INTERVIEW WITH JENNY, A GRADUATE OF ARTS FROM UNN

For close to an hour, Jenny, a female fresh graduate of Art from University of Nigeria Nsukka, currently looking forward to her National Youth Service, spoke with us about the field and what she hopes to do with it. Shy of publicity she does not want her name mentioned; “just want to concentrate on my work for now without any distraction”, she told us; so the name (Jenny) is not her real name.

RNR: I learnt you people had an Art exhibition in Enugu last year?

Jenny: Yes, October (2022)

RNR: And from my source, I learnt that it wasn’t that successful, commercially.

Jenny: At all. The organizers themselves, apparently it was their, I think, 3rd or 4th edition, and that was why I decided to register to exhibit with them, only for me to realize afterwards that they are not people that were ready, or capable of going through the right channel and they were not also willing to work with people that would have adequately sponsored the event. According to them, their aim was to gather artists from the East, because people usually either go to Abuja or Lagos to do this kind of thing.

RNR: From my thinking, I wonder what level of commercial viability you were expecting; because I do not think that in Nigeria you have so much people who are art collectors or who value art to the extent of spending their money on it?

Jenny: We do; oh we do. Just that as an individual you need to go to the right channels. Especially if you want to pursue it as a career; because it’s a career. It’s not like all these, you know when Nigerians think of art all they see is just all the people that display by the roadside. It’s more than that. When you go into it you notice that there is a whole of it in Nigeria. And that they are usually people from outside the country that, (thinking) what is it called?

RNR: Interested?

Jenny: Not just interested but they also promote it too. In Nigeria we have the British Council that year in year out they are always sponsoring art.

RNR: What you are saying is that in Nigeria there is a large number of art collectors and enthusiasts who could really spend their money on the work of art?

Jenny: Yes, to the extent that if you are able to win or garner attention to yourself, they fly people outside as well. Like Access bank and GT bank. GT bank’s own is fashion and is culture based while Access bank is arts. Every year, Access bank organizes Art-X Prize. And usually there is a Board of Curators who usually decides who they want to move to the next level. Aside that when you submit your article as an artist, you also need to have a body of work.

RNR: Body of work?

Jenny: Body of work is like a portfolio that would fully describe your style and also present to people that “this is me” and these are the works that I have been creating before now so they could see that you have been working. If they see that you are the type of artist that only create work just for competition or whenever you know that there is competition, that wouldn’t work in your favour. They need to see that you are continuously working, 95 (percent of the time) as well.

RNR: You talked about art in terms of the people that paint or display on the street and those that went to study it in higher institution; is there a difference between the two?

Jenny: Not really; there really isn’t a difference. The only difference is that one is self-taught and the other one within the university; though also largely self-taught.

RNR: So there is no difference?

Jenny: No

RNR: When you say, self-taught, in the university, is there no lecturer there to guide what you do, departmental guidance or direction? Or why do you say self-taught?

Jenny: Why I say self-taught is that art is something that you create on your own. As an artist, you may see that a lecturer is into this style of art, this school of art, or ideology of art, you may decide to follow this ideology. The thing is that you are not following this lecturer itself but you are following the ideology. You don’t expect the lecturer to come and tell you, “this is this”, “this is that”, what they would tell you is that this is the ideology and then how you go about it to choose or create the work that is under this ideology is now up to you. Self-taught in art is you know something or come up with something based on your own conviction and not how somebody else is going to do it. So your lecturer might be doing renaissance art, you also would be doing renaissance art, but the two renaissance art are not the same. It’s the same thing with people who did not go to the university too.

RNR: So why would I want to go to the university instead of learning it on the street apprenticeship?

Jenny: To a common eye it is known that the degree is important; but then that degree is much more important to other careers. Art is experience and, commitment to work. But if you don’t know this you would be thinking that going to school would automatically give you an edge. In that mindset, it might not take you anywhere. Somehow going to school would open you up to seeing other artists, your course mates; they learn from you, you learn from them. That’s the learning environment in the university, learning from your fellow artists.

RNR: The Street taught artist and the one that learned within the university environment, do you think that their opportunities are the same when it comes to the international stage, partnerships, and all that?

Jenny: Yes. Like I said before, what they are looking for is an artist; they don’t care whether you went to school or not. In your CV what they would look at is your experience, how long you have been working, and during that period that you have been working, what have you come up with? What inspired you to come up with it? How do you want to push what you’ve come up with into the world? How do you want the gallery or whoever is helping you help you to diversify with what you are bringing in? Also how are you going to market yourself and make your own art sound more interesting than the others? So you also need to be a good marketer because art is subjective; and because art is subjective, you cannot say that this person’s art is better that the other person’s art. You only just need to appeal to the investor.

RNR: Subjective to the creator or subjective to the collector or audience?

Jenny: Art in its form is subjective. The way one person sees art is not the way another person would see it. If someone drops a painting for the whole world to see, you would get so many interpretations of it.

RNR: You have just barely graduated as a student of art, do you like the field? Are you, perhaps, as enthusiastic as when you were going into the course?

Jenny: I am; but when I think of focusing on earning from it as well, it takes away the enthusiasm. How I have to put in so much effort from other places to come up with an enabling environment to further study and, you know that as a graduate you have to constantly keep on improving. It’s like science, constant invention and reinvention, because there is no end to it. So in terms of financial motivation, it’s a discouragement, especially for someone that it’s his main career path to focus on, more so if you were pursuing that career path because you like it.

RNR: That means you still like the field?

Jenny: I still do; but if I compare it with before studying it I would say that it has drastically come down. This is because I am now focused on how to earn from it and also still enjoy it at the same time. But it is overwhelming, the effort. And it also put a limit to what I know I can do. There is not that much time to enable me produce what I like and would like to share.

RNR: In the music world there is what is called commercial music, in which you produce beats or style that is reigning rather than what you like personally as a musician if you want to be a commercial success. Do you have such thing in art?

Jenny: You have to know how to combine the two.

RNR: So there is nothing like commercial art?

Jenny: (Repeating.) You have to know how to combine the two. You know when it comes to business plan, obviously that business is not going to be something that you don’t like. You see that it is going to be something that you would like to push and you want everybody to see it but in the process you also want to earn from what you like. That’s how art is; so you have to combine the two.

RNR: Do artists’ environment reflect in their work or they produce works that speak to the world beyond their environment; or how do you marry the two?

Jenny: Right now the current wave of Nigerian art is the kind of art that no matter where you are you will know that this is Nigerian. It might take up renaissance form, if you know how to distinguish between renaissance painting and baroque, cubism, and the rest of it. It could take up any of these established styles but there would always be the Nigerian input and that is what people are flying into Nigeria to look at, to invest in. You now see people painting Afro-surrealism, people coming up with scribble art. When you look at it, you see that it still has this element of African, Nigerian art. It’s now Nigerian artist, not the roadside ones but the organized, well am not sure organized is the right word but there is this cast difference. Like myself now, I won’t put myself in the same category with the artist I see around because I know that when you look at their experience, they are catering to the common man; which is why when you see them they only do portrait of people. These are the ones that when you go to, you ask them to paint my wife, or husband, or children, but we are looking at people who produce conceptual works.

RNR: What would you tell other young ones who are aspiring to go and study art in higher institutions? J

Jenny: Make sure you are physically, mentally, and medically ready for it; also financially. This is because there is a lot and people drop out. If you are going to study it, be sure it is the degree you want or whether you are picking it because you don’t know what else to do.

RNR: “If it is the degree you want”, do you mean interest in it?

Jenny: Interest can only do as much as interest can do.

RNR: What do you want to do, going forward?

Jenny: Going forward, I want to make sure I create a niche for myself within the space and to continue marketing myself until I get that recognition. And get to the point where I know that as I am earning from it, I can also revert to enjoying it. Like any other career.

RNR: Are you looking forward to furthering your education, Master…?

Jenny: Currently, no.

RNR: Why?

Jenny: Because I currently have a project I am engaged in; and as I said before, in art you need to build up a body of works.

RNR: Supposing an opportunity comes and somebody or an organization wants to sponsor you to do your masters or any other study within the field outside the country?

Jenny: I would go for it. Like I said, they give residency; I look forward also to getting that residency experience.

RNR: What is this residency?

Jenny: Residency is just where you are taken up under a wing, given space, for a period of time to just be yourself, develop your work –may be from another artist that is of another higher experience than you.

RNR: Thanks for sharing your time; we wish you success in your future endeavours.

Editor’s note: Jenny can be reached through us.