LVI Art Gallery and Cultural Nexus is set to hold a three-month painting and outdoor exhibition. With the theme: ‘The Hand that Creates the Masterpiece’, it will feature emerging artists who are expected to produce paintings during a live drawing session that explore the beauty and positive aspects of Nigeria. It will feature no fewer than 60 emerging artists, 20 for each month: October, November and December.
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The Chief Executive Officer, Julius Iyighiojie, who spoke recently in Lagos on the show, said, “it is a unique kind of exhibition, because we have both an art demonstration, which involves the creation  of works, and the exhibition of works, itself.”

According to Iyighiojie, “we have a set of artists that will participate for each month. We are bringing visual artists, that is, painters, to come to the gallery for a live demonstration, which is production of the artworks and immediately after, is the exhibition.”

He said, “the medium is acrylic on canvas, as it is not only environmentally-friendly, it is economical. It is fast to dry, because we would be creating and exhibiting the same time.”

Iyighiojie stated that the monthly exhibition would flag off on October 4 and is designed to enlighten Nigerians and the global community on the unique beauty and tourism potential of the country.

“This is my way of deliberately promoting the young artists who have no means to hold exhibitions and it is also planned to achieve my desire of showcasing the beauty of Nigeria to spur tourism. The first session will run from October 4 to 6, the second session will hold from November 1 to 3, while the December session will run from 6th to 8th. Within the three days for each month, the artists are meant to produce a maximum of three paintings that will explore the theme for the exhibition,” he said.

Iyighiojie added: “We are going to ensure that the works produced are sold during the exhibition and the artists will have the opportunity to continue to exhibit their works in my gallery, even after the exhibition period.”

He said, “all art works are to be produced and completed at the exhibition arena and each artist is to produce three artworks within the painting period. This will be a regular practice going forward. I want to see Nigerian emerging artists coming out of obscurity to fame.”

According to him, this is his way of assisting the artists to gain personal visibility as well as promotion for their works. “Nigeria has all it takes to be big in tourism; this is an exhibition that is meant to expose people to the beauty of Nigeria.”

While saying that the sharing formula is 60 per cent to the artist, and 40 per cent to the gallery, he assured that for proper documentation, a catalogue of the art works created within the three months would be produced and distributed to museums and ministries for proper promotion.

To be part of the programme, Iyighiojie disclosed that prospective visual artists must have any of these qualifications: Ordinary National Diploma (OND), Higher National Diploma (HND), B.A or M.A in Arts and Designs. He also said that those without formal training in art are not expected. Interested artist can access the gallery via @lvi art gallery.
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He said, “the reason for this is to promote artists with formal education in art. We strongly believe that an artist who has a formal education stays longer in the profession. They are not there for monetary gains. Let us look at Pa Bruce Onobrakpeya, he has spent over 60 years in the profession and he is still practising. This is what we want as a gallery, as this sustains the business of art. We are not just interested in art for art sake, but the preservation of the profession. Artists deviate, but the tendency for those who studied art to deviate is slim.”

He noted that as custodians of the country’s cultural heritage, the gallery is in the forefront of ‘know Nigeria, love Nigeria’ lingo. “We are using art to promote national identity and document history. As custodians of our culture and traditions, we are helping to promote national heritage.”

Noting that Galleries are interested in artworks, he said LVI is more interested with both the artists and artworks. This nexus has helped the gallery to operate differently. As part of his plans to promote art in the country, a session of this type will be organised by the gallery for children with special needs. Years earlier, the gallery had helped the Tony Rapu Residency in development of a programme for young artists. He, however, raised the need for collaboration between galleries and government. His word: “It is fundamental for national development.”
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