At my studio in Austin, Adetola Wewe is seen working with Keji Badmus, the first recipient of the Apprenticeship Program of the University of African Art at Austin.
The apprenticeship system is the indigenous art education school practice in the indigenous African creative cultures.
The student learns by working in the master’s studio and assists the master while learning to develop their skill and style.
I went into my garage and found a harvest of forgotten canvases waiting for me.
This corona break has given me some time to look at what I already have produced.
This is the last painting I did in 1992, just before leaving Nigeria.
You will notice that it is made from gouache.
PART OF THE BEAT
Only you can kill yourself,
hiding your game in the shelf
Too many die
living a life of lie.
Too many fellows live
but can’t survive
You must go anyway
but don’t go away
Place your feet on the ground
while you’re still around
So much to say!
Gist plenty.
Ọ̀rọ́ pọ̀ láti sọ.
With Jelili Atiku’s sculpture of Mandela and wearing Luis Emilio Marin’s Esu figure in my office today, University of Texas at Austin.
My Nigerian friends are going to be so scared!!!!
Nobody, except I tell them, can figure out that in this painting lies a figure.
If you can decipher the figure, tell me what you see.
If you take a guess, I will inbox you with the answer.
Soon after you make a guess, check your inbox for the answer.
ÀṢẸ, ASHE, AXE, ACHE
ÀṢẸ in Yoruba
ASHE in North America (United States, Europe, Afro-Caribbean, Canada)
AXE in Brazil.