GB GALLARY PRESENTS VICTORS OR VICTIMS
The last time Ibe Ananaba was featured on the Guerilla Basement site, it was for his collection of Bic Biro etchings titled “Against all odds”, which was staged in an exhibition at the Goethe Institute in Lagos. This time he features a new series of images called “VICTORS OR VICTIMS?”
He says about the series, “This is me asking the public a question of how the first decade in the new millennium has affected us”.
This is the artist’s attempt to document and probe how the collective events
and happenings of the last decade have helped shaped people’s identity
both positive and negative and for us to figure out where we are headed as a
people.He adds “I chose to represent this in different emotions focusing on the face because the face is most ideal when we think about representing one’s identity.
The dripping technique came up in my bid to control the whole production
process.I also tried out gouache and some in charcoal with a touch of pastel to complement it”.
THE INTERVIEW
You have been showcasing a lot of your recent work on facebook.
Do you feel like visual artists need to start getting more involved with the internet to promote their work?
Yes I strongly feel and recommend artists to get more involved with the net to promote their works.
The internet is about the most effective promotional tool.
In this time and age, technology especially the internet has become a part of us.
Again, art to me is communication of which the internet stands as the friendliest medium through
which one can communicate to a wide range of audience irrespective of one’s geographical location.
The net has shrunk the world and provides us the privilege to connect and bond with people across the globe
at ease so it makes real sense if one moves with the times and utilizes such platform.Do you believe that it gives your work a wider reach and makes it accessible to a varied audience?
100% yes! People are online all the time – with their computer systems, phones and other gadgets searching
for one information or the other. People are hungry to discover something new.
Your work might just be the perfect answer or the perfect food that satisfies their soul(s).
You can travel the world in an hour through the net. The internet is the back bone of today’s businesses
so you can never tell how many fishes you will catch if you cast your net in that big ocean at the right time.What triggered these new series of watercolour portraits? The quest for something new, This is my effort to ask the public a question of how the last decade
has affected us, that’s why I titled the series – VICTORS OR VICTIMS?
It’s like a debate. It’s an attempt to document and probe how the collective events and happenstances of the last decade has helped shaped people’s identityboth positive and negative and for us to figure out where we are headed as a people. I chose to represent this in different emotions focusing on the face because the face is most ideal when we think about representing one’s identity.The whole idea of its presentation is to have as many faces and emotions as
possible in a grouped form so as to challenge and grab the viewers attention.
In producing these works, I’ve chosen to do them in watercolour because
of its spontaneous nature. I fairly have an idea or a strong feeling I want to
interpret but visualising it is an adventure …more like an unknown destination which adds to
the whole essence.The dripping technique came up in my bid to control the whole production process.
I so much like it because there’s a strong emotion it evokes when one looks at each piece.
It’s a mix of freedom, joy, life, vitality as well as empathy, and tears .On the other side, the hunger to develop my watercolour skills which I left for quite a long time and to study more the human facial forms are part of what triggered the series.
What have you discovered or rediscovered working with watercolour in this series? Technically, the control of fluidity of paint on the paper.
It has also helped me to discover some little facial structures I never knew and again,
it has helped me to be decisive based on its dicey nature.What can we expect from Ibe Ananaba next? More thrilling works/projects that would make bigger impacts.
Creativity is endless. I always open my mind for the next big thing to flow in.What is the most interesting piece you sold lately? Can’t remember the “most interesting piece” I sold lately but
“The Vessel – tribute to Mama Ekundayo” series that I sold
in my solo art show at Goethe Institute in 2009 is so dear to my heart.
I poured in some good energy and emotion in those pieces and I’m happy they are part of Mr. Tony Ananaba and Mr. Joe Obiago’s precious collections.Any new materials or forms you want to work with and why? Oh yeah, they are so many. I’d like to experiment with many materials to discover some new grounds and to dig out some hidden jewel in me.
It’s a healthy exercise that develops the mind. Without experiment we probably wouldn’t enjoy lots of things we know and enjoy today.
Some days ago I was holding a spray can in my hand and was dreaming of working with it.
I will like to own sets of plasticine to play with. I will like to play with fabrics, probably to sew cloth.
I will like to use so many different materials. The hunger never ends…
the ideas keep coming and the bad thing to do is not to give them a try.
