By Japhet Alakam

THE great philosopher, Socrates after watching events in and around him, stated that, “an unexamined life is not worth living”  and it was on the basis of that philosophical statement that one of the leading artist in Nigeria,George Edozie, after looking at his artistic life since 18 years ago when he left the art school came out with his 4th solo exhibition titled Afro Love, an exhibition of new works.

Afro Love which can be seen as a retrospective exhibition by the 1996 Fine and Applied Arts graduate of University of Benin takes stock of the artistic life of Edozie, his challenges, life as a young painter, struggle for survival as an artist and other issues. It opened on 23 November at the Alexis Gallery, 282 Akin Olugbade Street, Victoria Island, Lagos and will run till November 30, 2013.

The exhibition which was graced by top art promoters, collectors and followers of Edozie’s works featured about 22 works, 20 paintings that comes with different messages and two sculptural pieces. Edozie who confessed that he is worried about things that happen around him, unlike his contemporaries who dwelt on the market scenes stated that  his ideology now is that “Art is a universal language which cut across different cultures or races.

*10 faces of Onyeoma, 10 panels, one of the works exhibited by George Edozie

“This I have experienced over the years that people acquire works of Art without knowing the Artist’s cultural back ground, not speaking the same language with the Artist or understanding the symbols and designs in the work but goes ahead to acquire the work because it makes an impression on them.”

Afro Love according to him, depicts the life of a creative person [Artist] his struggles, his family and love life, social and economic factors, the society he lives in, how it affects his life as an Artist, the challenges of an artist living in Africa.

A closer look at some of the works reveals his visual interpretation of those things that have transpired in the course of his work as an artist. For example, Negro Couples, that looks at the challenges of African man, The death of a monk, Eko sikwali ike, (Lagos is tough but people still survive); City girls 1&2, Annunciation 1&2, 10 faces of Onyeoma and others. According to him, these works depict some of the things that he experienced as an artist practicing in an unhealthy environment.

Apart from the paintings which were done in varied media that brought out the creative ingenuity of Edozie, one other striking feature about the exhibition is the inclusion of sculptural works which he is exhibiting for the first time. The sculptures which are made of fabrics like the paintings also speak volumes of the theme, for example  The VIP, a conversation piece with five piece standing looking up to the head, depicting the subsidy wahala in the country, how some wealthy individuals milk the masses.

In all of this , the artist gives credit to the African artists that work under such harsh environment but still creates good works that compete with works done outside. This he likened to their love for the land.

Afro Love which is co-curated by George Edozie and Patty Chidiac Masttrogiannis is sponsored by

Veuve Clicquot, The homestores, Chocolate Royal , Arra Vineyards, Avenue suits, Cool FM, Wazobia FM, Nigeria Info.