Artists of my generation survived through the hard way – Chika Idu

For the itching ears, Chika Idu, a renowned multi-media international visual artist, has a lot to offer in the history of contemporary Nigerian visual art.

In this interview with Obinna Emelike at Alesix Gallery, Lagos, Idu, an Auchi Polytechnic-trained painter, Lagos-based studio artist and most importantly, a lover of children and safe environment, trails the history of the rejection of his generation of artists by the older ones in the early days of their career, their survival instinct, non-retaliatory relationship with younger artists today, the SNA role, among other related issues. Excerpt…

How is the Chika Idu brand fairing over the years now?

It has been great. Of course, in the beginning, it was quite difficult to break through, like I was saying earlier, because there was a lot of control by the artists and not even the art market, over the industry and that created a lot of problems in the early days.

What are the major challenges you faced in the early days of your career?

So, the people of my generation survived through the hard way. For example, when I graduated from school, we were about 21 in my class. But within three years or thereabout of arts practice, we were just three left; Joshua, Simeon and I. We had a lot of girls, but none of the females were practicing today. We had the largest number of graduates in my set out of Auchi Polytechnic. During my time, they allowed people that were National Certificate of Education (NCE) teachers to come back and get their HND.

We had a lot of people who had finished like many years, coming back. So, we were quite much. After graduation, when we started practicing, we were very few because it was very difficult and we had great talents. As I say it now, it pains me because we lost, yeah we lost. Some even went to banking and other professions, leaving art.

Did you get support from the older artists?

When I started out, my focus was on how to promote the arts and I did a lot of things with that. But we now discovered that there was a strong hold. The older artists had given an ultimatum to galleries. Yes, a threat of boycott that if they are dealing with these younger guys, they will not work with the galleries again. Then, it was serious and not like now where you have a lot of collectors. Also, then, the collectors were more attached to galleries.

I remember, there was this incident here in Ikoyi. There was this new gallery that came up. I am trying to remember the name, the owner, a lady, was living in the US, she came back and established an art gallery, very close to where Nimbus Gallery is.

I was still in school, and I took some works to her; paper works and water colour, to see if she could market them for me. She looked at them and she was sad. She said something to me, she is no longer in the industry now, it is like she is late. She said ah, that she is very sorry and that she can see the talent in me and how good I am and she knows that I will go far. Because of that, she said that she was going to buy my works and keep them for herself, but that she will not hang them.

She said she will not market my works because they have warned her. So, I was a bit confused. So, I brought this up among younger artists that these older artists have warned all these galleries not to deal with us.

There was another gallerist, she was more like a free marketer. She told me that she was told that the day they see her selling or promoting any younger artist, that will be the end of their business with her. She said it and I was shocked.

How were the older artists able to influence galleries from supporting you younger ones then?

These older guys were organised, they know themselves, talk among themselves. It is because back then the art industry was just coming up with very few practitioners. You could count the artists then.

Yes, it was a small community back then and the older ones took advantage of it. But, now we don’t know who is who because the number has increased tremendously.

So, young artists then did not get any support?

Chike Nwabuogu, the owner of Nimbus Gallery, didn’t care. He was a roughed man and insisted that we are young artists and should be given a chance.

So, Chike was one of those very brave guys that supported us and made a difference in the art community then.

How did the young artists handle the lack of support challenge then?

So, it was very difficult. When I finished school, I had this impression that an artist should understudy someone established in art practice. So, I went back to visit the older artists again in their studios and they all rejected me.

From their tune, they didn’t really trust me. I told them that I don’t think it is the right thing to do, to graduate and start practicing, that I want to be around an older mentor, but they did not buy it, they all rejected me.

Then I used to paint and work in front of the small space, where we used to live. Later, I discovered that there was a group of young artists that used to meet somewhere and they work together like a community. So, I started visiting them.

Later, I learnt that those guys had moved again. There is this guy, Jide Akintunde, whose father worked with DTB, a construction firm in Apapa Road, Ebute Meta, Lagos and the company had an abandoned estate. So, I now went and joined them. It was just a very small space, like a car park, in that big space you know because they were afraid, Jide’s father was more like the person looking after the space.

So, we started working in that small space. It was a garage and we were afraid of using a bigger space so that the company would not send us away.

I used to be a students’ president, so I am the activist type. So, when I came in, I was like why are we using this small space when we have this big empty area. Jide was scared, but I encouraged them to clear more space and that if the company came, they would be happy and that was how we broke into the bigger space without permission from the owner. It was like a factory and we broke into one of the structures there. We cleaned it up and started working there.

After some time, I told them that we can take this beyond this and let’s create a group. Some of the people I met there started leaving to face other things in their lives because it wasn’t easy.

What about De Factory Studio and impact on the survival of the young artists?

From our free space at DTB in Ebute Metta, we found a group we called De Factory Studio. I give it that name. We started working together. The whole idea was mine, a place where we work together and share ideas, that same classroom corporate thing where we criticise each other, not like you are doing your own thing and let us sharpen ourselves.

I shared it and my intentions and the artists bought it. So, we created it, where if you are working, we cannot just come behind you and analyze what you are trying to do, but help.

So, we were doing all that and the place began to grow.

Were there attempts to meet and reconcile with the older artists?

Yes, a lot. Then, I suggested that we should do something about the problem we were having between us younger and older artists.

I suggested to my people, let’s visit them, let’s get appointments and go from studio to studio to visit them, and let’s also try to build a sort of franchise with societies like Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA) among others, so that we can work together.

I remember back then, we visited Abiodun Olaku, in his private studio, though his Universal Studio was still there. He was really happy and we gave them recognition.

It was not just to come to your studio and paint; it was bigger than that. We visit, ask questions, know about him, history among others

So, that same mentorship that I have been driving, I now had a platform to carry it out, but now not just me but more people.

Then, we also visited Duke Asidere and he was very happy. We visited Olu Ajayi, Olu Amoda at Yaba and a few of them and they were all very happy.

Even some that have passed on now like Lamidi Fakeye. These were the same people that threatened to boycott the galleries if they dealt with us.

We did not visit Edosa Oguigo, but were organising seminars where he was among the speakers. Olu Ajayi spoke too at the French Cultural Centre because I had a lot of influence with Alliance Française then, so I used it.

Then, we organised the first and only art award. I believe Olaku still has our plaque. It was an exceptional plaque created by an artist called Momoh, who is still around.

We did it like a questionnaire because we wanted to break the barrier and mend things.

I did a questionnaire and I said which artist is the most supportive of younger artists, because all these things were meant to mend fences. Again, it is also to say that we, the younger artists, were taking records of the visual art industry developments too.

The questionnaire went out and there were debates but the result went for Olaku.

There were arguments. In the Universal Studio, Olaku trains IT students, he receives them and he also created the platform for the training.

So, there is no artist IT student that did not pass through Olaku.

Then, we were nine artists. Simeon and I were the only ones that did not pass through Olaku. Every other art student did and every time a younger artist is having an exhibition, Olaku is always there to support.

I still have the video where Olaku received our award. It was the Consulate General of France then that presented the award to him.

We pulled that string where we were able to get the Consulate General of France in Lagos to present that award.

I remember him, Mr. Lovett and this was around 2000/2001.

What happened afterwards?

We broke the ice. It resolved a lot of things because the situation changed for good. These were the changing points.

Will you say artists in your class are relating to younger ones better than the sad experience in early career days?

Now, there are lots of complications. The younger artists of today are not patient and persevering like our set.

Probably due to the 419 and get-rich-quick syndrome that is rampant in the society, they hardly listen to advice or subject themselves to thorough mentorship. They are interested in money and not learning more and honing their craft.

There was a message I pushed then, and I still push it now, which is originality. But it is not well-received. I have even shared materials with a lot of younger artists, but it seems as if, yes you told me this, but what is the real secret, as if maybe you have a native doctor that is doing stuff for you.

So, this is the problem and that is why it is very difficult to reach out to them and cause a lot of impact on these young artists. Again, age is not a factor to success or for success. Anybody can be successful, and anybody can be a great artist. So, that also complicated a lot of things where you cannot really tell people to slow down and do research.

Everybody is in a hurry; people rather jump on your research than conduct their own. So, this is part of what the problem is. But, we on our own side, we have not done what our older colleagues did to us to these younger ones today; rather we offer help, even when we know it will be rejected.

Is there any younger artist that has impressed you with his work?

If I tell you this, you will be amazed. One of the biggest inspirations that made me get to this far in my career came from Dotun Popola, a younger artist.

It is interesting because he is a sculptor. At a stage in my career, I said what next because I was as if I had done everything. I am a restless person; I have created a lot of techniques and styles and they are there. But when I saw Dotun’s work for the first time, I was amazed. I asked myself, how did the artist come up with this, how did he deviate completely from the norm to create a new direction, and how did he come up with so many details. The work is so detailed that even things that are not related, he was able to bring them in.

For me, that is how every artist should see art.

These were the things I saw in Dotun’s work and I said if he can push himself off the cliff and begin to fly, why shouldn’t I do the same. So, that pushed me to reinvent my art.

If you see my style in the acrylic, you will know that they are different. If you see where I started from and where I have gotten to, it is not like I have arrived, I am still there, but there has continuously been a movement and I am still discovering it.

Where is SNA in all these?

I am not a member of the Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA). I decided not to because I saw it like just another group.

When we started De Factory Studio, we started organising programmes, seminars and exhibitions. But the people that were with me in De Factory Studio were more interested in exhibitions than educational programmes, which were also self-funded.

Even the seminars were self-funded and I know the trouble I went through in order to extract money from them to run these programmes. We were not having sponsorships then, even the exhibitions that we had, we had to either get the gallery to give us space or we pay for it.

If we had done this talk in my studio I would have shown you the catalog. They were very good and all targeted at saying something, you don’t wait to be promoted, promote yourself.

For SNA, there are things you saw when you were small and they sort of build a mindset in you even in adulthood.

The SNA I saw while growing up was more like a group of people where if they can do a show, they are fine. It was more like an exhibition platform. When it comes to some very important international programmes, a few selected groups, like a small cabal, will attend the more important ones. That was then, because the SNA I see now is trying. A lot of the members are close to me and I do have communications with them. I had advised them the other day, and I do hope that they will take my advice.

It is more of the same trend of doing shows, though this SNA is playing a broader role in the sense that once in a while they step into some of their members’ gallery issues. I am aware of that and some of them are also reaching out to the SNA concerning, maybe, bills. I had to assist them and all that. So, SNA is playing a better role now than before. But it needs to even get a step forward because it is supposed to be a very powerful group.

If you have a certain number of members, you could be a pressure group and can swing government policies because of your vast number. The artists in Lagos are quite a number, there are some that are not practicing that are members of SNA, there some that are teachers and are still members of SNA.

So, they could be a pressure group because of the number. The SNA can put its foot down and insist on some issues where the government cannot take some decisions without involving the society, where they can open a dialogue between themselves and the government. They need to know this. So, there is a lot still to be done. Some of these might bother on mindset; maybe they don’t see themselves as they ought to see themselves to know that they ought to pursue something they ought to pursue.

I have seen past leaders of SNA use the name as the platform for them to get international attention and leave the members behind.

Do you have any advice for the younger artists?

So, it will be nice if the Gen-Z artists take out time to understudy someone, learn and improve on their skills.

Imagine if everybody comes up with their indigenous language, yet we cannot speak one language, but I choose to create my own. It will be very interesting hearing different tongues, but still we can all communicate.

It gets boring when everyone is speaking one language.

We have a lot of young people that are talented and are doing fantastically well, but they have not pushed themselves, they are doing what other people are doing. Why not see if you can jump or fly, but everyone is trying to be safe.