By Taiye Olayemi
Julius Iyighiojie, Chief Executive Officer, LVI Art Gallery and Cultural Nexus, says all is set to unveil an art exhibition to showcase Nigeria’s beauty.
Iyighiojie, an Art Collector and convener of the exhibition, disclosed this during a news conference in Lagos on Thursday.
He said the exhibition, starting from Oct. 4 in Lagos. would enlighten Nigerians and the global community on the unique beauty and tourism potential the nation was endowed with.
He noted that the exhibition, with the theme:”The Hand that Creates the Masterpiece”, would have emerging artists produce paintings that explored the theme as well as the beauty of Nigeria.
He said that the exhibition, which would be in three phases- from October, November to December, would have no fewer than 60 emerging artists participate, 20 for each month.
According to him, this is his own way of assisting the artists to gain personal visibility as well as for their works.
“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 of artists engaging in painting on acrylic while the exhibition of those paintings would 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.
“The October session will run from 4th to 6th, November edition will hold from 1st to 3rd while the December session will run from 6th to 8th.
“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,” he said.
According to Iyighiojie, Nigerian visual artists 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.
He said all paintings would be done on acrylic because of its environmental friendly nature and quickness to getting dry.
According to him, a catalogue of the art works created within the three months would be produced for the purpose of documentation and it would be distributed to museums and ministries for proper promotion.
“All art work 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 of 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 said. (NAN) (nannews.ng)
Edited by Vivian Ihechu
