By Prisca Sam-Duru

The months of October, November and December are expected to be such exciting periods at the LVI Art Gallery and Cultural Nexus, with the upcoming life demonstration and creation of paintings. There will also be an immediate exhibition of artworks produced at the gallery.

While the art event is tagged “The Hand that Creates the Masterpiece”, the artworks to be produced by the artists are to be themed around; “My Beautiful Nigeria”.

The participants are required to paint any aspect of Nigeria’s way of life, people or activities showing positives and potential of the country. The works can be in abstract, realism or any forms except digital art.

Announcing the readiness of LVI Art gallery and Cultural Nexus to host the life demonstration and creation of paintings, the Chief Executive Officer of the outfit, Julius Iyighiojie, said the art exhibition is designed to showcase nothing less than Nigeria’s beauty.

Iyighiojie, a renowned art collector stated also that the exhibition, starting from October 4, 2024 in Lagos, will enlighten Nigerians and the global community on the unique beauty and tourism potential the nation is endowed with.

He hinted that the exhibition, which will be in three phases- 4th, 5th, & 6th October; 1st, 2nd & 3rd November, and 6th, 7th & 8th December, will feature no fewer than 60 emerging artists with 20 participating in each month.

According to him, the programme was designed as a way to assist the artists to gain visibility both for themselves and their works.

His words; “Nigeria has all it takes to be big in tourism; this is an exhibition that is meant to expose people to the beauty of Nigeria.

The exhibition would run as a live demonstration by artists engaging in painting on acrylic while the exhibition of those paintings will also run concurrently.

This is my way of deliberately promoting the young artists who have no means to hold exhibitions and it is also planned to achieve my desire of showcasing the beauty of Nigeria to spur tourism. Within the three days for each month, the artists are meant to produce a maximum of three paintings that will explore the theme for the exhibition.”

According to Iyighiojie, only Nigerian visual artists who are painters with Ordinary National Diploma (OND), Higher National Diploma (HND), B.A or M.A in arts and designs are eligible to indicate interest in participating in the exhibition, adding that all paintings will be done on acrylic because of its environmental friendly nature and for fact that it dries faster.

He also disclosed that a catalogue of the art works created within the three months would be produced for the purpose of documentation and distributed to museums and ministries for proper promotion.

“All art works are to be produced and completed at the exhibition arena and each artist is to produce 3 art works within the exhibition period.

This will be a regular practice going forward. I want to see Nigerian emerging artists coming out from obscurity to fame.

We are going to ensure that the works produced are sold during the exhibition and the artists will have the opportunity to continue to exhibit their works in my gallery, even after the exhibition period,” he stated.