About the author

Igweze worked in an advertising agency as a copywriter in a previous life. In his present life, he, sort of, runs an art gallery. And he writes. And he listens to master artists like Ablade Glover, Abayomi Barber and obviously, Bruce Onobrakpeya.

About Bruce Onobrakpeya

Onobrakpeya is arguably Nigeria’s most influential artist. He was an early proponent of synthesis – which was, at its core, simply a call for cultural independence and choice. A decision to contextualize Nigerian contemporary art in Nigerian cultural experiences.

He has continued to evolve over the decades as an artist, an art teacher and a focal point for Nigerian art evolution.

Why this book

I’ve sold Bruce Onobrakpeya’s artworks for quite a while and I’ve had to talk to potential collectors about his art and his ideas.

I also like to write, so I suppose it was a natural progression to go from talking about his art to writing about it.

I don’t consider myself a writer. It’s not my day job. When I told a publisher friend about this book a while back, I told her I had a little document on Onobrakpeya I might want to publish. I couldn’t quite bring myself to call it a book. It just seemed presumptuous. She read it and a few days later declared with a roll of the eyes ‘This is not a document, Dozie. This is a book and a good one too’. I hope you think it’s a good book as well.

I hope you learn something new about Onobrakpeya. The tragedy of renown sometimes is familiarity. We have enjoyed his mastery for so long that after a while we become so accustomed to the artworks that we accept them as great but we stop seeing why they are great. I hope this book starts you on a journey to examining his greatness anew.
– Dozie Igweze.