Guardian Nigeria
It was four days of novel magic following the conclusion of the first of its kind arts carnival, where attendees and the general public experienced the beauty of arts in a fun and educative manner.
The maiden carnival, which held from March 29 to April 1, this year, saw a mega art exhibition held at the gallery, featuring over 500 African artists on display. There were also cultural performances, sip and paint activities for children and adults, a games corner, dancing and music as well as expert tutorial on artwork appreciation among other activities.
Creative Director, Fobally Art World Africa, Folashade Abiola, said as promised, artists came from all over the country and even outside Nigeria to showcase their works to an excited audience. “There were traditional, contemporary and visual works on display from masters such as Bruce Onobrakpeya, Muraina Oyelami, Prof Kunle Adeyemi, Lenrie Preks, Francis Nja and so on.”
Abiola said the four-day carnival was hugely interactive, educative and filled with fun activities that brought new appreciation and love for the creative world. Adding that she was happy and proud to help people experience art on a new level, she said it is their desire to make the carnival a yearly or even bi-yearly event that people look forward to. She added that art appreciation is open to all ages and said her wish is for every Nigerian, from every walk of life, to be able to buy and appreciate art.
She went on to plead with government at all levels to as a matter of urgency, support the visual and creative art sector as well as its artists, to prevent them from going into extinction.
Regretting that government support has been non-existent, Abiola said countless letters have been written to the ministry of tourism, youth and sports and even the Lagos State governor, but nothing has come out of it.
“The Lagos State governor recently said on a TV programme that his government was supporting the creative industry but all their focus is on the performing arts; the creative and visual arts arm has been completely abandoned and sidelined. If the government does not support this sector, it is going to go into extinction. We urgently need support and if they can give us half the support and funds given to musicians and skit makers, it will make a huge difference,” she said.
Speaking at the foremost art centre in Lekki, Lagos, gallery promoter and arts patron, Larry Segun-Lean, lamented that the sector has been simply left to die. Calling on government at all levels to rescue the industry before it goes under completely, he regretted that many talents are either roaming the streets or have found their way out of the country to ply their trade elsewhere.
“Government must find a way to support painters, visual artists, sculptors and so on, they are going extinct and we need to rescue them before they all die off or leave the country. I am urging them to take a little from what is used on other less important things and rescue the sector and its creatives,” he said.
He pointed out that as a result of low patronage and poor support of the visual arts, there are very few teachers left to pass on knowledge and skills to younger ones. He begged the government to pay attention to the sector to encourage more teachers to remain and pass on their skills.
Revealing that their mission and vision is to promote African arts and artists for local and global visibility, Abiola said it is saddening to note that African visual arts and artists are going through a lot of challenges as many Nigerians regard art as luxury. “The western world embraces our art, why can’t we do same? If the artists get frustrated from lack of patronage, what will happen to the sector? If we want to continue seeing arts, we must support our artists,” she said.
“We need to produce more masters. The masters we have today are old while others have passed on. If Nigeria is not careful, we would have no masters left. Private individuals have taken it upon themselves to keep this sector alive and all we need is government support,” he said.
Abiola said art is important as it speaks to the way we live and archive history. “Art helps us preserve our culture, traditions and heritage. It tells our story in a way other forms cannot. Someone can pick a piece of art and say which period it is from; paintings preserve times and places. Art tells us where we are coming from, where we are and where we are going.”
Expressing deep worry over the future of creative arts, Segun-Lean said because of the skyrocketing inflation now, many artists cannot afford materials, hence, cannot create or even live off their skills. “Nigerian artists are the bastion of creativity and have sustained this country’s heritage for many years, yet, are suffering. Art works always appreciate in value compared to performing arts. Art is a store of value and we hear works selling for thousands of dollars abroad. Why can’t we have this for our local artists? Every year an art piece is alive, it increases in value,” he said.
He told the government that it could even bring in massive forex by selling artworks abroad in big auction houses, as Nigerian art is well appreciated and loved overseas.
