BY PRISCA SAM-DURU, VISUAL ART

Bob Nosa Uwagboe penultimate week, at the African Artists Foundation(AAF), Ikoyi, threw the curtains open for an engaging solo exhibition titled ,Homme Libre. The artist, whose creative experiment in the past 7 years has resulted in thought provoking themes , also gave his audience an insight into moments of sparks of anger, pain, passion and vision that define the tenor of his art.

The Auchi Polytechnic trained painter, who hails from Edo state, just came back from Cameroon after a most successful exhibition , whose experiences partly form the basis for Homme Libre, an exhibition in which freedom is the watch word.

In his works,Uwagboe paints pictures representing vividly, his encounter in Cameroon as well as experiences that portray the level of degeneracy and decadence in the Nigerian society. He presents pictorial situations which are a caricature of human with angular square shoulders, dark frames that make them look like apes, works carefully created to portray the gradual lapse from social civility to barbarism.

 Paintings that exploys many materials

The exhibition of 27 paintings which employs materials that range from Mixed Media, Acrylic on Canvas, hair and rope has the following titles : The new human Abattoir, The Peaceful Protest for Global Security;

The strong, weak and the spectators; No more Vernacular; Play Mate; Oh Lord, reveal yourself to me; The Excpat gunman; The professionals’; The Decaying Head; Homme Libre; The Humanitarian (series); The Patriot(series) and others .

Apart from The New Human Abattoir which according to Nosa, tells the sad story of the slain Youth Corpers during the last post election violence in the North and the spate of recent killings and suicide bombings in the country, most interesting is ,The Patriot which is showcased in about four series and beams a critical light on the Nigerian Police Force.

The artist here, calls attention of the government to the spate of senseless and frequent killings in addition to the security crisis in the polity which is an evidence that the Force has not lived up to its billing.

While the last of The Patriot series is clearly a female officer by virtue of its reproductive organs, the artist, Nosa creatively tells his viewers that irrespective of the bad image being painted about the police that there are still committed officers and gentlemen in the Police Force.

The Painter’s experience in Cameroon is most evident in The Musik Man, a picture of a handicapped dancer in “clutches against whom the odds of survival were obviously high but who amazingly radiated confidence, optimism and character which many able-bodied men coveted”. Explaining the scenario, Nosa said he and other spectators were stunned with admiration at what they witnessed.

Both the handicapped dancer and his companion, a young girl, were totally consumed in the frenzy of the rhythms emanating from the musical instruments.

The intimacy that united the two was infectious and impressed Nosa such that it provided the inspiration for another painting on display in the hall which he titled ,Unconditional Love. That kind of love according to him, must transcend entertainment, owing to the remarkable intensity and purity that seemed to blossom between them which made him give Kudos to the girl for dedicating her love and entire life to her companion despite his physical impairment.

Nosa’s art is often delightfully lyrical in the sense that his audience readily feels his preoccupation with sociological issues rather than thematic depth on the altar of mere aesthetics. Feelings of Guilt, The Expert Gunman, The Humanitarian(series), The new human abattoir are classical examples of works that deal with discussions on topical issues at both local and international arenas.

The experiences of the artist in life, more especially the challenges he had to overcome right from child hood through the periods during which he searched for personal identity, are carefully dealt with in a unique piece titled, The Decaying head.

The medium is his first dread locks, ropes and acrylic. Commenting on this unique work, he said that he was in a dark period in which he discovered how unfortunate, misunderstood and unaccepted he had become which had a bad influence on his enthusiasm to pursue his dreams and destiny, hence, the decay.