I have been turned down several times by some ignorant gallery owners on both sides of the fence for their lack of interest in African Art. In their words African Art is primitive. The sad thing is that our so-called elites gallery owners do not get it too. In most cases they are worst and very ignorant and naïve about African art. How long are we going to allow these false monsters of the past run wild in our present time?
I have realized that truth is usually a hard pill to swallow but we must confront our past for a better tomorrow.
We have been forced to look down on ourselves. They held our minds captive with the television, print media, history books or documentaries of their explorers that were written supposedly for them, but ended up in our nation’s schools bookshelves for mind alteration and economic exploitation. Maybe I am missing something; please tell me the expectation of an educator who thought the grand children of Amina in Nigeria, that River Niger was discovered by Mongo Park.
The same River Niger, where their grand ma, Anina bath, swam, fetched water, they have known and played in the river all their lives and in fact the legend had it that their grandpa Obi was among the men that guided and guarded the strange White man from the wild beast of the jungle. Instead of a letter of appreciation, their great grand children are forced and feed lies of the incident in the name of education.
They constantly used whatever they can to accomplish their vision. The invention of television became an effective tool for manipulation of generations with ease using Jacob’s vision power of increase, Genesis 30: 31 – 43, for their negative agenda. There is power in what we hear and see. That is more reason they will never show you good side of Africa.
During the era of European avant-garde artists, there were prolific African Artists such as ‘Aina Onabolu’ and many others whose works were never considered modern. Obviously including them in their modern era will mean making them equal with their counterparts in Europe. You know what that means to black man who was supposed to be picking cottons. “European modern art” was the biggest scam on African Art. They took the best of our forefathers and kicked us to the trash.
They knew what they were doing and the effect of these centuries of bad seeds is what we see today in Africa and beyond. It is very common to see African professionals, highly educated but with no knowledge of self and very much whiter than the white, if you know what I mean. I have walked into a financial firm in Atlanta, owned and managed by some Nigerians and the issue of African Art came up, One of the owners was asked what type of art do have hanging on your wall. You need see him go off with pride and talked eloquently on modern art at the end he declared that he doesn’t want to be associated with African Art.
You can imagine how that made me feel, having studied art and taught art professionally to hear a Nigerian elite in the position of power and influence, to promote our arts and culture, out rightly rejected his inheritance. I didn’t wait to ask why? He went off again to talk about crime and the world image of Nigeria. At this point I struggled to hold myself
from exploding before other nationalities in the company. I am by no means in support of any crime but if man should disown his nation because of crime and western media propaganda, the problem is way deeper than it appears. I asked him again respectfully if any of these nationalities working in Nigeria have pulled out their oil drilling machines and abandoned their mansions in Nigeria since the 419 propaganda started? I didn’t see him jump up with an answer this time. Tell me where there is no fraud and crime.
This nice brother is one of the millions of African souls lost to this false and mean world of conspiracy and selfish vision of racism and imperialism. You might be wondering what is this got to do with modern art. But the truth is that, there was nothing modern about the works of the European avant-garde artists other than punch of copycats, imitators and plagiarists in conspiracy with their racist writers, art critics and art historians to make wrong right. Once again they gave themselves names, cubism, modern art and shoved it down our throat like always.
They covered the truth of plagiarizing African Art and started their usual evil naming ceremonies for their selfish goals. Who named the Primitive Art and Modern Art? Take a close look at their so-called primitive art and look at the modern art and decide for yourself. Who named the Tribal Art? These are the same people whose lists of names consist of Negro, Aborigines, Nigger, and Black, Gypsy, White, Red, Yellow, and People of Color to mention a few. What good has these names done to mankind other than division and control. Let us face the truth, because truth is the heart of freedom. There is more to names than we can imagine hence God had to change people’s given names to accomplish his mission in their lives. It has been and will always be demonic and its time to reject such names for our true purpose and relationship with one another.
Lets look into more facts in the part 2 coming soon.
Showing posts with label Black Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black Art. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
Magic Lines of Uli Art Style
Uli is an expression of the people’s capacity for creative design, which is firmly rooted in their myths and their experience of life in the past, present and future. At its best, it is an expression of their synthetic present, the epic of their search for a new order in the contemporary world. It is my traditional art style, which I have fallen in love with all over again and it is a privilege to share uli with you in my works. It has been shown that the knowledge of uli motifs and symbols and their application enables one to identify the traditional Igbo artifacts, giving validity to the people’s aesthetic intelligence and judgment. This culture is one of the first known cultures of the world in the recorded archeologically facts to have done bronze casting. (Igboukwu bronze).
Uli symbols may be said to show graphically how the organic forms grow outwards from the core of those elements to point, line, triangle, square and circle that are universal to the concentric circle at the periphery, which contains reflections of everyday world as seen by the artists. Just as the inner circle reflects the uncommon reality or ritual reality of the cultural existence, so the outer circle is in contact with the human and ecological reality, which it expresses.
Artistic activities at Enugu formed part of the early post-1960 independence developments in the country. There was the growing local and international popularity of Nigerian novelists, dramatists, poets, literary critics, architects, artists, and musicians, and scholars. Interesting collaborations took place among those in the literary performing, and visual arts, particularly in southern Nigeria. The efforts and artistic lives of these minds sowed a flourishing seed for an uncommon global harvest. I give thanks to God for these great minds, your outstanding contributions will not be forgotten.
Uli creations relied heavily on drawing skills whose content is based largely on Igbo culture, particularly female body and wall painting called uli and on Igbo tales, ceremonies, and beliefs. The revival of interest in uli through contemporary art had begun with Uche Okeke in the 1960s, when Nigeria's independence produced a growing sense of freedom from colonial restraints on cultural tradition. It fully developed among teachers and students in the 1970s at the University in Nsukka and was linked to renewed interest in Igbo culture after the destructive Biafran War.
Traditional uli motifs, now rarely painted on human bodies or walls, have a strong linear, often curvilinear, quality. The art makes use of contrasts between positive and negative space, its images at times appearing as sky constellations. Uli’s lyrical qualities express harmony and brevity. It is art style that has often been created in freedom and spontaneity. “Uli is a pride heritage". Uli motifs generally refer to images of everyday Igbo life, farm and cooking tools, pots, plants, birds, animals, the sun, the moon, and the kola nut, though some are pure design. For ceremonial occasions and important events, skilled Igbo female artists painted uli to add beauty to the human body and the walls of buildings and compounds. Uli has made her way in modern social settings; on sculptural surfaces and on paper, board, and canvas, framed and hung on walls in homes, institutions, and galleries of the world.
Magic of Uli Lines, which is an extended dot or a moving point, has very many possibilities, particularly, the quickly drawn one. My drawing explores the evocative and lyrical possibilities of line and derives from Uli. The Uli artist works spontaneously whether on the human body or the wall. There is no question of erasing or cleaning. There is something about the spontaneously executed work, a breathtaking vitality and freshness that defy description or repetition.
An analysis of Igbo drawing and painting reveals that space, line pattern, brevity and spontaneity seem to be the pillars on which the rich tradition and heritage rests. It is these unique qualities that I strive for, both intuitive and intellectually to assimilate in my work. Intuitively, because during my years of studying and looking at Igbo sculpture, drawing and painting, various aspects of design and recurrent motifs have become internalized in my system and inevitably surface unconsciously in the course of executing my aesthetic challenges. It is perhaps needless to add that the great works of art is a result of the harmonious marriage of intellect and intuition.
Uli symbols may be said to show graphically how the organic forms grow outwards from the core of those elements to point, line, triangle, square and circle that are universal to the concentric circle at the periphery, which contains reflections of everyday world as seen by the artists. Just as the inner circle reflects the uncommon reality or ritual reality of the cultural existence, so the outer circle is in contact with the human and ecological reality, which it expresses.
Artistic activities at Enugu formed part of the early post-1960 independence developments in the country. There was the growing local and international popularity of Nigerian novelists, dramatists, poets, literary critics, architects, artists, and musicians, and scholars. Interesting collaborations took place among those in the literary performing, and visual arts, particularly in southern Nigeria. The efforts and artistic lives of these minds sowed a flourishing seed for an uncommon global harvest. I give thanks to God for these great minds, your outstanding contributions will not be forgotten.
Uli creations relied heavily on drawing skills whose content is based largely on Igbo culture, particularly female body and wall painting called uli and on Igbo tales, ceremonies, and beliefs. The revival of interest in uli through contemporary art had begun with Uche Okeke in the 1960s, when Nigeria's independence produced a growing sense of freedom from colonial restraints on cultural tradition. It fully developed among teachers and students in the 1970s at the University in Nsukka and was linked to renewed interest in Igbo culture after the destructive Biafran War.
Traditional uli motifs, now rarely painted on human bodies or walls, have a strong linear, often curvilinear, quality. The art makes use of contrasts between positive and negative space, its images at times appearing as sky constellations. Uli’s lyrical qualities express harmony and brevity. It is art style that has often been created in freedom and spontaneity. “Uli is a pride heritage". Uli motifs generally refer to images of everyday Igbo life, farm and cooking tools, pots, plants, birds, animals, the sun, the moon, and the kola nut, though some are pure design. For ceremonial occasions and important events, skilled Igbo female artists painted uli to add beauty to the human body and the walls of buildings and compounds. Uli has made her way in modern social settings; on sculptural surfaces and on paper, board, and canvas, framed and hung on walls in homes, institutions, and galleries of the world.
Magic of Uli Lines, which is an extended dot or a moving point, has very many possibilities, particularly, the quickly drawn one. My drawing explores the evocative and lyrical possibilities of line and derives from Uli. The Uli artist works spontaneously whether on the human body or the wall. There is no question of erasing or cleaning. There is something about the spontaneously executed work, a breathtaking vitality and freshness that defy description or repetition.
An analysis of Igbo drawing and painting reveals that space, line pattern, brevity and spontaneity seem to be the pillars on which the rich tradition and heritage rests. It is these unique qualities that I strive for, both intuitive and intellectually to assimilate in my work. Intuitively, because during my years of studying and looking at Igbo sculpture, drawing and painting, various aspects of design and recurrent motifs have become internalized in my system and inevitably surface unconsciously in the course of executing my aesthetic challenges. It is perhaps needless to add that the great works of art is a result of the harmonious marriage of intellect and intuition.
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