‘My art has helped people appreciate themselves more’
Art is a communication tool. It must say something or at least attempt to say something. The world is saturated. The issues that spring up each day, cry for hope in despair and life in place of many failures
In my early years, on my way to school, I came across a beautiful wall in Lagos. This wall had adorned paintings like I had never seen before! This experience became an immediate obsession to me, I never missed taking that road to school. I would stroll past that wall and feel the rush of colours through my spirit. I had never seen anything so captivating!
Time passed and I realized this burning passion for Art more than my imagination could decipher. This was how I started. My duty at boarding school was to sweep an SS3 classroom (I believe this was divine) - this classroom was converted to an Art Studio. Each morning, I would rush to that classroom and find all sorts of beautiful art submissions as well as paintings from different students - it fascinated me. But prior to that time, I had never drawn or painted. My first assignment in drawing was a still life drawing of a breakfast table setting. It was the best in my department and this followed with an invitation to a competition on ‘Art and its environment’ which I had 2nd place and the rest has been history as it is said. And digital art as your preferred style, how did you
come across it?
Digital Art came to me in a sort of ‘rough’ way. I was a lover of computers - I worked during school holidays in my mother’s business centre in Lagos and I had done a bunch of small graphic designs here and there with my little colour know-how back then. Like I said earlier, divinity plays a huge part in my ‘Art’ exploits. My father had bought me a small beautiful white laptop while in JS2. It was very difficult for me to afford equipment, brushes and expensive poster colour for traditional painting because I was only a student in secondary school. So my answer was a program ‘Microsoft Paint’; I would paint and save the file and it somewhat satisfied my appetite for painting even if it was not the real thing. And then, by some miracle, a computer at my mother’s business centre became faulty and when, the engineer returned it after repairs, I found the program ‘Adobe Photoshop 5’ installed. It was a surprise gift and I instantly fell in love with its advanced painting features which I used for my Art and Design extensively and slowly the gap of traditional painting faded away. I was addicted to painting with software- this is how it is even today.
Did you have to undertake specialist training for this?
No, I read a lot of tutorials and kept in touch with the international community. It is a large world and I made sure I knew what I was doing and the methodology to achieving it. I had bagged techniques from reading books and exploring materials. This helped me to build a strong reputation as a Graphic Designer, Digital Artist, VFX Artist, Writer and Speaker. I believe knowledge is words and conviction. What you read and understand, stands you out anytime. In all, I was made and I am made by talent. It is nothing more.
Your works are always vibrant, full of colour. What statement are you trying to make with the way you use colours?
I paint as I see and experience. I think my eyes have been twisted in some way to love colours. It is unlike anything I have ever experienced. Yes! I experience colours and love how they play in our world. Earth is a beautiful place made by the most beautiful being. My expression of this beauty is what I try to express through my colours. I find a piece in my mind and try to rewrite that piece through my thoughts - I think I have the mind of a child who likes to live in this colourful planet where love, peace and joy is often found. The colourful man is happy and his heart and soul is well. But the un-colourful man lives in a dull world and his troubles cannot be expressed by mere lips.
Some of your works are politically themed. Do you think it is important for an artist to make political statements with his work?
Art is a communication tool. It must say something or at least attempt to say something. The world is saturated. The issues that spring up each day, cry for hope in despair and life in place of many failures. But someone must say something - and not always literally but with the good work his hands has found doing. There is a powerful tool for change in the Arts - and all who practise it, must channel this tool to positive change and for the good of our world. I believe a tree does not eat its own fruits. So an artist does not eat from hoarding his talent, but from giving it. Talent rightly channelled becomes a good gift. And a good gift must be given to fulfilment of the goodness for which it was given. Art is good, but is better when channelled rightly.
And have you ever had a strong reaction, positive or negative, to your politicallythemed works?
Well I think reactions are either expressive or non-
expressive. Strong reactions by my books will be, if the piece inspired change. Were people affected positively? Surely, art affects people in diverse ways. Predominantly, it creates thoughts and pictures as the observer keenly creates a deeper illusion into its creation and meaning. If someone says ‘Wow! What a lovely piece I see in this, it inspires me to take a journey into self-discovery’ and the individual does not go ahead to activate this thought, then he is not changed. But if the same person says these words and goes ahead to ‘do it’. Then I can affirm a strong reaction caused by my art. My art has created stronger bonds and helped people appreciate themselves more. It has also fascinated artists and helped them to discover and appreciate a unique perspective to art. So, yes! I have received strong positive reactions, perhaps, the negatives are yet to be expressed.
When you work on portraiture, as you often do, where does your inspiration come from?
Portraiture is hardly inspired. But you want to look into the eyes of the personality and ‘discern’ his/her innate self-expression. People want to look beautiful or perhaps look their best. Expressing beauty in colours and life is a beautiful form of life in itself. Because, the artist must be beautiful inside to give true beauty on the outside. Everyone is beautiful and in portraiture, the artist is commissioned to interpret this beauty.
What is the advantage of working with digital art as opposed to traditional art forms?
Digital art cannot be compared to traditional art. Digital is the neo-movement and like it was with music production and software as opposed to traditional music. We must be sincere that the human voice may never produce the ‘auto-tune’ effect in its perfection. But autotuned vocals are better sounding than ordinary vocals. So it is with traditional art. There is no painting as real as photography that captures light in - absolute perfection. Cameras are the earth’s greatest artists. They are perfect. That its images was not made by human hands, does it tell less of it - If the Camera were human, would it not be celebrated. Digital is underrated in our world. Digital Art is a future that must stay and be valued. Back in the day, people created paintings because there were no photo cameras and events had to be documented in imagery. It was a culture that strives hard to stand till today. If it can be created digitally with same talent - is it not better that we lose all the energy so we can all produce more in less time and less effort? There is so much to say in our world today and not many have the time to read long texts and essay. Images convey words and conversations far better. It is therefore imperative, that the artist explores quick methods for his art to come to life. I have realized that time and effort is the reason why art never Digital Art is a future that must stay and be valued. Back in the day, people created paintings because there were no photo cameras and events had to be documented in imagery makes it in this world and the artist dies without expressing his inner voice. It is like the man who must travel round the world, but must travel by boat, how many countries can he cover? Will he not waste his time and become frustrated - without fulfilling his dreams? Technology offers to mankind opportunities to express themselves and achieve more with their gifts - it is better for talents to appreciate technology as friend and not foe. The pure talent is the mind - not the labour.
Are there limitations to this media that you can share with us?
Yes! Digital art is not appreciated. People do not focus on the picture, instead they focus on the technique and judge from the little effort needed. This is a big issue, because they place less value on it. I believe digital art is a very difficult form of Art. It is not easy to learn and its steep learning curve doesn’t help either. I also think the mind of the African is under-utilized. Imagine the gizmos being created by the international film industry - Hollywood and Bollywood. They have fused Art into motion picture, photography, real estate. They explore - there is a wide pattern - they are not boxed. But the African man is boxed in his world - he must stay local with his wooden brush and paint and nothing changes this mentality of things. He does not explore neo-methodology for his art to be expressed. He sees media as against his traditional lifestyle. I think the talented artists should be the ones taking over the film industry, design industry, building industry and their talents should be put in better use than drawing and painting for pennies - they must expose themselves to the new world and embrace new media in place of the old systems they practise.
Which of your works has given you the greatest satisfaction?
All my pieces have had their individuality. They all satisfy me in their executions and the process behind them. They were a few digital pieces I did during the ‘fuel subsidy’ protest in Nigeria. It inspired actions in a way and this was a key for me at the time the art was made. It was also one of my first digital art pieces.
Do you think that digital art will have the staying power of, say, traditional painting? Is it something that centuries from now, we will be talking about them with the same enthusiasm as we speak of Mona Lisa for instance?
Digital Art is the future. So, yes I know it has all it takes to produce works that will stand the test of time. Value- for this form of art has a lot to play in appreciating its output.It is a matter of time, Africa will catch up. If 100 artworks can be produced in a month and more income and opportunities can be created, who will rather choose to go traditional where only 3-4 artworks can be produced at a go? I think the ‘labour extensive’ approach of traditional painting is a ‘turn-off ’. And who really cares about the hours and pain of preparing a piece? People value end results than process. Let’s focus on the end result and the technique will always speak for itself.
Where do you see digital arts going in five years from now? How far do you think you can push this genre?
Well, Digital Art in Nigeria is here to stay and as a pioneer, I can bet on it that ‘greedy’ Africans will likely exploit it faster than the ones who may use it for the right purpose to create change. This is why I struggle to educate en-mass.
In five years, Nigeria will have been fully awakened to the potential of the digital Art sector and hopefully, digital art will be positioned for the takeover of the future. In my bit, I will invest quality time and energy in pulling awareness to this trend while also introducing its technique and immense potentials to creative artists in Africa.