PRINCE YEMISI ADEDOYIN SHYLLON
I Have Devoted My Life to Developing People
To start with, I did drawing up to Class Three but for my preference for the sciences, I abandoned it. While I was studying engineering at the University of Ibadan, I used to read at the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos State; and their library was very close to my grandfather’s house in Yaba. So I used to see the demonstration of students who studied arts; from that, the latent love for arts in me got woken up, and I started collecting artworks. I have a collection of well over 40 years. I get the different works –paintings from the estate of collectors, art galleries, art auction houses when on cruises all over the world, sales commissioned agents, and directly from artists. For sculptures, I have acquired direct commissioning of reputable artists; a few from auction houses and galleries. If you are talking about traditional arts, I have bought from the estate of the late Pa Adesina whose grandchildren hated traditional arts around him and called them demonic.
The man had to sell the bulk of them which he acquired in the 1930s during his work with some Lebanese and Chinese collecting work from shrines. And I’ve also bought from agents that go around shrines and altars of families that used to worship these things. I have bought from commissioned agents of national commission for museum and monuments. I stumbled on a fortune while I was at the University of Ibadan when one of my students’ grandfather’s house was being rebuilt. There they found an old Ife work which I bought very cheap in those days.
Do you remember the first artwork you bought?
Oh yes! There is a starlight work of a woman. It’s a small piece and it went for N50, 000.
How does it feel being in an art house?
It makes me feel fulfilled. It gives me happiness and I derive a lot of pleasure from it. I don’t want to go out. I am surrounded by happiness and I want to enjoy the scenery, such that I find it difficult to leave my home. It gives me the opportunity to think, look back at the creativity, culture, tradition of our people and understand them. It gives a busy mind like mine room to study history, philosophy and so on. It’s so pleasurable. I can’t define it. I always get lost in my house. There is so much communication between me and the paintings and sculptures. I move works around. I remember asking my son when he was growing up, what he’ll remember me for, and he said he’ll remember me for waking up at 2am in the night to nail walls and move one art work from one place to the other. It’s my life and that’s what gives me joy, happiness and a real sense of living.
What’s the connection between you and your works?
Every collector has a connection with his works. If you look at one of the works of Yusuf Grillo, it tells the story of one man that used to be in his father’s house in Isale Eko (in Lagos) when he was growing up. He grew up with an image of the man and so he put it into a painting. I can go on. There is so much to learn, understand about our culture, creativity, essence of our civilization and how we should develop self-pride and self-esteem from them.
There is a critical perception about sculptures and paintings which evokes demonic insinuations and emotions. Do feel the same way?
It evokes such emotions with ignorant minds. If you go to the Vatican which is supposedly the first church in the world, Christianity evolved from Saint Peter. The Vatican has its own museum and it contains works of arts in the cistern chapel with drawn nude pictures of women. I think it’s just ignorance being propagated by Pentecostal churches by taking advantage of people’s stupidity. There is nothing demonic about it. It takes a very developed mind to understand arts. You’ve got to have an esoteric mind, and some elements of developmental developments to understand arts. Only those who don’t have that ability would see art objects and begin to evoke which does not exist. I put it to you that every human being has a demon in him. We all have good and evil in us. It depends on the level of development which you have put your mind. If you developed the mind, you’ll think more positive things than negative. But those who don’t develop their minds think of negative things. If I take your sister and I kill her in your presence, the devil in you will arise to avenge her death. So, we all have it in us. Even Isaiah had it. The Devil as far as I am concerned does not exist. There are cases of Catholic priests as paedophiles, pastors divorcing their wives and still running churches. Everybody has a measure of good and evil in them. If you are lucky to develop the good in you and get exposed, you will find that the evil in you will be suppressed and the good will be accentuated.
Everyone has an atom of the good and evil. Which is yours?
Mine is the good. I have devoted all