The
transition from the Ordinary
to the ExtraOrdinary
Rom lsichei’s art
makes such a transition always. Each finished work seems to have voyaged
in the cause of that transition. In terms of the transformation of
materials, ordinary materials or found objects. But also in terms
of the theme that, he explores in his works.
He thinks that art thrives on the power of observation, when the artist
makes a note of things which other people miss or is preoccupied by
what others consider inconsequential and therefore shrug off.
The artist holds conversations by means of well contrived visual media.
He lays out the subject, states the cause and invites us all to partake.
Rom has said that feedback by the viewer is something he really enjoys.
And that is because, the viewer completes the creative process. They
call the artist’s attention to things he never deemed present
or particularly intended to utter.
The intense nature of Rom’s art, especially at this stage of
his development, makes it possible to have significations on multiple
levels. More than one conversation can take place simultaneously;
tropes of direct and indirect speech.
Let’s name one of many examples within the body of work making
up the forthcoming exhibition: Habits and Rituals is a work in 3 panels
but remains as one whole. This represents a broad commentary on womanhood,
especially within the urban context. The inspiration for this is the
extravagant weekend (often marriage) gigs in Lagos where women are
generally attired flamboyantly. Fashion is the context within which
acutely feminine habits, and what he also dubs as rituals, are carried
on. This belongs to a denomination of oil works in which the artist
is at his best adopting the transcendental mode. This style is embellished
deliberately with a glistening feel but is not alone in that class.
Flowers are virtually sculpted to depict both body areas and attires
worn by the women. The work is imbued with such energy and the images
of the floral are intricately applied such that they convey a specific
emotion about the woman which the artist wishes to articulate. The
floral patterns are intense and energetic and are only matched in
their torrential delivery by pointillism. Beyond the emotions about
womanhood, Rom implies or serves us with a reminder of the mask idiom;
the female make-up is not just a make-up but a mask of sorts, extending
his commentary about the feminine type.
He also implicates a certain glistening beauty in a type of the mask
where the eye-brow area is applied with grains of shiny substance,
almost like sequins.
Rom confides to me that this element is also inspired by the very
peculiar make-up Fela’s women dancers used to wear.
This whole collection that is billed for exhibition is clearly and
well denominated in their visual categories and by the materials employed
for their execution. There are impastoed paintings where strokes are
rendered in either a symmetrical or asymmetrical mode. Others belonging
to the series include Habits but without the Ritual. 3 panels again
form a continuum in one single narration. This is a dramatic depiction
of the after wedding photographic pose now made popular and almost
absurdified as the “Ovation (magazine) pose”.
There is the denomination of acutely arranged panels ranging from
aluminum to flattened corrugated iron sheets. Printing plates offer
a kind of efflorescent, mirror like effect, which suits the artist
well. He sometimes employs” milk tins and says, “I choose
my materials realizing the relevance of their natural colours. Fading
natural colours give me an opportunity to say something about my society
in general. Once upon a time things were much better but now they
are fading away”.
He also admits textual elements within the visual framework. He exploits
the printing plate purposely, where the textual sections are still
visible and can lead or even mislead the viewer in the conversation
begun purely on a visual scale. One in the procession is entitled
A fit of pique. Another is called Passage to remorse where texts show
off the Nigerian national anthem, an unsigned poetry, a Pentecostal
church programme/mimeograph etc. Lucid human forms wear ear-rings
formed out of rims of Ovaltine tops. By the time that the narrative
has progressed to yet another work in the series, What the eye sees,
the mouth cannot say, we can see the same material applications with
running splashes of paint simulating the original natural colours
on the flat iron sheets perhaps to call our minds back to the fact
that these after all are still paintings!
Ruminations of uncertainty
has even more rusty iron elements and conjures up a more direct feeling
of the fade. This is one of the more despondent narratives in Rom’s
entire oeuvre.
On reasons for his deployment
of found objects, he says that they are possibly related to his childhood
experience of doing primary school craft. In part they are also motivated
by thoughts of what to do with waste.
He shares a certain interaction of material with the artist El Anatsui
but quickly reminds me that El has employed a lot more of drink tops
in contrast to himself.
In the line-up of stylistic variations is textured materials (a mixed
media of wood dust, glitters and acrylic). Their effect is one of
a grotesque nature and very outstanding. They conjure memories of
ceremonial, hand-woven Yoruba cloth, especially in its more modern
evolution.
Rom’s material is as rich in colour as the Yoruba aso-oke it
probably invokes. The material is mounted on board, and not canvas.
He says that only board can withstand the sheer weight of the material
even as it is being applied. They belong to what he terms Body Language
Series, comprising of 5 linked frames. The series is inspired he says
by “politicians who like using expressive body talk”.
This he also relates to drivers who indulge in Gaelic gesticulations
while conversing with passengers on the wheel. The works in deep-dyed
variations of red, green and gold explore a multiplicity of hues,
each presenting its own visage that is grand in style.
A distinct conversation
called Prayer Warriors adopts the same mixed media technique as the
Body Language Series. That conversation simply continues in a work
that is stylistically and materially unrelated, executed with such
elements as bottle tops, covers of paint tubes and bottled water corks.
Tracks of oil paint are then worked into the corks and other drink
tops, a visual form which Rom has explored in previous public engagements
and is therefore established as his style.
This he names Prayer Warriors(ii). He’s always found religion
fascinating as a social phenomenon and is drawn to comment on it.
He says he suspect that the phrase “prayer warrior” is
a Nigerian coinage as he’s never heard it elsewhere.
“Benediction” has religious inferences also and is dominated
by a collage of magazine cut-out, illustrations and drawings marked
distinctly by shades.
The most remarkable element in Rom’s current practice is the
restlessness of his experimentations. Patterns and forms commend themselves
to him and he simply goes all out to try them out. It is possible
to find the unifying essential element in all his various stylistic
detours, but he strains to prove his mastery through the many visual
outlets that he has designed for himself.
Undeniable also is the
influence of design. Early in his career, he had a stint in advertising.
Right now, the mind tends to store up impressions encountered day
to day and they come to birth directly in his art. Forms such as regular
block work, texcote paint on the wall, venetian blinds etc provoke
manifold, very well contrived patterns in his creative applications.
Everything begins with
the familiar until they lead to regions where our bearing is completely
lost. He chooses his material from the purely mundane and the ordinary
life, reworking the same into rapturous visual concepts.
Dapo Adeniyi
Publisher, Position magazine
February 2011
