By JAPHET  ALAKAM

It was indeed a unique exhibition, the first of its kind as Omenka gallery, as part of its bid to put art works in many homes in collaboration with Svengali Designs, a notable furniture home last week organised an exhibition tagged  Convergence: an exhibition of art and design objects.

The exhibition which opened on the 15th  of December at  Svengali Home in Victoria Island, Lagos can be described as another creative way of bringing the two creative products, art works and design pieces in one platform as virtually all the floors were adorned with artistically designed furniture and art works.

*The checkered Hat by Gary Stephens

The opening which was well attended by many notable Nigerians, captains of industry, art lovers and others saw the people jostling for works to buy.  Viewers were welcomed to the floor of the house with beautiful furniture designs, while the first floor saw a marriage of furniture and some art works, the Pent floor was filled with specially selected art works from Omenka gallery and some selected furniture designs.

The exhibition featured about 15 works from different artists. Some of the works include: Teddy Sideview, The Checkered Hat by  American Gary Stephens, Excellencies, Unity in Progress, Stepping Stone by Fidelis Odogwu, Head, Lady, Black Series by Duke Asidere,   Blue Abstract by Olu Ajayi, Beneath The Veil, Lets discuss about Nigeria by Zinno Orara and Interdependency, I know your mind by Ghanian Kofi Agorsor.

In his comments, Oliver Enwonwu, Chief Executive Officer of Omenka gallery and President of Society of Nigeria Art (SNA)  said that  the exhibition was a joint collaboration between Svengali designs and Omenka gallery and the first of its kind.

“we are trying to see how art can be used positively to shape the society. Art is just more than decorative needs and there are different types of creativity and we feel that the better we merge the two for the industry the better for Nigeria because both are very strong foreign exchange and economic potential earner”. He said.

Anselem Tabansi, the Chief Executive Officer of Svengali Designs and President of Interior Designers Association of Nigeria (IDAN) was also of the view that the idea was to bring together an art form that people are very familiar with, art works for the home and also furniture pieces for the home.

According to him, “you obviously know that you can’t have an interior with furniture without things that adorn the house which are artworks. So, convergence is basically a creative way of bringing the two art pieces together, art works and design pieces in one platform”.