You Have To Do Things Not Taught In School — Tolu Okunlola
In a recent art exhibition held at National Museum Onikan, Lagos, a new discovery into the use of copper wire to create illusionary colour paintings dazzled spectators who thronged the scene to see things for themselves.
The visual artist, Tolulope Okunlola, was trying to create a unique genre of painting outside the existing medium and materials.
“To achieve something remarkable and attain greater height in life, a man needs to work extra miles and risk taking cannot be avoided. This gave me the conviction that to get rich, you have to do something that you were not taught in school…. Or else everybody who graduated would have been rich. I dared into the unknown in a bid to create a spectacular art piece called wire works”, he said.
‘Audacious’, an exhibition of wire paintings, which started on Saturday, August 18 ran till the 24th. Special guests at the occasion include Shola Olamakinde, Director, De-Arts Place; Time Emmanuel; Dotun Alabi, former SNA chairman, Lagos State, chief host while special guest of honour was Richard Bello. Okunlola unveiled his exhibition titled ‘wire works’ saying, “I discovered my artistic potential when I was 7 years old.
Although, my mother tried to discourage me from going into art because she wanted me to read law and become a magistrate, my aunt’s husband advised her to give me a chance when I got to secondary school.”
Undaunted to achieve uniqueness with materials, Okunlola did not mind how much it could cost him to produce a desired piece of art in his mind.
He however, resolved to save every penny he got from teaching job, using it to acquire copper wires and working tools which he revealed were expensive.
Today, Tolulope has set a new record in material usage in art, using copper wires of different sizes and colours to render in hues artworks that will staff the test of time.
Perhaps, one major area of exploration for him is converting the success of copper wire materials into suggestive themes.