By JAPHET ALAKAM

Chief Solomon Ogbonna is a Lagos-based art collector and Chairman, Board of Trustees, Aguene Art Foundation. His love for art is so great that apart from the art works he inherited from his late father, he also bought that of his siblings, no wander his house in the Ajah area of Lagos, is home to hundreds of art works across various media. But, despite all his exploits, Ogbonna is not happy with the government and the way they are handling art business in Nigeria.

In his interaction with the reporter, he decries lack of support from government, poor art appreciation in Nigeria and also calls for the building of standard museums in the country.

“I believe that art is a form of culture and an extension of the mind and reasoning of the spirit. I am an advocate for the customs and traditions of Africans, and I am convinced that nothing will strengthen a people as much as a proper appreciation and understanding of their own history as recorded by their own people in their own language,” Ogbonna says.

He stated that if he has his way, one of the biggest and best museums in the world would be in Nigeria. He believes strongly that the country is so blessed with rich arts and cultural heritage that are not being given due attention. Indeed, one of the things that have continued to surprise him is why government, especially the governors are paying lip service to Nigeria’s art and culture?

“It is a shame that most of the states in Nigeria, despite the rich cultural heritage and artifacts in them, yet the country cannot boast of any standard museum that can showcase their ancient or modern arts or compete favourably with museums in other parts of the world. Rather, our sons and daughters travel to the western countries and are proud to flaunt it that they saw one, two or more art works of their tribes on display in various museums abroad, that are raking in money for these western countries. It is a known fact that Nigerian art works do not serve decorative purposes alone, apart from being priceless, they also convey important messages to the people, especially bronze, copper and wood works, which have been rated in the world as the best and most valuable African art.”

According to him, “Our leaders should know that setting up a standard museum that will attract tourists from all over the world is not about a certificate or how educated one is. It is also not about appointing a friend or relation who has no interest or knowledge in, or love and passion for art and tradition as a Commissioner or Minister.

It is also pertinent know that no one can govern his people without having a clear knowledge of their art, culture and tradition,” Ogbonna said.

He recalled that the preservation of art, culture and the tradition of the people is a passion in his family, pointing out that the Aguene Art Foundation which he established is a product of his love for art. “We launched the foundation about two years ago, specifically, on August 21, 2013. I want to use this foundation to help young artists who are talented but do not have the material to showcase and expose their talent to the world. The foundation will help them with their creativity and make them independent, and also serve as a medium to empower students who are talented – in primary and secondary schools and also in higher institutions.

“I have over 6700 arts works including modern and ancient arts, bronze, bead works, wood carvings, paintings, batiks, ceramics, fibre glass works, some of them dates to 200 years ago. I have some terracotta (Nok Culture) works that are about 2000 years old.”

So, is he just collecting art works just for its appreciation and documentation or is he also thinking of making money from them?

“For the modern works, yes,” he said. “I can commission specific works for people to buy. For such work I also personally supervise them to make it special, make it different. What I do with most modern works that I commission, I don’t use one artist. Sometimes one artist could do a work to a particular stage and I will tell the artist to stop so that someone else will touch it. So you cannot claim the work, also you cannot copy the work.”

“I hope to hold the first exhibition of most modern works I have collected for over two years. The exhibition will hold here in my house in April this year. The works for the exhibition will be limited to those I collected from two years ago till date,” he said, adding, however, that the works are not for sale. “The works are just for people to see.”