By Japhet Davidson

It was another enthralling and entertaining experience last weekend as one of Nigeria’s contemporary artists, Sylvester Aguddah took many art promoters, collectors and lovers of good work through his recent works in his latest solo exhibition tagged Art of Heart.

The exhibition which opened on 29^th of July ended on 31^st of July at the art friendly hotel, Radisson Blu Ikeja.

The three day exhibition featured over 60 works, 40 recent works and 20 old ones expressed in different media including collage art, mixed media, metal string art, wood art and wearable art.
The works explore unconventional conceptions of love manifested across the realms of human experience, the likes of beauty, hope, God, religious tolerance, life celebrations, cultures amongst others. As love is one strong message the artist likes to share, the messages in the works here implore us to genuinely feel or explore humanity more as we could cooperatively move in the ‘better’ direction that we want. In the end, it is only one race; the human race.

Some of the works include, Pears; Praise singers, Gist lovers; Away from home; Mikmaid; Permanence; The Prince Jug; Ore meta; Whispers etc.

Apart from the art works, as usual there were the crafts and ornaments section that houses the beads, necklaces, earrings, belts, handbags, local mirror stand etc. Another section also housed the well designed artistic shirts in vibrant colours.

Speaking about the theme of the exhibition,Art of heart, the self taught artist explained that, “I felt art is healing and for a creative person, the depth of a work comes from within. When you put your heart on a work, you make sure you achieve success. For creativity, finishing is very key so if you put your heart on it, it will be a success”.

On the works, Aguddah said, “I am also using this medium to encourage people to be positive in spite of all the challenges. With what is going on now in Nigeria and the world, a lot of people are discouraged, people are depressed, so I am taking time to make art pieces that will encourage people psychologically.

To birth an idea is divine, for me my inspiration comes from God, what I want to draw, the message, the medium, style are all the things I feel God has helped me to achieve. Completing every piece is key, sometimes when you get an idea, it takes grace of God to complete it. So I thank God for my creativity, my talent especially being a self taught artist and that is why I call myself a ‘Self taught artist’.

My prayer is that I tell more African stories to encourage people and to keep a history of our culture alive.”

A look at some of the works speaks volume of what the artist said as about 15 works depict this, talking about relationship, love, human existence(conception), unity, strength from diversity and to buttress the point that the most important on earth is the human race, a heart of love and their ability to stand strong in the face of challenges.

On the visibility of the colours, “I love colours enough and that is why a lot of vibrant colours were used in the works. I also made many works in mask faces, masquerades bring fear but I used the mask to tell people that they can conquer their fear. Behind the stories is the story of success, motivation etc.”

Also speaking about the works, a Chinese national, Manoj Sharma, who happens to be a first timer to an exhibition said, “Wonderful, this my first time of coming to an exhibition, it is very interesting. Nigerians are very artistic in nature, they express themselves freely and art is one of the ways, like this master piece, Circle of kindness, the guy is talking about circle of kindness, if you are in the circle, you are humane but outside it you are doomed. Look at the other work the artist made with waste pieces, it shows that in life every thing is useful, it depends on how to use it. Life is about resources to do greater advantage. Art can be an inspiration. It is great, I love the works.”