Art and the Church:
Review of The Art Exhibition
By Ayo Adewunmi
Lecturer, I.M.T., Enugu;
Founder, “Art Is Everywhere” Project
The interest of the church in visual art has a long history. During the 15th and 16th Century AD the Church became major patron of visual art. This move, which was necessitated by the revival of Rome, began when Pope Martin V returned the Papacy to Rome from Avignon in1420. Pope Martin V and other Renaissance popes were resolute in their determination to glorify the Church and make Rome the artistic capital of Europe so this period marked the high point of the church’s art patronage. The tradition of commissioning artists to decorate churches with illustrative artworks has continued ever since. The church has contributed immensely to the development of visual art through such patronage.
Artworks have the potential to evoke powerful emotions and feelings; these virtues may be exploited positively for religious benefit. Art is no doubt a veritable tool for propagating religious ideals and it is against this backdrop that the art exhibition organized by the Enugu-based Cleric; Bishop Amaechi Nwachukwu of Amazing Love Assembly, in commemoration of the 24th anniversary of the Ministry is highly appreciable. Ironically, this church-and-art partnership is happening against the backdrop of a period of general neglect of art sponsorship and patronage. Insensitivity of the government’s support for the visual arts has been severally condemned. Institutions and agencies that are supposed to promote visual arts are distracted and disinterested. The National Museum in Enugu, for instance, housed a night club in its premises and it is more amiable to hosting Fairs of Herbal Products than giving out space for art related events. Little wonder the church offered an alternative venue for the arts.
The art exhibition which brought life to the artistic community in the Coal City has the theme “In the Light of His Glory” and according to the overseer of the Amazing Love Ministries, Bishop Amaechi Nwachukwu, it was organized to “prepare the ground for the planned international art exhibition scheduled for the Silver Jubilee of the church in 2011”.
Artists featured included Nsikak Essien, a renowned mixed media and experimental artist. Essien graduated from Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu, in 1979 with a Distinction in Painting and as the Best Overall Graduate. In 1991, Nsikak retired from lecturing at his alma mater to concentrate in full time studio practice. He curated the maiden edition of African Regional Exhibition and Summit of Visual Arts (ARESUVA), organized by National Gallery of Art in1998. His mixed media painting titled “Saved” illustrates the fact that “God will always respond to a desperate drowning man who reaches out in faith to Him”. The cutout effect is a concept he has been involved in for a while, denoting the invisible. This is done, according to Essien, by “making negative spaces positive and potent, substantiating the things not seen”. On his part, Tony Ummuna a ceramist and lecturer at the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu in his mixed media painting titled “God,s Creation, God’ Glory” is a narrative of God’s glory, with textured symbolic images presented as if engraved to surface. His ceramics works are distinguished by his creative expression of symbolic forms and motif on his ceramic pieces. Umunna with his unique approach, creative use of various ceramics materials is one of the pioneers of Ceramics Sculpture in Nigeria. He won the Best Graduate Award (Ceramics), I.M.T, in 1980.
Ayo Adewunmi works with a variety of media; mixed media, installations, photography and video. In 2005, he initiated the Art is Everywhere (AIE) workshop, a waste-to-art recycling workshop. His installation “Rivers of Life”, created with about two thousand pieces of plastic water bottle picked from Enugu environ depicts a flow of life giving water from the rock; while from his series on habitation, the installation titled “He is Building You Up”, installation of an uncompleted building made up of discarded drink’s can which on one hand highlights the stress that people go through just to have a roof over their head, identifying with millions living in the ghetto; on the other hand it suggests that beauty may come out of waste, reminding Christians that they are work-in-progress, God is not through with them yet. Uchay Joel Chima is a multi-media Lagos artist who mingles junks, sand, wax, colours, charcoal and varieties of found objects in the creation of exceptional oeuvre. His works, “He Took the Bread and Broke It” and the “Ten Virgins” dissect the anatomy of realities around us whilst employing conventional and unconventional approaches in his restless exploration.
Chike Obeagu’s “All Things Bright and Beautiful” epitomizes his unique mixed media painting, largely made up of cut pieces of magazine papers collage painting which is fast becoming an identity. Obeagu who trained at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he obtained a BA and MFA degrees has won many art grants and awards and has participated in exhibitions, residencies, and workshops in Nigeria and abroad. Up-coming artist, Lanre Tejuoso studied Fine and Applied Art at University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Tejuoso has been working on sweet and chocolate wrappers as installation and painting material. “Food of Life” and “Joseph’s Cloth of Many Colours”, paintings on carton are part of his recent experiments.
The exhibition which is a blend of traditional painting and modern installation cum media art seems to be an indication of Coal City’s embracement of the new trends in contemporary art practice. While art sponsorship and patronage continue to dominate many art conferences and symposia, it is believed that the private sector (including the church) can rise to this challenge and bring succor to the arts, hoping for a rebirth of a profession that was once the pride of the nation. |
