THE return of George Ighodalo to the art circuit in a recent solo show at the Didi Museum, Victoria Island, Lagos, offered a summary of his few years’ break. Perhaps, this may have suggested the theme, Pungent Punctuations.
A mixed media artist, who deploys various techniques in metal foil to achieve variety of relief surfaces, Ighodalo’s latest show was like an outburst of bottled expression, which suddenly escaped.
Some of the works included Face of A Drummer, Friends and Admirers, Dancers, Slumbers and Intimate Whispers.
In his artist statement, the core of Pungent Punctuations could be better understood as the artist’s early journey into art. He stated: “I couldn’t help but remember the journey of one of my callings as an artist from childhood; from age three, my late mum told me drawing was intuitive for me, on paper, the walls, giving them as gifts to friends, selling them, doing portrait commissions while in high school to buy materials and stuff. Art has not been a study in school for me; it’s been one of several gifts from above.
Before gaining admission to train as a fine artist at Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, he was already in love with works of masters such as Yusuf Grillo, Dele Jegede, David Dale and Kolade Oshinowo. And the passion as well as ambition to reach his peak, he added, continued while in the college.
“Right from Yabatech, while on my way to rounding up my HND programme, fate built collectors for me from many diplomatic communities and shows abroad, after which I evolved in my art. One of such shows abroad was the cotemporary Nigerian art at the world intellectual property organisation, Geneva, in September 1995,” he says.
As he explains, then, his work were of “experimental high relief painting, and one of them titled The Mirage was placed on page 54 of the brochure, alongside works of works of Bruce Onobrakpeya, El Anatsui, Ben Enwonwu, Jerry Buhari, Olu Ajayi, as well as two of my lecturers from Yabatech.”
Art historian, Prof Ola Oloidi, he said wrote a piece on the exhibition, describing the gathering as having strong energy in stylistic and conceptual analysis.
Ighodalo quoted part of Oloidi’s observation: “Each artist whose work is in this exhibition is a master in his or her own right. These artists, like many other African artists have professionalised in different areas of the world. Therefore, the artists in this exhibition are not begging for any professional clearance, for he is already cleared by a determined effort of his own professional competence. But like his counterpart in other civilised nations, he craves for a maximum degree of internationalisation. He wishes for his or her work to be recognised as modern contemporary and in no way traditional.”
Based on his diverse background as an artist, Ighodalo disclosed that he cannot but implore more than one expression. “There are artistic pangs and sensibilities in my creative tensions that call to me seeking articulate expression through diverse means, these varied media, acting as receptacles for my forays, visually speaking.
“The body of works showcased my past oeuvre and the transformation into my present creations: a new merging of several techniques from my explorations and creative forays, my pastiche, blended into limn.
“An interplay of meanings, motions and evolution of my art: of line, form, color, media variety, breaking the molds of the norm, stepping out of the box and playing with the symbolic, metaphoric and ambiguous, between the value of the technique, (be it rich transparency, impasto mass or mixed media), and the content/context and relevancy.
“Some of the works contained agitations of my mind concerning man’s actions in Nigeria and the world as I portray them on these various platforms form the salient issues in the socio politics, affecting lifestyles, environments and the vices that tear decent human relations apart. Slices of personal, social, cultural and economic struggles and imbalances at play in a nation passing through democratic phases, through the eyes of an artist without borders in an ever-growing global village. Hoping you enjoy my eclectic visual feast, as I proceed unto the next phase in branding and creativity.”
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