The estate of Yusuf Grillo, one of Nigeria’s departed modern art masters, has announced the late artist’s first posthumous solo art exhibition, which will feature paintings that are as old as over 50 years, among other mixed media and sculptures.
The exhibition, which is titled Yusuf Grillo: Like You’ve Never Seen, will be on display from August 24 – 30, 2024 at Yusuf Grillo Museum, 28, Ogunlowo Street, Ikeja, Lagos.
Grillo (December 16, 1934–August 23, 2021) was a prominent artist and academician, whose career at Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, as well as his studio practice, left a strong legacy for many generations of artists to emulate.
Set up as a part of the artist’s legacies, Grillo Museum houses a collection of artworks, images, and writing by Yusuf Grillo. The museum has been described as a center of learning about Grillo’s works, the arts and art history of Nigeria. The Grillo Museum is also about a space where art can be experienced and celebrated by artists, art lovers, and the public through exhibitions, workshops, performances, seminars, and meetings.
The other part of the artist’s estate, GRILLOArt Limited, disclosed that the exhibition will focus on the rarely seen, and never before exhibited conceptual commissions produced by the artist. Morayo Anthonio, executive director, GRILLOArt Limited, said that the works to be shown, among others, include; mosaic murals, stained glass church windows and bas-relief sculptures that the master artist produced during the prime years of his life. She noted that although the late artist would have preferred that the works remain in his private collections, his estate thought otherwise. Followers of Grillo and the general art loving public deserve to see the works, she stated. “While the focal point of the exhibition will be these nine conceptual paintings, other previously exhibited paintings will also be on show as well as maquettes of sculpture commissions undertaken by the artist at various periods of his life,” Anthonio, daughter of Grillo, explained.
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Contributing a review to the exhibition, Jerry Buhari, a professor, revisited the role of Grillo’s art in Nigerian architectural space, among other areas of the artist’s trajectory. After highlighting the Grillo’s “youthful look gazing into a world he is in, worlds he has gone through and experienced, worlds he will create and conquer,” as featured in the catalogue of the exhibition, Buhari explained how the artist’s works have enhanced architecture. “There is another rare photograph of the artist working at the mural in the building of Northern Nigeria Newspaper Company situated in Kaduna, in the seventies,” Buhari recalled one of Grillo’s iconic works. “It gives us an insight into how architectural design of the period considered embellishment of buildings, a significant part of edifices. How sad that this culture appears to be set aside today.”
Curated by Kehinde Sanwo, Yusuf Grillo: Like You’ve Never Seen, according to the curator, is “a groundbreaking posthumous exhibition.” Sanwo described the works as “unprecedented collections”, which have been carefully picked from so many to unveil “a fresh perspective to Grillo’s innovative style and artistic prowess.”
Clarifying the importance of mixing some of Grillo’s familiar works with the never before seen pieces, Sanwo said sculptures such as maquettes from commissioned and others will be “providing a comprehensive understanding of Grillo’s artistic trajectory.” He noted that the exhibition confirms Grillo’s “boundless creativity and his enduring legacy as a leading figure in modern art.”
After Yusuf Grillo: Like You’ve Never Seen, another event comes before the end of the year as part of the three years posthumous activities. Anthonio announced that the next event would be a private art auction scheduled to hold before the end of the year. “For the collectors who have long sought an opportunity to add a Grillo to their collections, we offer a private auction sale, featuring one original, and limited edition prints of five of the conceptual works.”
Born in 1934, in Lagos, Grillo graduated in Fine Arts from the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology in 1960. He was a member of the Zaria Arts Society, a group of students that spearheaded an artistic revolution that challenged the norms of colonial education. In the late 1950s, the Zaria Art Society embraced a theory of “Natural Synthesis,” fusing indigenous Nigerian themes with European techniques. This initiative gave rise to the appellation “Zaria Rebels” by which the Zaria Art Society is often referred to.
