By  JAPHET ALAKAM

After series of events in the first quarter of the year, the famous Omenka gallery opened its exhibition for the year with a solo exhibition by one of the most exciting sculptors in Nigeria and a lecturer at Yaba College of Technology, Mr Adeola Balogun.

work of Adeola

The exhibition tagged Soundspiration, an exhibition of sculptures and sound installations  which was held recently offered the artist another opportunity to examine the wide variety of media which he manipulates.

Balogun who belongs to an exceptional generation of artists firmly establishing themselves on the Lagos exhibition circuit with their embrace of unconventional media and techniques, and their interrogation of the larger society in this exhibition,  looked at human forms in musical performances.

In it, Balogun’s exploit takes the built sculpture to an intriguing level, which involves a fusion of casting, construction, assemblage as well as repurposing of found objects. He also devised new ways of using traditional materials and techniques to give the viewer aesthetic and emotional experiences.

The body of works featured largely contorted forms of musicians and dancers who handle real musical instruments such as the violin, saxophone and talking-drums in (simulated) performance, underscoring the artist’s enchantment over the years with music as the vehicle of thoughtful reflection.

It also featured hanging sculptures in relief, embellished with paint that blurs the boundaries between painting and sculpture betraying the artist’s mastery of both genres. The show which featured about 32 works can be described as a visual interpretation to the musical instruments and musicians.  

Going through the works displayed at the gallery, one will be captivated by the various musical instruments, the musicians, dancers and others that takes one back to the good old days when music comes from the people that matters and heals the soul. Apart from creating forms, his exploits with musical instruments in this show highlight the beauty in good sound sound as well as draw attention to the dangers in sound or noise pollution.  Also of special interest is the creative ingenuity of the artist, his ability to use the various discarded materials to come out with something meaningful, thereby helping to keep the environment clean.

Each separate component – the tyre, musical instrument and sound, contributes layers of meanings to establish several possibilities in interpreting the works, which on first impression seem almost folkloric.  Some of the works include: Roses for them; Inner Sanctum 1&2; I want to know; Self Healing; Ever green Re-mixed; Diva; Vestiges of Dad’s gramaphone; Without Wings and others.

Speaking about the works, Balogun who disclosed that the project started since 1995 when he came across a broken trumpet horn and decided to look on it said that it is about sound and what sound can do. Sound according to him is God because the world was created with sound and is the greatest of all the senses hence he tries to present it in many series as the greatest. The first series deals with the musical instruments while the second deals with the performers and its impact on human form. “Just look at music on the ground or the type of music we listen to in our society today before the lyrics have moral values but now it is just sounds with out any message.”

Continuing, he stated that “it is just about being conscious of the sound, we just allow the music to penetrate into our mind and through that most of us are influenced by what we hear. Some are very inspiring while some are not. The decibel level and arrangement of a sound will define it as noisy or musical. Deafening sound is continuously generated in our environment, which inflicts serious health hazards on people. It is imperative and pertinent to reduce noise in whatever guise for a saner society,” he added.