Yusuf Grillo a MASTER OF THE STROKE!
Widely regarded as one of Nigeria’s most celebrated contemporary artists, Yusuf Grillo has led a prolific career that has shaped the discourse of modern art in the country. Emerging to prominence and international recognition in the 1960s and 1970s, Grillo’s work is deeply influenced by the characteristics of traditional Yoruba philosophy and sculpture. As a member of the Zaria Arts Society, popularly known as the Zaria Rebels, Grillo combined his training in the Western-representational style with a focus on Nigeria’s unique and rich artistic history. He is particularly known for the specific use of the colour blue in his paintings, a reference to adire and resist-dye textiles used in Nigeria. After extensive education in Nigeria and the UK, Grillo served as Head of the Department of Art and Printing at Yaba College of Technology for over twenty-five years. His iconic
stained glass and mosaic works have been commissioned for a number of public buildings in Nigeria including churches, universities, government buildings, and the Murtala Mohammed International Airport. Grillo has also served as the founding president of the Society of Nigerian Artists, the professional body for all practicing artists in Nigeria. A living legend who rarely exhibits, he will finally be showing new works after a long hiatus on the platform of Arthouse- The Space, an exhibition offshoot of auction house, Arthouse Contemporary Limited. The exhibition is titled Igi Araba. Also regarded as a bit of a recluse who rarely gives audience to press, he recently opened his doors to Style Correspondent AYODEJI ROTINWA who had the privilege to mine the jewels of his sage and artistic intelligence, with results below…
How did you reach the decision of being a visual artist?
I grew up creating not with canvas but with materials children like myself had access to at the time such as bamboo, raffia, paper, innocent walls of neighbours – graffiti all over the place for which we got penalizedbut my interest increased as I got into school. We didn’t have art teachers then but we had drawing masters. The teacher would draw something on the board and have students copy it. That was what we had until Pa Onabolu – who was the first Nigerian to study art abroad- came and was teaching from school to school. He was an itinerant teacher. He had a very strong impact on me. His work was the theme of one of my paintings, ‘Homage to Onabolu’. He was the one who got me deeply interested in art. He gave us- others like me who were interested in art- deeper knowledge of it. He proved to us that art was not only about copying, drawing a fish or a frog. Art should make you look and see. Many look, but some don’t see. Onabolu taught us things like ‘perspective’, ‘cone of vision’, ‘eye level’- things that we were even able to brag with. He made art for us, more cerebral and that really got me interested and it grew from there. I was about 12 years old when Onabolu started teaching me. Recall for us if it was a decision your parents supported at the time, the events, circumstances that led to you following your passion?
It was definitely not a viable career at the time. When it was time to choose courses to study and some of us chose art, people thought we were crazy or stupid. People wondered why –with my distinction in Maths, English, Geography and other subjects – I chose art instead of Engineering, Medicine or Architecture and the like. My dad had passed by the time I was supposed to go to the university so everyone else didn’t have a choice. But I think even if he was alive at that time, being a teacher, he would have supported it. My mother supported my career decision and most of my relations were very interested because they saw the talent. You were heavily academically trained, honing your crafts in different institutions from Nigeria to Germany to U.S.A. What are your thoughts on the artists working today who have little or no visual art training but are as widely accepted and accomplished as their trained contemporaries? Is training indispensable for a great artist or is it merely the icing on the cake on an artist’s talents?
The question can be answered with this simple quote drawn from an experience by a musical composer I believe. He was teaching a young man that was very talented but this young man was given to worldly pleasures, the good life. The master told him that ‘Genius is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration.’You have to perspire, you have to study, you have to submit yourself to discipline of art training I think, to become a genius in it. For anybody who is talented and thinks they can do without being trained, is making a mistake because the gap will show sooner or later. Do you follow the work of any contemporary artists currently working today? If so whom, and why? Or what is it that you like about their work?
That’s a difficult question for me because asides from Aina Onabolu who came early in my life and Ben Enwonwu who came later and a handful of other talented artists, there was really not much to go by in my time. It was this group, I can say without any fear of contradiction formed the foundation of what art is today in Nigeria, and raised it to a professional level. We went into schools, teaching students, getting some of them who would not have been interested, interested in art. Bruce Onabrakpeya, a colleague of mine started the art curriculum from scratch at St. Gregory’s college. Art was not even on the time-table. He had to draw in students by convincing them to spend their free time in art classes, as opposed to drama, debating clubs. What are your thoughts on the quality of art education in the country now?
Teaching is always dependent on the teacher. If you have a good teacher, you get good results and so on. But I think now than before, art has become very popular in schools. People are beginning to study art for what it is. Studying art is not training you to becoming a Ben Enwonwu or a Bruce Onobrakpeya. It is teaching you to build a foundation for other aspects of your life. For instance, you can’t be an architect without having grounding in art. Many more are now beginning to see and appreciate art for art’s sake, it is the basis for education and as one goes on, you begin to see links between art and other fields such as Mathematics. What mediums do you most prefer to work with and why?
I’ve worked with different media but painting oil on canvas has been the most constant and the most challenging. I’ve done mosaics, sculptures -round and relief sculptures- which are on different buildings across the country. I’ve also done glasswork, which came out of stained glass. You are famed for the colour blue repeated throughout your work and career? Is there a specific artistic reason for this? Or does it just come to you naturally as you work?
You see, every artist is his work. When you want to know the artist, you look at his work. I can’t point to a particular reason why I use certain colours. That’s just me. What are your thoughts on the state of public art in Lagos and in Nigeria at large? Some of yours for instance are currently not being as well maintained as they should be by the government…
Even things which are not public works, works in public collections are not well maintained. Personally, my attention has been drawn to some of my work which have deteriorated through lack of care but for me it is a waste of time going after those who commissioned them. That time I would use chasing them, I can use creating another work. I prefer to be employed gainfully in painting than going to one Commissioner to complain. I’m sure there are people who would do that. You are regarded as a recluse, holding exhibitions once in a decade and such? Is this deliberate on your end, to add to your mystique as an artist or this is how you choose to operate without a specific reason/end goal in mind?
It’s very simple. I don’t hold exhibitions because there are no works. I spend so much time on each painting. Some of my paintings I have been working on for years. If one spends years on one painting, where is the time for an exhibition? What would I be guarded about my work? What would be the advantage of not exhibiting what I have? It is believed that until a work is sold/removed from your studio, it’s never considered finished as you can go back and change it- why is this the case? What informs this?
Because it’s unfinished! I go back to my works over and over again and if I find a hand should come out more than it already is, I re-do it; if I see other parts that need definition or correction, I go back to it. I try as much as possible to achieve perfection. Not that one ever gets there.
I go back to my works over and over again and if I find a hand should come out more than it already is, I re-do it; if I see other parts that need definition or correction, I go back to it. I try as much as possible to achieve perfection. Not that one
ever gets there.