seven-Seven is thoroughly rooted in the Yoruba imagery, both religious and folkloric.
Twins Seven-Seven was named UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2005,in the presence of Olusegun Obasanjo, President of Nigeria and Chairman of the African Union. The ceremony took place on Africa Day. This was the “recognition of his contribution to the promotion of dialogue and understanding among peoples, particularly in Africa and the African Diaspora.” ( africancontemporary.com )
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