By Chris Onuoha

It was a show of creative ingenuity and a passionate drive to stand out as young artists who had gone beyond the normal use of art materials to a mastery exploitation of all sorts of mediums within reach to tell a story in a visual format.

While art works are formally done with conventional materials, today’s contemporaries are harping into any reachable object to create images that depict the feelings and perception of the current day events as seen by them.

This was what eight former students of Federal College of Education (Technical) Akoka, Lagos that formed the nucleus of this vibrant art group called ‘De-class’ did when they exhibited at Reconnect Art Gallery in Lagos recently. In the exhibition tagged: ‘Esusu’ meaning Unity, the artists, made of up Agbabiaka Sherifdeen, Ogunkunle Niyi, Oduntan Gbemisola, Oluwatosin Omotoyi, Okuguni Charles, Odupitan Paul, Idowu Ibrahim and Abel Ayodele through the body of works displayed preached on the need for unity that signifies the strength in unity in the country.

From the 31 works exhibited, the artists moved in the right direction as they showcase their individual talents and styles; exploring cultural, social and religious themes. Some of the works on display were, ‘Isokan’ and ‘Friendship’ a mixed media by Sherifdeen, ‘Esusu’ pencil on paper done by Oluwatosin, ‘One Nation’ by Odupitan and ‘Unity’ by Ayodeji among others. Their styles, colours and vendation depict their message which ranges from realism to total abstraction.

The former Dean, Vocational Education, FCE (Technical) Akoka, Ademola Azeez, who was the chairman of the event could not hide his excitement seeing his former students perform wonderfully in an exhibition he termed masterpiece. He said ‘Esusu’ a Yoruba word meaning ‘broom’, is something that has gathered and united together, symbolically signifying togetherness and this is the strength of the young artists, coming together to put a successful exhibition.

Azeez said “The artists, who are my former students, showcased what we have given them through serious learning and training and I am happy they are doing well. What you are seeing today are some of the best among our trained professionals in art.

The works are attractive and beautiful, I encourage the public to collect these works. Meanwhile, he advised them to put more effort in their works saying, “Aside being appealing, the works should send more messages to the public. It should portray the society we are living in.”

The highly inspired artists through their coordinator, Agbabiaka Sherifdeen said “Seeing what we have today is an improvement in our creative ingenuity and talent development compared to the recent ones we had with both Life In My City Festival, LIMCAF and Alliance Francaise Workshops. This is the second art exhibition I am having after LIMCAF in the year 2014. We are highly inspired by the people who see the bright future in us and encouraged us to move on with that unflinching spirit.” He added.