Anagbado’s Spontinism Of Functional Art

14/07/12

WITH a series of products dubbed Ivie, illustrator and founder, Lizaad Creative Arts company, Chuma Anagbado is set to experiment a new art form, he tags Spontinism.

   The new form, he disclosed, is largely indigenous and cultural, noting that, “it is my own creation inspired by the art of my people. They are basic illustrations, very simple and not too detailed, but they still send across as much message as a detailed drawing would. You can call it line drawing if you want.  This type of art is generally grouped in the genre known as “urban art.”

  Anagbado further explained that beyond aesthetics, Spontinism works better as functional art. And for the exhibition, which was opened last weekend at Get Arena, Victoria Island, Lagos, two products: handmade T-shirts and framed artworks, were on display.

  But for the subsequent show, “we will diversify to include more products such as Jeanswear, shoes, hand bags, furniture etc,” he said.

  The Fine and Applied Arts graduate from the University of Benin continued, “We intend to use these illustrations to create clothing items, like making impressions on shirts, shoes, jewelry, we intend to use them on ceramics, porcelain or other ornaments and just about anything we can lay our hands on. The whole idea is to give life to those illustrations such that they become iconic and symbols of reference. This is just the first in a series of expositions we would be holding and we hope to push boundaries with Spontinism.”

  Curiously, in Anagbado’s experimentation, light, probably because of its functional nature, is optimally explored as against the use of colour and space. But in certain instances, a number of his illustrations are tied around geographical boundaries and happenings.

  Among the ‘illustrated cities’ in his collection are Abuja, Benin City, Port Harcourt, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Warri. He also touches on national issues including the current scourge of terrorism ravaging the Northern part of the country. 

How to lift marketing communication industry, by Oke

25/07/12

NEWLY elected president of Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Mrs. Bunmi Oke, has identified “continuity, consolidation and revitalisation” as key values that can lift the marketing communication industry.

   According to her, “even if we do great work and we don’t cooperate together, disunity is bound to be. We need each other to progress; we need to include ourselves to understand our differences and challenges.”

  On consolidation, she cautioned that the Nigerian advertising market would soon experience a great boom, “so we should be prepared despite the ups and downs that the country may be facing at the moment. We should not be moved by what we see; let us build a brand that will help us have a win-win situation. With this bond we hope to move the association forward”.

  On revitalising advertising agencies, Oke further explained that as the agencies were growing, members should at each stage have a good succession plan to enhance the life span of such agencies.

  “The foundation of an agency will tell the future,” she noted. “If it is a one-man business, it will not outlive itself. We should all have a new mind-set; our foundation should be deeper. We have to collaborate; we should talk be less about self and more outwardly oriented.

  “Each of us should be confident and build a good succession plan inline with the revolution in technology. We all need professional competence to stay focused.”

  Oke, a Social Science graduate of the University of Lagos, began her advertising career at Grant Advertising where she worked as PR Executive/Account Management trainee between 1986 and 1989. Her unique organisational and presentation skills resulted in her being moved to client service department where she worked on multinational brands like Unilever’s Blue Band Margarine, Berec Batteries, UTC, Coca-Cola amongst others.

  She later moved to LTC Advertising (now LTC-JWT Lagos) in 1989, and spent 10 years (with a brief stint as head of Account Management in Advertising Techniques (Nig) Ltd in 1991). She moved to England in 1992 and worked at the West End Job Employment Centre, London. She eventually returned to Nigeria in 1993 to rejoin LTC Advertising in 1994. In 1995, Oke became the 1st female Client Service Director of LTC-JWT Advertising and in 1997 she became the Director/Head Client Services and Media Department. She left LTC-JWT in 2000 for a “career adventure” with her family to Abuja for four years, working in an NGO and eventually, the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) as the pioneer Chief Public Affairs Officer before she moved to 141 Worldwide as the Chief Operating Officer/Business Director and became an Executive Director in 2008.

  Oke, a well travelled and highly professional advertising practitioner prior to the elections, had proved her worth in other capacities within the association as the chairman of the highly successful Lagos Advertising and Ideas Festival (LAIF), an award initiative organised by the association to celebrate creative excellence within the advertising industry.

Hoodrush set to unleash budding talents

25/7/12

Hoodrush, a musical thriller, starring some of the best and emerging young talents in the industry, would soon hit the movie market. The movie stars O. C Ukeje, Gabriel Afolayan, Chelsea Eze, Ijeoma Agu, Lilian Byoma and a host of others, and directed by a young player in the industry, Dimeji Ajibola, CEO of Flipsyde Studios.

  Hoodrush tells the story of two brothers closely bonded by their love for music, but deeply separated by their means for success. Shez and Tavier are two of a kind pursuing a Herculean dream of becoming music stars. But all they have is their amazing vocal talents, good looks, a home in the ghetto and menial jobs that could hardly pay for their clothing and feeding expenses. 

  They soon realise they need more to achieve their dreams. Participating and winning a credible talent hunt show comes as the only natural option. Being at the bottom of the societal grid, ghetto life’s ugly fabric begins to wear on them and their eventual vulnerability puts them at the mercy of the high and mighty. 

  Shez, the older one, falls victim of an older lady with a bad reputation in drugs and human trafficking. Reluctant at first, he soon realises that this lady could be the key to unlock his success and open the doors to his long-cherished dream of becoming a music star.

  Without his brother’s knowledge, he falls into the wiles of this old lady to chart his financial freedom, until he’s presented with a dilemma to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea.

 Bimbo Akintola says Hoodrush is a step in the right direction. According to Ajibola, who is also the screenwriter of the movie, “Bimbo’s performance in this movie is something people should watch out for as she gives only what a Bimbo Akintola can give”.

  Winner of Yoruba Movie Academy Awards, Gabriel Afolayan in Hoodrush, “Everything is centred around the hood no matter how rich you are. If you are not affecting any life, perhaps your purpose is defeated. For me, my childhood experience of ghetto helped me in this regard. The film is one of its kind; I say this based on my experience in other films. It is a big job. It gave room for so much, physically and emotionally. It is not just about acting. It is also about singing as all the actors did the singing in the movie”.

  For Ijeoma Agu, a graduate of Biochemistry, who started acting professionally in 2007 and made her official appearance in the film Eldorado by Felix Duker, the movie has a cutting edge in the international market. She will be taking part in three plays by African writers that will be staged at the London Olympics, saying, “The standard I set for myself, the edge is that you are living quality standard, nobody wants mediocre acting, especially when you are working with a professional firm with big budget involved. Hoodrush is one film that I know the progress of life and opportunity lie. How well we pattern our lives there is always a trace of the hood”.

  Leelee Byoma, who played the role of a presenter in the film, narrated her experience and challenges even as a new act that came into the scene in 2010 through Emem Ison’s Academy, where she shuttle between acting and script writing. She has played several roles in some movies and was part of the cast in the movie, I Will Take My Chance.

  She said, “As a presenter, it was a really good experience because I was not one before now and the director always said he wanted a lively presenter and not a slow-talker then I had to adjust. I did a little of research both on the internet, watched other presenters do their thing and I got it. Apart from God, who is my source of inspiration, there are so many actors that I watched. Genevive, because of her professionalism, Rita Dominic due to her talent and the different roles she plays and Liz Benson”.

  For Chelsea Eze, it was pure luck being part of the cast. She came into the industry fully in 2009 with Silent Scandal with which she won three awards in Africa Movie Academy Awards in the Most Promising Actor category and BON Award for the Revelation of the year category among others. For Hoodrush, I heard about the movie from a friend but that was after the audition. So, I prayed to God. After some contact, I was called for a one-on-one audition and I was picked after it.