nostalgic for you to buy this crap. I’m
not dissing importation, I’m saying it’s not sustainable”.
Co-founded In 2015 by Dolly Kola-Balogun and Abdullahi Umar, Retro Galleryis
one of two Nigerian galleries (along with SMO Contemporary Art) at this year’s
fair. Based in Abuja, the fast growing gallery presented three artists – Duke
Asidere, Adetomiwa Gbadebo and Uche Okpa Iroha- in its first ever appearance
at the London edition of 1-54 Contemporary Fair.
Okpa-Iroha’s striking black and white photographs about life in mainland Lagos is
from his “Isolation Series” which, in the words of Joshua Jonathan, head of
communications at Retro has “sold quite well” and does indeed showcases the
great eye that has earned him the Seydou Keita Prize for photography (in 2015
and 2016). Asidere’s drawn portraiture are energetic deconstructions that show a
tasteful partially to shades of yellow and are primarily concerned with the
empowerment of women. The four day fair is also a tale of discovery for
international art buyers and lovers who may know Lagos to be the country’s hub
for fine art and Abuja for folk art.
The 1-54 fair goes a long way to address the age-old problem of poor
representation of African artists in international markets and especially in London
which remains a global capital for art and is a convenient destination for galleries
from major European and American cities.
Some problems still persists. Works of technical virtuosity and significant cultural
importance by artist from the African continent still fetch considerable lower
amounts compared to those by European and American artists. This is acutely feltby a gallery like Retro which is based in Nigeria and sells works by artists who live
and work in the country.
“Part of the solution is having African owned galleries, African owned exhibitions,
African promoted shows” says Ms Kola-Balogun citing Art X Lagos as an example.
Started by Tokini Peterside and now in its third year, Art X Lagos is now Africa’s
leading art fair and will this year run from November 2-4th.
What is undoubted is that the excitement and regard generated by all editions of
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair will continue to be valuable in propagating
works by the continent’s artists.