FUNSHO AROGUNDADE
Mr. Steve Ayorinde (3rd Left) Mrs Sinmidele Adesanya (M), Prof. Abass (3rd Right), Bolanle Austen-Peters and others at the press conference
On Friday 27 January, the First Eko Art Expo to honour the late Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi, who was a playwright and one of the notable art collectors in the country, will open at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The three-day exhibition, starting Friday 27 January and run till Sunday 29 January, being organized by the Lagos State government in collaboration with some galleries and art foundations in the State, will also be an annual expo to immortalise Gbadamosi, who has been described as one of the founding fathers of modern day Lagos.
Speaking on Saturday at a press conference held at Terra Kulture, Lagos, Steve Ayorinde, Lagos State Commissioner For Information and Strategy, said the State government is organising the Expo to honour Chief Gbadamosi, who served as the co-chairman of the Lagos @ 50 Planning Committee before his death in November 2016.
He also noted that the Expo will also be used as a build-up for Lagos @50 celebrations which started in May 2016 as a one-year long anniversary that will culminate in a grand multiple days ceremony in May this year.
‘The expo is a demonstration of Governor Ambode’s great vision for the arts and creative workers in Lagos State and his plan to always avail them of space for expression and institutional support from government and Corporate Lagos,” Ayorinde said.
In November last year, Governor Ambode, at a reception organised by the state government in honour of late Gbadamosi in Ikeja, said that in view of the deceased’s love for arts, the state government would intensify initiatives to promote arts more than ever, starting with arts exhibition early this year.
Also speaking at the press briefing, Prof. Ademola Abass, Governor Ambode’s Special Adviser on Overseas Affairs and Investment said that since the whole essence of Lagos @50 celebrations is to celebrate the sights and sounds of Lagos, there is no one best qualify to personify the whole events than late Chief Gbadamosi.
He reiterated Governor Ambode’s great vision for the arts and creative workers in Lagos State and his plan to always avail them of space for expression and institutional support from government and Corporate Lagos.
“ Last year, we went to Brussels with the governor of Lagos State and we saw what Azu Nwagbologu did in showcasing Lagos State. It was amazing what he did in showcasing Lagos State. We need to uplift the creative industry as a whole so as to promote what we have to the world. We are going to help in promoting every stratum of people in the creative sector,” Abass said.
Meanwhile, the Expo has started gathering momentum as gallery owners, artists and art students all over Lagos submit artworks and warm up to the three-day exhibition.
In his contribution, Azu Nwagbologu, the Curator of the exhibition, said that the creative industry needed a boost for it to grow and pay the practitioners.
“We are always clamouring for us and government to meet. The man we are celebrating, Chief Gbadamosi, had been a very generous man and a great man when it comes to arts support,” he said.
Mr. Ayorinde said about 400 artworks and photographs will be on display at the exhibition which will be declared opened by the governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, together with the Chairman of the Lagos @ 50 Planning Committee, Prof. Wole Soyinka.
He said the exhibition will be curated by respected lawyer, art collector and owner of Mydrim Gallery, Mrs. Sinmidele Adesanya, while the Director of African Artists Foundation, Mr. Azu Nwagbogu, will curate the photographic component of the expo.
Ayorinde explained that the exhibition will be curated along three segments: the photographic part, which is a recreation of the works of several Nigerian artists that were exhibited at the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels, Belgium (Bozar) where Governor Ambode was a special guest in 2016.
“One hundred photographic artworks from that Bozar exhibition showing different aspects of Lagos under the theme “Dey Your Lane” will be on display at the Eko Art Expo in Lagos,” he said.
The expo is also composed of two more segments where paintings, sculptures and installations by students selected from various higher institutions in Lagos State; galleries, well known masters as well as less familiar emerging artists will be on display for three days.
“We are happy to learn that the art community in Lagos State has warmed up to the forthcoming expo. It is gladdening to note that hundreds of works have been screened from students and individual artists and the very best selected for the exhibition.
“This shows that visual artists, gallery owners and arts collectors in Lagos State, like their counter-parts in music and motion picture industry, have also keyed into Governor Ambode’s vision to use art, culture, entertainment and hospitality to promote Lagos State as the hub of creative arts and tourism in Africa.”
The commissioner added that next Friday’s opening ceremony of the exhibition will also witness a dance production by QDance Centre titled “Iwa Lewa” as well as oral poetry performances.
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