“Progress is not in copying other cultures, be it technology. No, nobody employs anybody to be an artist. They are creative people, and they will continue creating until they die,” said Demas Nwoko, a veteran artist and architect. And this could be said to be the foundation for his latest literary work titled, “Concrete Thinking”.
Concrete Thinking, a book written by Demas Nwoko, published by New Culture Publications was officially unveiled to the general public on Sunday 23 October 23, 2022, during the Design Week Lagos held at the Konga Place, Lagos.
From his trajectory through the Nigerian College of Arts Science and Technology, Zaria (now Ahmadu Bello University) where he studied Fine Art and contributed as a leading light in one of the most significant art movements in Nigeria’s art history – the Natural Synthesis movement – driven by the so-called Zaria Rebellion, to his multidisciplinary career as a painter, sculptor, set designer, lecturer in the Department of Dramatic Arts at the University of Ibadan, and subsequent robust output as an architect and builder, Nwoko at the tail end of his 9th decade presented the future generations with a comprehensive literary work: Concrete Thinking.
Ayodele Arigbabu, architect and lead partner, Dreams Arts Designs Agency (DADA), in his review of the book said the author writes with measured language, and clarity that serves the purpose of universal understanding. “Firstly, it is a wide adoption of ideas or recommendations. Concrete Thinking, is one apologetically didactic. The author is a teacher and a social reformer,” the book reviewer said.
In other words, Arigbabu is of the view that the author’s personality manifested in the book that encapsulates cogent lines of thoughts, which have been refined over decades. “In seven decades of active participation in Nigeria’s arts, design and culture spaces, Demas Nwoko’s critical interventions have been strident and consistent as these are captured in his new book.”
According to him, the collection of essays in the book proves to be an invaluable compass to different generations of practicing artists, designers, educators, cultural policy formulators, art historians, students in the creative industries, and other culture workers desirous of charting a sustainable and impactful course with their endeavours.
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Arigbabu said Concrete Thinking is a summation of Nwoko’s writings and thoughts on various concerns within the domains his work has straddled over the years. “Concrete Thinking is also unapologetically repetitive. With 20 essays aggregated over seven decades, advocating on essentially the same subjects. This repetition is as equitable as is intentional. Repetition, after all, is one of the keys to learning.
The repetition, however, lies in the central theme that underpins the entire book, which each essay buttresses from different perspectives. Concrete Thinking, therefore, remains nonetheless effervescent with the author’s ability as a natural storyteller to match his thoughts in compelling ways”.
Arigbabu stated further that in ‘Concrete Thinking’ Nwoko writes with measured language that is accessible and clear in intent. According to him, the clarity in the book serves his purpose of universal understanding in pursuit of wide adoption of his ideas and recommendations.
Concrete Thinking, like other thought processes, generally creates a proposition that emanates from natural wonders of the mind, which learners can develop for application in real life. In drawing the line between general thinking and concrete thinking; the author categorizes concrete thinking as that thought process that metamorphoses into actual realities. “They’re like the difference between general thinking and concrete thinking, because concrete thinking is the thought process that must end in practical reality, be it physical or philosophical.
“This is what I refer to my new cultural philosophy as a process that amalgamates thinking and tinkering; to qualify as thinking that is thought through which generates viable human developments”.
Nwoko equally revealed in the book that most of his essays were written to provide cultural background studies to the subjects which are delivered to his potential clients to intimidate them with the new Arctic language of the project that often cites universal precedent.
Hence, he was not just a writer, artist or designer – he took upon himself the role of a cultural philosopher, showing his audience that they are on familiar ground for cultural continuity.
