FEATURED ARTIST OF THE MONTH

Featured Artist Eyitayo Alagbe(Nigeria)

Featured-Artist-Eyitayo-Alagbe

Inborn and lifelong distinctive artist, Eyitayo Alagbe is an indigene of Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria and had his childhood days in his native land.

Inbuilt-talent, a lifelong practice, modern education and a one-year Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) at Stevcent Art Gallery, Ogbomoso all combined to produce a refined “Tayo-Coals”, who is a Fine and Applied Arts, Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) holder from the revered Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo, as a painting and graphics specialist in 2019.

Tayo, who has been an artist since childhood, has now been practicing as a professional for a handful of years, and the multi-media painter is currently studying for a Degree in Fine and Applied Arts at the esteemed Obafemi Awolowo University.

Whenever the school is not in session, Tayo would be in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.

Statement

Being an otherwise introverted personality, I’ve found  boundless avenue for self-expression in my coals and canvasses. My art is my only voice to discuss and showcase the African’s lifestyles; her deep feelings and emotions; her strength and struggles; her doggedness and unrivalled perseverance and her salient, unspoken beauty.

My art delicately observes and captures the children’s innocence, artlessness, simplicity and naivety in order to give them a sense of belonging in the society while also diving into the Black ladies’ inexpressible and underrated prettiness.

My charcoals, being rendered uniquely, calculatedly dazzles around themes of joy, love, hope and peace. Thus, synchronously expressing the blended semi-tones of beauty, brotherhood, unity and friendship.

It also goes without saying that my artistic practice painstakingly arrests the unrivalled treasures embedded in the African continent; her strong, dark and enduring skin; her enviable culture and custom; and her esteemed communal and mammalian inclinations.

It is worth mentioning that my drive to delight the eyes and soul with my art pieces compelled me to practice relentlessly and subsequently produce artworks that totally deviates from what eyes are used to seeing.

My technique

My nonconforming technique, which has been branded “Ayoism” seems to stand perpendicularly along the borders of Impressionism and Harlem- renaissance and below is a peep into my artistic routine:

Firstly, I study my models in a detailed manner, giving a great deal of attention to facial expressions cum contours, then make faint sketches with my charcoal pencil and start applying the prepared, evenly – blended powdered charcoal on the flatly placed canvass with brushes in a painstaking manner and swiftly follow it up with the application of a fixative agent for the permanence of the powdered charcoal.

I then grab my charcoal pencil again to create tonal effects and would normally end the skin area with a white pencil to render the lightest spots on the Artwork before painting the clothes and background with acrylic.

Lastly, within the ambience of self-expression, I deliberately apply sharp and thick calculated strokes of colour pigments on the face, skin and sometimes on the clothes of my subject.

That said, I’d advise you to visit my studios in order to catch a glimpse of the magics of my charcoals. The beautiful combinations of my powdered and pencil charcoals and acrylic on canvass in a distinctive, slippery manner makes my art pieces a delight to the sight.

Medium & Tools

Point blank, majority of my artworks are been created with the use of charcoal pencils, powdered charcoal, and acrylic on canvass and sometimes involves a bit of oil paint, and I so much relish the mesmerizing texture that the canvass gives to my charcoal pencil. In a nutshell, my tools include but not limited to: charcoal pencil, colour pigments (oil paint and acrylic), brushes, palette, palette knife and so on. Although, I am looking forward to exploring other medium in the foreseeable future.

Why charcoals?

Excuse me, my art primarily revolves around the Blacks and I’m yet to be introduced to a pigment that is darker than charcoal as corroborated by the popular cliche, “as dark as charcoal”.

On a lighter note though, I stuck with charcoals since I started producing commissioned artworks during my SIWES and I was dazzled at how it strongly represented my thoughts and intentions.

I particularly adore the effects that the charcoal creates when trying to render the Blacks’ skin. It might also interest you to know that the use of powdered charcoal is easier for me to express my art than other medium and I have been able to master it due to diligent practice.

Inspiration

I am been repetitively inspired by the not-too-pleasant, real life, everyday experiences, situations and circumstances of the Black people and her hope for a better tomorrow, while I’m also been correspondingly stirred by her enduring strength; undying hopes; charming beauty; and her affectionate tendencies.

My Art is also constantly stimulated by my insatiable thirst to bring the children to prominence; validate their outlandish hopes and capture the beauty of their spirits.

Exhibitions

My works have featured in several on-site and virtual Art exhibitions. They include;

i.    Art  graduands’  Exhibition  at  Emmanuel  Alayande  College  of Education, Oyo. (2019)

ii.    Arnheim Art Collectionz, Ibadan (2021)

iii.    Open Windows Exhibition, VAV Art gallery (2021)

iv.    Ekonke Art competition, 2021 (the 1st position goes to Tayo-Coals).

As an addendum, my artworks have been showcased by the “Black Art Review” while “The Art House”, Channels Television, have also featured the works of “Tayo-Coals”.

Tayo’s audience

My rare Art master-pieces endeared themselves mostly to the Blacks because it emphatically and unapologetically reflects our skin’s colour, validates our belief system and captures our frequent moods and lifestyles. On the other hand, the Artworks are also immensely admired by the Whites because it gives them an exquisite peep into the world of Africans and her paraphernalia.

The Black’s feminine world in particular, is showing ample love for my silky, honeyed artworks because they appreciate her hidden beauty and splendor while the children also crave my paintings because they can relate with them without any ambiguity and it captures their usual and favorites settings.

Aspirations

I dreamt of staging a massive, crowd-pulling, solo Art exhibition in the US while mentoring multitudes of upcoming Artists through the “Ayoism” Art movement along the line.

I’d also like to see my art pieces hanging on the walls of government offices, classy galleries, private homes, monumental arenas and in public squares.