ARTS & REVIEW\\ ART-LOGUE OLU AJAYI: IN SEARC

An open-studio session with Olu Ajayi inside the cultural district in Onikan, Lagos paved way for fresh perspectives on artistic engagement in Nigeria, writes Yinka Olatunbosun

IAjayi f you have a painting on your wall with the Signature, “Olu Ajayi’’, you should be respected. This accomplished artist has situated his art in the league of legends, with cutting-edge exhibitions to his credit. For instance, “Wole Soyinka@80” foisted some degree of ingenuity in Ajayi that culminated in a show of works of varied media displayed at Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta and Freedom Park, Lagos. He is the co-ordinator and brain behind the Living Legends Project, established in 2008, to honour and document Nigerian men and women of integrity. These individuals would have consistently contributed to national development for 30 years or more to qualify for such rare privilege. Last year, on the occasion of the sixth edition of Living Legends Project, former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon was the cynosure of all eyes at the foyer of the Abuja Transcorp Hilton Hotel where master artists gathered to represent and interprete his image in various visual art forms using charcoal, oil, water colour and other materials.

It was Olu Ajayi’s turn to be the centre of attraction recently when he threw the doors to his studio at Military Street open to the media. A fine artist in every sense of the word, Ajayi donned two caps: one of a host and another as a subject for the documentary footage that was shot at the time of this encounter with journalists. The artist couldn’t help telling his guests how austere it had been to find another worthy Nigerian to be honoured as a living legend.

“The artistic merit of the project is in having a coalition of art and history. These people are considered to be part of our lives and have been considered worthy of being immortalised either on canvas or on paper or clay,’’ he began explaining.

His painting materials had been carefully arranged to a side of the table to make the studio look appealing to the journalists many of whom have the knowledge of what a typical working art studio looks like. The rays of the morning sun passing through the transparent roofing sheet brightened up the paintings of Gowon, Soyinka, and others placed side by side. These are a few of the works from the previous exhibitions. It would be recalled that the Living Legends Project has honoured individuals such as Prof Wole Soyinka, Prof Grillo, Bruce Onabrapaye, the Oba of Benin and Prof J.P. Clark. Were the project a profit oriented initiative, many rich Nigerians would have made the list. But, Ajayi won’t watch the project degenerate into a free-for-all party.

“We do not want to politicise this project. We don’t want to do someone who is always in the media. You will all agree with me that Gowon is a man of peace. Even with the storm in his political clime, he remains a retired army officer who administered the affairs of this country during the civil war. He didn’t throw his weight around. He has always been an apostle of peace. We felt it was good to record him as Nigeria’s living legend. We are working on a book that will be a compendium of all the drawings and paintings; it will go into the hall of fame for the legend. Some of the materials that will come out of that are scholarly materials,’’ he said.

For 2015, a living legend is yet to be found. A lot of names have come up. It’s been tough because certain notables have been cross carpeting from one camp to another. Today, they are radicals, and next day, they are conservatives. For some, one scandal suddenly surfaces. Not even the religious leaders could be selected for this honour. To be sure, in Britain, the royal family enjoys this rare opportunity of being documented by artists. Ajayi, who was born in Ososo, Edo state in 1963, found a parallel to that in the traditional African society.

“In our traditional African setting, it was done for kings. That is why we have the Ife bronze head. Abroad, the queen was painted on her birthday and painted on canvas. And this is a society where they are into sophisticated photography and cinematography. When there is a new president, artists are commissioned to make the bust or painting of the new president. You saw the one that was done on prince Williams and his wife, Kate that people complained about that it wasn’t too nice.

“The challenge is that some potential living legends may have contributed to national development for 35 years but have only started being good in the last ten years. There are some who are good but are too young and have not been tested over time. Have you glanced at my list? Emeka Anyaoku is there, Olubunmi Okojie, you see…I am thinking now. When Gowon was selected, he came from London to have this done in Abuja. Soyinka came from Paris for his in 2008. It took us three months to track Gowon down. That day we were very lucky because he