Nigeria, the land of plenty

Oluseye and Lakin Ogunbanwo: Project One November 3rd was the first day of ART X. Still under the leadership of Tokini Peterside, it opened with an afternoon reserved to collectors and an evening to VIPs. Same location as the ART X Lagos first edition , with equal parking inferno, but somehow the same old trick worked to park right by the building. A great show this year, largely dominated by Nigerian artists and galleries. However South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Francophone Africa were also represented. Most importantly for the VIPs, Perrier-Jouet was a sponsor and their champagne was served chilled from their beautiful bottles adorned with art-deco flowers.  Ben Enwonwu's 1960 wooden sculptures commissioned by the Daily Mirror On the ground floor, seven Ben Enwonwu's wooden statues, carved in the 60s for the Daily Mirror, were presented for the first time to the public, courtesy of Access Bank. They represented newspaper readers. Interestingly from afar they had a...

"Democracy or Kleptocracy" by Jelili Atiku The end of a Saturday afternoon is a propitious time for art exhibition to take place, when people are done with their shopping and other work related obligations. Besides, for outdoor set-ups the sun paints everything in gold. A performance took place on the parking lot of Kia showroom on Akin Adesola in Victoria Island, where four artists in residence at the Arthouse foundation were presenting their works (Dipo Doherty, Tyna Adebowale, Olumide Onadipe and Jelili Atiku). The performance was created by Jelili Atiku on the theme of "Democracy or Kleptocracy". He was the center of the show, dressed as a woman in a beige linen dress with high-heel shoes, an afro wig and fake breasts. Before the show began, he was sitting on a white cube while a make-up lady painted his lips in deep red. He then, at the pace of a ritual, walked slowly from the center of the parking lot to take beige linen clothes printed with "Democra...