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At the Alliance Francaise, Enugu, November
29 to December 3 witnessed a period of artistic stocktaking by a
sober Krydz Ikwuemesi. Obviously, Ikwuemesi in his artistic
journeys between 1990 to 2005 had experienced the travails of
one who has passed through a thorn-laden and scorpion-infested
landscape. This experience, has inspired him to come up with the
phrase, “on the road to Golgotha” as the theme of his show.
Interestingly, what struck me when I saw the caption were the
entertaining drums, which writers had beaten with the stick of
“Golgotha”. For examples Eric Osagie in a piece in Saturday Sun
of April 2, 2005 wrote a dramatic piece titled, “The road to
Golgotha” where he dwelled on the ignominious fall from grace to
grass of ‘Wabara’ and ‘Tafa’ as a journey through Golgotha.
Quoting Osagie, “… Golgotha is the land of dry bones and
stinking skulls. The land of loneliness. The land of no return.
Dead man’s paradise. The land of tears and tribulation. The land
of regrets. Waste land. A place to die”. On the opposite page of
the same newspaper, Femi Adesina still on ‘Wabara’ made a piece
captioned, ‘Wabara at Golgotha’. According to Adesina, “Golgotha
is the place where Jesus Christ was crucified, in-between two
thieves …. In Golgotha, there is no mercy. It is a place of
tears, sorrow and gnashing of teeth”, to say the least.
Comparatively, Ikwuemesi packaged paintings and drawings that
have duplicated the above extracts of Osagie and Adesina this
time in relating his own ordeal and perhaps our ordeal in the
Nigerian nation. What evolve as titles of Ikwuemesi’s paintings
are corrosive testimonies of phrases that sound like Golgotha
itself. We see words that have macabre sounds of apocalypse. No
mellifluous sounds. For example, we have titles like, “On
oracles and dictators”, “To steal and persecute with impunity”,
“So help us God”, “A parliament of vultures”, “In the heart of
Golgotha”, “And the Elephants pounded the earth”, to mention but
a few. Most of the works are rendered in either pastel, ink,
water colour or oil. Stylistically, Ikwuemesi is a disciple of
eclecticism having allowed his ardent courtship with Uli to
receive a slight novelty. Some old master’s influences are still
very visible. For instance, “A parliament of vultures” may be
mistaken for an Obiora Udechukwu’s hand. Yet works, like “In the
name of God”, strikes one with a weird unique revelation. The
impasto patches on which the spider – like creature trails may
have been achieved by a bold manipulation of palette knife.
Perhaps the work intends to fault the style of present day
Christianity which has bastardized people’s idea of God; a God
that has been roped into numerous improprieties by the so-called
“men of God”. Another work titled “and the Elephants pounded the
earth” again unveils a masterful handling of colours. At first
glance and even second or third glance one continues to ask,
“What is that thing on the ground floor of the work? The
creature looks like a monster, or a pummeled earth. The
overwhelming influence of red has a foreboding impression that
all is not well with that land. A mass of red quickly overruns
the sky, punctuated with a patch of yellow, leaving an obscure
earth with a monstrous creature(s). One may ask, “Who are the
elephants? And how have these elephants pounded the earth? Who
are the victims of the pounded earth? Well, whatever your
answers may be, they may be as good as mine but one thing is
certain, Krydz Ikwuemesi has provided us with food for thought.
Ikwuemesi, a lecturer in the department of Fine and Applied
Arts, University of Nigeria Nsukka has stirred the Nigerian art
scene over and over again with activities. He is well reputed
for organizing exhibitions and conferences for up and coming
artists. In fact, his contributions in the Nigerian art scene
have helped in keeping the art environment alive.
Okey Nwafor is a Lecturer in the Department of Fine &
Applied Arts
Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.
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