In an unusual move, Ark Meta Ark and Talkless Talk, two solo exhibitions, are ongoing in a single space.
Leading art-house, Signature Beyond Gallery, is doing an unusual thing: hosting two solo exhibitions in a single space, starting yesterday.
The two shows, which come with a distinct feature within different genres, are by Oladele Ogbeyemi and Bright Ibiok. Ogbeyemi’s exhibition of welded-metal is entitled Ark Meta Art and Ibiok’s paintings themed Talkless Talk. The solo exhibitions opened yesterday at Signature Beyond Gallery, Ikoyi, Lagos, and are ongoing until June 12.
“This should not be mistaken for two-artist exhibition,” curator at Signature, Rahman Akar, began. “It’s two separate exhibitions, each by Ogbeyemi and Ibiok, showing at the same time and in one gallery here at Signature Beyond.”
Akar likened the innovation of showing two exhibitions of different artists in one space to the cinema culture of films of not the same titles showing on as many screens as a cinema can take.
Commenting on the artists, Akar, whose Signature Beyond Gallery has shown more than two generations of Nigerian artists in the past 30 years, explained that the two shows are based on the unique features of the artists. He described Ogbeyemi as an artist whose compassion for other people enriches his art, while Ibiok is one of the most gifted and prolific painters in Nigeria currently.
On Ogbeyemi’s Ark Meta Art’ Akar predicted that the artist’s three works, among many others, will be the centre of attraction during the exhibition. A life-size car turned into an art piece, depictions of dinosaur and crocodile are the three highlights of Ogbeyemi’s Ark Meta Art.
Even among the three sculptures, the car, Akar said, is the only one with no price tag. “The car is going for the highest bidder,” he disclosed.
“The car has been attracting attention wherever the artist went with it, pulling so much crowd,” Akar said of what he described as the artist’s conversion of an automobile into a hybrid art piece. “The attraction is beyond comprehension as the inside of the car is stripped totally except for the gear and the hand-brake.”
Ogbeyemi has worked with three of the top welded-metal artists in Nigeria, including Fidelis Odogwu, Steve Ekpenisi and Dotun Popoola. “We sold some of Ogbeyemi’s works in our past auctions,” the curator and organiser of Sogal Art auction testified to the commercial viability and critical values of the artist’s works.
Sogal is Signature Beyond’s organised yearly art auction.
What’s the need of showing two artists in different exhibitions in one gallery at the same period?
“I don’t see any rule against showing two artists in different exhibitions at the same time,” Akar argued. “The other reason I have him in this show is because he always put other people’s interests before his,” Akar stated, noting that not many artists have such broad mind.
“I have come to understand that everybody is a victim or disposal of waste, and waste is the material that the user feels has no further use,” Ogbeyemi began by way of explanation on his preference.
“Discarded objects have always constituted a nuisance in our environment, which I chose to explore as a medium, recycle them to create my work of art, and reduce waste and environmental pollution.”
The artist in him, he explained, is always attracted to the wastes generated from his environment; hence it’s his reason for being on earth in the first place. “My existence is to explore and create art from waste to harness my experimental appearance as well as contextualising of metal assemblage to create sculptures out of nothing to something which would also serve as documentation and beautification from my aesthetic view.”
An excerpt from his Artist Statement affirms this: “As an artist, I need to use my creative talent to solve the environmental problem in my environment by recycling discarded material into colourful sculptural pieces, educating people, and harnessing the economic potentials of waste.
“I have moved further into research on waste materials and also recycled trash, and dis- carded items in my immediate environment, roadside, mechanic village, and ‘Bolla’ generally know as discarded junk area market, refuse dump, as well as reduce health hazard, clement change, promote healthy atmosphere and a safer environment.”
On Ibiok’s Talkless Talk, Akar disclosed that seven major works would be displayed in the artist’s solo that features 14 watercolour and oil paintings.
“The show is about people talking everything, including whatever anyone considers as nonsense.”
Akar boasted that Ibiok’s works for the Talkless Talk show “are very intriguing.” They include ‘The Jokers’, about the laugh of others and ‘The Philanderers’, a piece about the communion of friends.
Continuing, he added that Ibiok, who studied at Auchi Polytechnic and graduated in flying colours, is “among the top five painters producing today in this country. If you asked me he is number 2 and if you squeezed me again, I would say he is number one on the list of artists producing paintings in Nigeria currently.”
Ibiok, in his Artist Statement, recalled how he “embraced element of abstractions, deceptions, exaggerations and stylisation in all my artistic aspect of life, growing through great narratives and deep thinking.”
He explained his interest in lines: “I am inspired by the use of lines which for every artist is the primary principle for drawing and I am working endlessly to master its full formula.”
He called his style of art Kriloo which means “Creative Lines”. He disclosed that it has always been his dream to explore lines as a pictorial element.
On the Talkless Talk theme of his exhibition, Ibiok gave a poetic response:
“When Will It Be?
Will There Ever Be?
We Want All To Pass…
It Shouldn’t Have Been . . . All We Need Is Wine, Music And Flesh…
Our Creator Says I Made it So . . . Out Of Fire Comes The Finest Gold…
My Reasons For Art … Art Is Life, Life Is Art…Thank God Am An Artist.
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