Abstract:
This is a profile study of Benjo lgwilo and Chris Echeta, two significant modem Nigerian ceramic artists of lgbo extraction who trained in the Western mode of ceramic production but have striven to locate their practice within both modern and traditional frames. Study background reveals that although both artists have created a large body of work over the past three decades, especially beginning from the 1970s, and have shown their works in several professional exhibitions, their life and work have suffered art historical and critical neglect, deriving perhaps from a general tendency within modern art historical scholarship to relegate works in clay and glaze,,tg&e margins as 'craft' or 'applied art'. This study benefits from contemporary post-modernist thought which is basically one of multi-vocal tendencies towards inclusive (rather than the modernist exclusive) pl&forms for art historical and critical discourses. It has therefore become scholarly valid to critically examine the life and work of Benjo lgwilo and Chris Echeta in spite of the notions of "low artn and "craft" that have for so long pervaded the ceramic medium. Based on the foregoing study background, further introductory research procedures for this project have included the statement of the depth gaze towards ceramic art and artists, including Benjo lgwilo and Chris Echeta. Based on the severe lack of adequate literature on the subject of this study, Chapters Three and Four undertake detailed biographical studies on lgwilo and Echeta, covering early life and education, artistic training, professional experience, studio work programme, commissions and exhibitions, as well as writings, publications, administrative positions and family life. Chapters Five and Six examine the form and style of the two artists separately. In doing this, a typology of their works, within studio chronology, has been undertaken so as to be able to account for their stylistic and/or professional development. The typology shows two broad stylistic periods for lgwilo and three for Echeta. Within these broad style categories, minor typology has been attempted, resulting in a further widening of stylistic tendencies which have been subjected to critical interpretation and evaluation in Chapter Seven. A detailed morphological analysis of works within,W major and minor stylistic categories has actually prepared the ground, very adequately, for such further interpretation. The melting pot of this thesis, Chapter Seven relies on data generated from proceeding chapters to cross examine, interpret and evaluate issues relating to the research problems. In doing so, insights have emerged on the professional and stylistic developments of both artists, their creative sources, themes and other related pertinent issues. The use of visual images and clips of the artists' works and those drawn from other important sources, as insightful visual evidences, are of a great deal of help for drawing possible conclusions. Chapter Eight is the concluding chapter which, apart from reviewing, also summarizes the findings of this study. A major finding relates to a number of visual and conceptual evidence showing that lgwilo and Echeta have both mirrored their life and personalities in their works - shedding light on the oneness of innovation and creative individuality as the centre piece of a biographical study such as this. The emerging conclusions underscore the need for a balance of art historical and critical study of contemporary African artists and their practice without prejudice to their choice of media.
