January 22, 2017
The first Rasheed Gbadamosi Art Exhibition, “Eko Art Expo, ” would hold at the Eko Hotel and Suites between January 27 and 29 with the theme: “Lagos for All.”
Steve Ayorinde, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos State, said this on Saturday night at a media briefing at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos.
He said that the exhibition was to honour the late art aficionado, Rasheed Gbadamosi, because of his support in promoting the arts.
“It is also part of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s vision and support for the arts to use theatre, hospitality, entertainment, arts and sports to promote excellence in Lagos State.
“It is to use arts to promote the tourism sector, not only using the Motion Picture Industry and music but visual arts and performing arts to fulfil a lot for the youth,” he said.
The commissioner expressed the belief that the state government would do more to honour the late Mr. Gbadamosi because he was also the former chairman of MUSON that is committed to promoting the arts.
“We want to kick-start activities of 50 years of Lagos this year with the visual arts, to pay tribute to the late icon and showcase old and young artists from higher institutions in Lagos.
“We want to do a monthly build up of Lagos at 50 by organising a programme on 27th of every month.
“This started in May, 2016 and will run till May, 2017,” Mr. Ayorinde said.
The Special Adviser on Investment and Overseas Affairs in the state, Ademola Abass, said Mr. Ambode had shown that government was in love with the arts.
“As we celebrate big and well established artists, we need to help build upcoming and young artists. We will strive to make them bigger.
“We are also celebrating the art and culture of Lagos State.
“ Last year, we went to Brussels with the governor of Lagos State and we saw what Azu Nwagbologu did in showcasing Lagos State.
“It was amazing what he did in showcasing Lagos State. We need to uplift the creative industry as a whole so as to promote what we have to the world.
“We are going to help in promoting every stratum of people in the creative sector,” he said.
The Curator of the exhibition, Azu Nwagbologu, said that the creative industry needed a boost for it to grow and pay the practitioners.
“We are always clamouring for us and government to meet.
“The man we are celebrating, Chief Gbadamosi, had been a very generous man and a great man when it comes to arts support,” he said.
He said that Belgium had told him to capture Lagos by deploying photographs to arts painting which he did and showcased.
“That was how Governor Ambode came to see what was done and he liked what he saw and that did it.
“This is why we are doing the same to honour the icon,” he added.
Another Curator, Simi Dele-Adesanya, noted that private galleries over the years had been struggling to survive without recognition.
“Young emerging artists would smile because the Lagos State Government has given them a platform.
“We have gone to different schools to select good art works that will be exhibited that day.
“We are exhibiting over 200 art works from both young and old artists. Each gallery contributed 20 works each while schools have one each.
“We have 25 participating galleries,’’ he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that some of the schools participating in the exhibition are the University of Lagos, Lagos State University and Yaba College of Technology.
0 comments:
Post a Comment