Your gallery is famous in the East and it seems there’s not another yet in the region?
It was the first gallery in that region and till date there’s nothing as big as it that has come up.
I guess there’s not sufficient encouragement shown to artists. Also, some people don’t take their practice seriously and they are not willing to make sacrifices and give time to what they enjoy doing. At the time I opened the gallery almost thirty years ago, if I had used the space for a hotel instead, it would have been one of the biggest in Enugu by now.
How many works did you have at the time when you set it up?
About one hundred pieces of my works. I worked as a full studio artist.
What tickled your interest in art?
I was very lucky that I was born into a family with an enlightened background. My dad in the mid-40s was an art Teacher at St. Charles Teachers College, Onitsha. It was like a university at the time. I wouldn’t say he encouraged me to go into art because I had a natural flair for it. However, his being an art teacher enabled me start doing drawings quite early. I would go through his lesson notes. I began with local puppet shows, drawing on thick papers and cutting the objects out and then using cartons, candles and white fabrics for my puppet shows. These were things that kept us busy. I later went to secondary and then to IMT where I majored in painting and also taught it. Many think I’m a sculptor. I was one of the originators of using wrought iron for sculptures especially on gates. I trained a good number of guys in it. Our works are all over the country which we did as a massive project. In the East I’m seen as a sculptor and in Lagos as an artist.
Is there a down side to being a sculptor as against being a painter?
A good artist is a good artist. It is very difficult for me to answer this because I don’t do my works with the intention to sell. I do the things I feel I would do at any point in time. At times I want to express myself in wood and I do so. Sometimes I do fashion stuff which amazes a lot of people. If you have both talents, one should not suffer over the other. If I were made a minister today, I would still paint.
What do you consider your first love?
It’s tough to say. I remember Kavita of the Chellarams family coming my dad and asking him to which of his children he loved the most and could put forward for a scholarship. My dad said, ‘none’. If you want to give them a scholarship, give all of them or none of them.’ It was a very important statement I heard as a child and still remember. That’s how my art and practice are to me. None is more important than the other. At this stage I rarely take on commissions where I’m instructed on what to paint or sculpt. I like to be given the free hand to do what I want.
Is there any particular reason lines and strokes feature the much they do in your works?
Lines create movement. In the principle and elements of design, you see them. I’m an experimental artist. I keep changing styles. It is not easy to bring something new, except you are very close to God and have worked tirelessly. In one of my works I have over three million strokes. Most people may not know how I may have come about them. But it is all endurance in days and months of ensuring it pans out as I want. Even at this, I don’t think it’s finished. An art work is never finished. It is only abandoned.
Abuja art lovers are relatively new to you. How did you decide on what works to display here?
Jeff the owner of this gallery was in Enugu and saw my works. He commended the volume I had and encouraged me to show them in Abuja. That’s how we selected about 35 of my works to bring here. I decided to show my new style to you. It is travelling exhibition which will go on to Lagos later in the year.
What inspires your works?
Like we always say, it comes from God. Everyday interactions, you must play towards your culture and keep history. Like in my works the series on Sambisa forest and the events around it. That’s my way of documenting history. The girls dropping like leaves. That symbolises their inability to take care of themselves and decide their fate at this point in time. They’re just there. If you are in a very bad mood or you are depressed, you can go from there. That’s why they are dropping like leaves. The sun in the work is a symbol of hope for them. I also sometimes use it to revolve the eye. The work took me no less than five months. There’s another one ‘Moonlight bath’ which is a symbol of pre-marital cleansing and preparation. This is a festival in my place done in moonlight.
What excites you about your work and young artists benefiting from them?
If my hand obeys me at that time, I start from the known to the unknown. You have to draw well and then you can go on to things like abstract. But young artists must learn to grow through each step of the ladder to reach their peak.
Are you looking at retiring soon?
(Laughter) Not in the sense that we understand retirement. When I turn 65, I will do a very a big show and then stop showing after that.
