Pius Remet, a renowned painter on Saturday, said lack of
exhibition was gradually ruining the relevance of Nigerian artists. Remet told
the naijaroyaltyculture.blogspot.com in Lagos that exhibitions would not only
document the works of artist but portray their skills to the rest of the world.
According to him, it is easier for artist to network and learn
best practices in arts from their counterparts in other climes if their works
are known and easily accessible.
Africans have a lot to offer to the world because we are
embedded in arts and culture, and that’s the edge we have over the rest of the
world.
Unfortunately, most of us are myopic and do not see the bigger picture of what
or where arts can take us to.
Our works are indeed mind blowing but they lie fallow with no
means to shed light on such collections to the world,’’ he said. Remet said
that the Europeans and American collectors who had taken interest in African
arts over time now had the biggest exhibitions of African arts worldwide.
Artists in Africa, especially here in Nigeria, have goldmines in
their hands as skills and they are less concerned if it is tapped by foreigners
or not.
They come to us, collect what we have and sell for millions of
dollars because we are comfortable in making them middle men without finding
ways to exhibit and get directly to clients,’’ he said. The painter added that
museums in Nigeria are hardly functional and this prevents most local artist
from preserving their works.
Museums are important for a number of reasons but most
importantly, they serve as links between our ancestral heritage and
contemporary transformations of indigenous art.
This is another broad end to what exhibitions can help us
achieve by sustaining our heritage as well as having a modern touch to the
arts,’’ he said.
Naijaroyaltyculture.blogspot.com reports that Remet is the father of three
gifted kids including the world’s youngest photographer who exhibited his first
photo collections at age of three years.
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