The exhibition of drawings by the artist, Ato Arinze, titled ‘The Root of Change’ opened at the Alliance Francaise, Yaba office on Herbert Macaulay way on Saturday, August 8. To run till August 22, the artist told TheNiche that the 25 works are drawn from his early and recent drawings.
He told TheNiche during the opening reception that although he started drawing in 1993, the works in this exhibition are from 1995 to date.
“They are up to 25 works and, just like the title, the theme of the exhibition is The Root of Change. I actually wanted to appropriate this recent occurrence about change during the last election. But I found out that there is a connection with the works I have been doing in the past because I believe that the root of change actually lies in our spiritual understanding of life. So, the root of change is in our spirituality. It is only those that are enlightened that can truly know the importance of change. The unenlightened ones are not ready,” he said.
He explained that most of his works, whether sculpture, pottery or drawing, are inspired by events within his environment and in the world generally. Such events, most often, bring about some kind of change in the society like the death of (Sani) Abacha.
“There is a work I titled ‘The Rumoured Death of a Dictator’, there is what I call ‘The Portrait of the World’ and the recent one, ‘The Return of the Saint’, which has to do with the second coming of (Muhammadu) Buhari as the President of Nigeria,” Ato stated.
Born and raised in Lagos, Arinze hails from Onitsha in Anambra State, where he had his secondary education and his first two years of polytechnic education. Later, he obtained his higher diploma at Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), Lagos, specialising in sculpture and pottery in 1991.
He has been practising as a full-time studio artist from then, and occasionally freelances as a sculptor, workshop instructor, art promoter and art consultant. His preferred media is clay for pottery, and fibreglass for sculpture. He is always on the quest for spiritual enlightenment, either at work or at relaxation.
