By JAPHET ALAKAM

One of the greatest problems facing

African societies is the craze for European cultures at the expense of theirs. This is evident in the high level of western encroachment on the rural lifestyle of the people. But ordinarily, it is not supposed to be so as there are many positive values in some African cultures, hence the need to preserve and document them for posterity.

It is on the basis of this understanding that Phillips Lexie Nzekwe Okai, an Asaba based sculptor organised a solo exhibition of plastic arts that seeks to restore the vanishing indigenous culture.

The exhibition titled Perspectives; an exhibition of plastic arts opened at the Quintessence Gallery, Falomo on June 16 and will ran till 30th June, 2012.

The show which was declared open by art loving monarch, Igwe Alfred Achebe will featured about 25 pieces including; 23 stunning sculptural works and 2 paintings that depict aspects of African cultures. A preview of the works shows an array of sculptural pieces that represent the passion, love, agitation, outburst and agonies of Nigerians in everyday life.

The works are semi-abstract of human figures, landscapes, and animals. In the works, one finds a lot of intellectual puzzles aroused by the works and also sees the desire to expand the understanding and appreciation of the subject matters even as the artist draws his energy from a supportive environment.

*Midnight Dance, one of the works exhibited by Philipps

The artist,who is currently the chief resident sculptor at Akademik Studios of Arts in Asaba and is presently pursuing a doctorate programme in Studio (sculpture) in Delta State University, Abraka says that the whole idea is an attempt to use plastic arts as a medium of looking into the African past, talking about the present and trying to create a future direction for Africa in the 21st century.

According to Philips, “Looking around our environment, we see culture that is fast disappearing and I see the African people losing their identity.” Through his visual effort, he tries to solicit for a marriage of the traditional African values that are positive with equally some western values adding that, “because we also need the computers, we need good cars and all the latest technology in the world. Even as artists, we need these technologies to be able to work.”

The artist further disclosed that he was inspired by the environment he found himself.”We have a very big forest in my area in Asaba. So, I decided to harness the resources in the forest to create my sculptural pieces and also to document most of these things before the trees in this jungle go extinct.

Continuing he said :“I also looked at the environment and I discovered that we have a lot of waste like sawdust, sand, plastic, bronzes and brasses that could be harnessed and so I decided on how I could put all these things together to create my sculptures in mixed media.

“It is my own picture of my environment, which I have been able to put together. It is the way I see the world around me and have decided to document that.”

The works were in two and three dimensions of wood and mixed media. The entire exhibition was three-fold. First phase, THE PAGENT I and II are rites and festivals in exaggerated forms, which inform the viewer about traditional ways of life in the past and the present. Second, the MOOD forms which represents the economic woes the nation is facing and the RE-ENACTMENT series that pushes the need for people to reconstruct the world.