It is with immense pleasure that I write this brief foreword to this exhibition. Africa, for centuries has been a continent that produced and delivered to the world, remarkable and distinctive art that takes away the breath of whosoever is beholding them. The very expansive progression of art, in many of its forms in Africa, has been rather dramatic with groundbreaking effects and momentum, offering profoundly revealing visions of African past and present.
As we begin today to look at African art, and attempt to understand the present phenomenon, we must clearly take a peep into the past. This exhibition, I believe, is playing a heroic role in the establishment of the nexus between our past, and pointing us to the future of our art endeavours, by providing a discerning and practical guide to understanding where we have been and where we are headed based on the lessons from our past.
In introducing the art works at this exhibition, one encounters very radically conceived and revolutionary changes in the direction of African paintings and other art forms. These new post—modernism art forms have conceptually taken flight in such delightful and endearing ways that potentially define the prevalence of our new art. The meteoric rise of these new art forms; the style of the artists as evident in this exhibitions, is partly the result of the constant advancing and innovative techniques and materials with which creative ideas leading to the production of remarkable and unique works are made.
This group of artists has clearly provided us with a decorative and narrative-imbued approach and style, all pointing to a variety of historicized adventurism, with original intents and motives. Individually and collectively, these artists have enormous natural gifts and talents that manifest in their variants of style with aesthetic materials, and mostly in innovative ways.
The Infiltration of the Blues, though different in style and form has its own peculiar validity; it infiltrates our minds and spaces to the point that it does not require references to any other sequence to make it authentic, viable and valuable. It is clearly consequential because it stands out as a veritable conveyor of a harmonious African message of abstract and ethereal realm of art to the artistic world. These artists have provided us with art forms and styles that will for a long time be reviled and loved by art lovers all over the world.
For Sachi Hani-Okoroafor and his colleagues, this exhibition in many ways has come to redefine how art can be presented and viewed, providing us with thoughtful, provocative, emotionally resonant and memorably cinematic experience. Their efforts represent multiple, shifting realities of Contemporary African art, forming and pointing to the major parts of the future of African art.
I warmly invite you to this exhibition of exceptional works by very highly talented luminous artists.
DR. OKEY ANUEYIAGU
President,
Society For Art Collection
