FOR THE PAST TEN YEARS
Introduction
John Adenle is a relatively new name in Solo art exhibition in Nigeria,
although he has partaken in several group and joint exhibitions. He is
an artist with an insatiable appetite for creative ventures, especially
in the visual arts. He is a sculptor, textile designer graphic designer
and musician whose involvements in a host of other disciplines in the
past ten years, qualify him for a eulogy. His exhibits are testimonies
to his limitless prowess in creative enterprise, especially in the
visual arts. Adenle’s experimentation with “wastes”, especially
plastics, is a new dimension in installation art in Nigeria.
His language is abstraction, and this is employed with such a passion
that his bias is non-pretentious. To him, abstraction seems to be the
bases, the beginning and essence of his art. His robust romance with the
materials led to the distillation of his visual concepts, concretized
visual images that are unique and attention-arresting. They make you
feel that you are in an industrialized country whose by-products should
be recycled and adapted to both internal and external embellishments.
What is Plastic?
A
plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic
organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics
are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other
substances to improve performance and /or reduce production costs.
Monomers of plastics are either natural or synthetic organic compounds.
The word plastic comes from the Greek, plastikos, meaning
moulded. It refers to their malleability, or plasticity during
manufacture, that allows them to be cast, pressed, or extruded into a
variety of shapes – such as films, fibers, plates, tubes, bottles, boxes
and much more.
There
are two types of plastics: thermoplastics and thermosetting polymers.
Thermoplastics are the plastics that do not undergo chemical change in
their composition when heated and can be moulded again and again;
examples are polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and
polytetrafluoroethylene, (PTFE). Thermosets can melt and take shape
once; after they have solidified, they stay solid. These various
plastics, Adenle sourced and used.
His Adaptations
The
only thing that is permanent is change. This is due to the fact that
changes occur every second of a person’s life. So, one has to adapt to
such changes if one wishes to survive, especially in this austere time.
Adenle
started adapting to different environments after leaving the
university. With time, he appeared to be the victim of a triumvirate,
personified in El Anatsui, Lanre Tejuoso and Raqib Bashorun. The
influences of this trio, appear to be more on inspirational rather than
on stylistics. For instance, Tejuoso was his student and friend while
Anatsui was one of his mentors during his post-graduate studies at the University of Nigeria.
Tejuoso makes use of unimaginable, recyclable objects for his
installation art. So far, he has been able to show, through his
experiments, that he has more than a fair share of the human intellect
in installation art. Anatsui analyses and synthesizes his poems using
wood and other extraneous adaptable materials for his works while
Bashorun, whose overwhelming influence in art is felt in the South West
of Nigeria and else where must, have influenced Adenle also, especially
when one considers the fact that both of them are multi-talented artists
whose quests for exploration, experimentation and exploitation of
media, in
the art of installations, are worth giving attention to. Both of them
have visual expressions on wood, but Raqid would prefer low reliefs with
organic linearity as embellishments while most of Adenle’s expressions
on wood reflect his romance with El Anatsui.
However, a closer look at some of Bashorun’s metal installations, (Art Beat II, Light Attraction, Symbiotic, and Unity in Progress)
albeit, have some similarities in visual arrangement, the ones of
Adenle are adapted from plastics from the industries. Plastic from
automobiles appears to be his preference and these he used in abstract
forms.
Generally, it is believed that traditional Africa
has artistic creations, especially the three-dimensional ones that
respond creatively to the high philosophy of non-figuration,
symbolization, interpretation, reorganization, perceptualization or
conceptualization of nature or subject. (Oloidi, 2008). Adenle’s works are also found within this confine.
This
artist’s works remind one of the Dada movement which pioneered the use
of new artistic techniques such as collage, photomontage, ready-mades
and the use of found objects. Artists like Marcel Duchamp, Hannah Hoch,
Kurt Schwitters, Francis Picabia, Man Ray and others, often used
everyday objects that were combined with more conventional art
materials. Some of the objects used include panes of glass picture
frames, metal pipes, bicycle wheels and other objects. Some innovations
concerning materials used in art merely function in a supportive way,
and other innovative materials are much more conspicuous.
The advent of Modernism and Modern art in the first decades of the 20th
century inspired artists to test and transcend the boundaries and the
limitations of the traditional and conventional forms of art making in
search of newer forms and in search of new materials. The innovations of
artists like Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, Georges
Seurat, Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, and the French Symbolists provided
essential inspiration for the development of modern art by the younger
generation of artists in Paris and else where in Europe.
Innovations
in the creation of art forms, techniques and styles are believed to be
the result of inadvertent artistic experiments by individual or group of
artists. Like most artists, Adenle’s training has made him to be so
thoughtful that his perceptive imagination propels him to conceive
unusual forms that he expresses with media and technique within his
reach.
The 20th
century heralded use of plastic in art, however, the plastic making
technology started in the latter half of that century and this
encouraged artists to start using plastic as a medium. The use of adaptable materials in visual arts have attracted lots of interests across different parts of the world. Art Therapy with Plastic Bottle Caps by Todays Ellen, Aylingreen’s Recycled Bottled Whirligig, and Bent Bottle: Recycled Glass Art by Bryan Northup are good examples. Others are Recycling of Plastic Bags to Make Jewelry by Sarahg and Radical Recycks’ Plastic Bottle Flower Key Chain.
Although the above mentioned individuals have experimented with, and
exploited adaptable objects including plastics in their creative
endeavours, theirs are mainly utilitarian, which are purely crafts.
Adenle appears to have focused on the creation of forms with aesthetic
wonders, but visual commentaries on his immediate and remote
environments are plausible.
Shapes and Sense
Looking
at the structure of his adaptation, a mixture of geometric and organic
shapes juxtapose and superimpose to form a visually pleasant and
acceptable whole. He was able to do these through processes of melting,
gluing, and general assemblages. Some of these works have all the relief
features of low, medium and high, which are achieved through drills,
engraving, grating, burning, and bolting. These combinations of parts of
different plastics find parallel in some African sculptures, especially
in the West African sub-region. Sometime, these combinations produce
shadows which add solidity and embellishment to each of the
compositions.
Thematically, the exhibition is adaptation,
which concentrates on adaptability of the formal structure on the
objects. In order for the audience to have a complete appreciation of
the works, it must perceive and analyze the arrangement in order to
comprehend the necessity for making use of available tools to satisfy
contemporary creative tastes. It is at that juncture, the on-looker will
be able to make meaningful responses to the exhibits.
Formalistically
Adenle’s adaptations have lots of technicalities that could inhibit the
uninitiated-artist-to-be’s appreciation of these works. Some works
created from the adapted plastics have recognizable shapes that the
on-looker could give a personal interpretation, since it is the hope of
the artist that members of the audience should be able to have enjoyment
from what they see and feel. Although, like most artists, Adenle’s
adaptations could pass messages on what is happening in his environment –
social, religious, economic, political, etc., most times, the viewer is
allowed to have his or her full aesthetic enjoyment, depending on how
visually informed he or she is.
One
of the works looks like a dare-devil suicide bomber who is ready to go
to any length to achieve his unpopular mission. The object, though made
of found plastic, looks like a man with head partly covered with a
net-like face cap. The face has sunken eyes, a drooping nose and a mouth
which appears chewing some intoxicants. Another object reminds one of
the appearances of blown limbs from a Boko Haram’s
dastardly act. The details of such limbs are conspicuously missing.
Still related to the unpopular acts of the restive people in the
northern parts of Nigeria, is the stylized map of Nigeria, with the
rivers Niger and Benue shrinking or appearing to dry up because their
‘arms’ in the north have been atrophied. It may symbolize withdrawal of
non-indigenes from the northern states. The application of colours in
this composition, probably, reflects on the varieties of the rich
culture in Nigeria,
which every Nigerian should be proud of. Yet another thought-provoking
composition in his adapted plastic is a composition that has a cluster
of two visible abstracted women trying to flee from their immediate
environments. All around them appear to be littered with dead bodies, an
aftermath of uncontrolled emotion.
Other people with similar destructive tendencies living in the southern parts of Nigeria
were not spared, because some of his adapted compositions show visible
pipes used for the siphoning of our crude oil in the creeks and their
attendant consequences. The pipes, which are of different shapes and
sizes are arranged in such a way that they remind one of aggressive
militants. The punctuation of the generally dark colours of the plastic
by contrasting ones helps to direct the on-looker to the point of
interest on the composition.
Adenle’s
adaptations are not used mainly to show the ugly sides of our nation,
for one of the compositions could be described as a symbolic
representation of the present president consulting with some northern
elders over what appears to be endless killings and maiming in that part
of the country. While the president appears to be in a mournful state,
others around him appear flamboyantly dressed. The truth is that unity
is a holistic issue and should be addressed as such. Adenle, who is
sensitive to the socio-cultural problems of Nigeria, has used the deep
conviction of his Christian background to appeal to all Nigerian to have
a change of heart so that it could become a nation that people, the
world over would cherish to live in.
Additionally,
the inclusion of technical department in some Colleges of Education,
and hopefully, where Adenle lectures, would heighten his aspiration in
his new found love for adaptations. Consequently his self-actualization
would have been fulfilled, while those of us, his colleagues, would
happily share in his euphoria. May you soar to the zenith of visual
exploits and use your art to make our society, a better place to live
in.
REFERENCES
Adams, S.L. (1999), Art Across Time, New York, McGraw Hill Co.llege
Oloidi, Ola, 2008, Philosophical and Ideological Triumvirate: Schools, Discourse and Styles in Schools and Movements in Modern Nigerian Art, Abuja, National Gallery of ;Art.
Raqib Bashorun, (2006), Unframed, Untamed Designs, Exhibition of Product Designs
Raqib Bashorun, (2008) Punctuation: An Exit Exhibition Catalogue
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/plastics_in_art
Geoffrey Aje Arueyingho (Ph.D)
Fine and Applied Arts Department,
Federal College of Education,
Abeokuta
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