Yashim Bivan is an artist who studied architecture in Kaduna Polytechnic. In this interview, he talks about his passion for art, why it’s related to designing buildings, and more. Excerpts:
You recently started what you tagged ‘lockdown series’ on social media with drew a lot of attention. How would you describe the experience?
It was a fulfilling experience. The One Artwork per Day was inspired by three factors: I needed to tell a story about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected us. I had so many ideas and needed to explore them. Lastly, it was meant to kill the idleness and boredom.
A day before the lockdown began, I called my friend, Charles Achibi, who is a fellow artist, and shared the idea with him. He liked it but unfortunately, he was engrossed in another project. I wasn’t discouraged, rather, I tagged a couple of my creative friends to join the challenge as soon as I produced the first work and posted on Facebook. At first, the response wasn’t what I expected but subsequently, other artists joined, including my kids and some of my friends’ children.
You did pencil drawings that include portraits and abstract paintings. What influenced the works you created, particularly your Day 27 piece titled ‘Family Portrait,’ which depicted three human forms?
It’s an acrylic abstract painting that depicted a family’s togetherness during COVID-19. Before the pandemic, you hardly
find a situation where families stay together in such a manner due to one reason or the other. My family is a typical example. The lockdown period provided an opportunity for bonding with your spouse and kids.
So, the ideas were fresh and easy for me to put together. The works I produced were either ball pen, poster colour or acrylic. None of them were in pencil.
Aside being an artist, you are also an architect. How would you describe your journey in these two worlds and how related would you say they are?
Art is closely related to architecture. This always makes the journey more beautiful for me. Architecture is simply an idea conceived in the mind and realized in the physical. So also is art, generally. This makes them very much related. They share similar elements and principles and also their media of conception, the pencil, is the same. In other words, you will do better as an architect if you are an artist.
Going down memory lane, what was it like working on your very first piece of art?
If I remember clearly, my earliest piece of art has to be the super hero figures I used to draw back in primary one. I most times borrow comics from my classmates so I can draw the images, sometimes in my exercise books. It was a passion I developed at that age, all thanks to my left hand. As a kid, my mum would hit my hand whenever I eat or do stuff with it. After a while, my dad advised she let me be. I was destined to be who I am using the left part of my body.
Some architects tend to treat drawing and painting more as a hobby. What is it for you?
Drawing and painting will always be a passion for me. Sometimes it can be uncomfortable due to limited workspace and other distractions. But because of this passion, I make lots of investments in terms of materials. I buy and store even if I won’t use them immediately. Also, I usually need to be in a particular mental state, either good or bad, and trust me, some of my works were produced while I was in an unpleasant mood. I intend to explore and fuse in both crafts till I no longer have the physical energy. As long as I live.
What are you working on at the moment?
Presently, I am working on some architectural designs. Before that, I produced an abstract painting using acrylic colour.
