Artist and His Creations is a heavily embossed, color linocut created circa 1990 by Nigerian artist Tunde Odunlade. It is pencil signed, titled, dated 1991, and inscribed Ife. The block is incised with the artist’s name and the year 1990. This is an artist’s proof outside the edition of 50 and was printed by the artist on ivory wove paper. The image measures 18-1/8 x 23-5/8 inches.
Written in the lower margin of this linocut is the word “Ife.” This may refer to the ancient city in southwest Nigeria - considered the origin of all mankind in the Yoruba worldview - or to the Yoruba word meaning “love.” Yoruba is the ethnic group of West African people living primarily in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. Tunde Odunlade is from the city of Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, Nigeria.
Odunlade combines traditional West African imagery with contemporary methods to create his art, which includes linocut, textile design, and a technique he developed called “floatagraph” which uses batik, marbling, and calligraphy. In “Artist and his Creations,” his composition is divided into eight sections that address a different part of the Yoruba culture: music, religion, nature, and celebration. His use of overlapping abstract shapes is reminiscent of the batik dye process. This linocut, which is deeply embossed into the paper and echoes the tactile nature of fabric, is equally traditional and abstract.
The town of Ifé was founded around 500 B.C. and is the oldest Yoruba city. According to the Yoruba worldview, Ifé is the place of origin of all humankind and is therefore of particular religious and political importance. The city is still considered the cultural center of the Yoruba people.
Nigerian printmaker, textile artist, musician, and actor Tunde
Odunlade was born Babatunde Samuel Odunlade in Iremo, Ifé on November 26,
1954. He became a second-generation member of the Oshogbo School of Arts in the
late 1960s, studying under Yinka Adeyemi, and also studied at the Oguntimehim
Art-Workshop at the University of Ilé in 1973. He learned linocut, woodcut, and
batiking. The workshop inspired his development of "floatagraph," a
technique combining batiked and marbled compositions on rice paper. He was also
a member of the Nigerian National Troop and other theatrical organizations, and
is a recording artist and poet.
From 1986 to 1989, Odunlade was artist-in-residence at Stillman College in
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and served as artistic director at the Toki Memorial Arts
Center in Ibadan, Oyo, after his residency ended. He founded the International
Campaign for Better Arts and Cultural Awareness in the 1990s, and in 2020 he
established the Tunde Odunlade Artists Cooperative Gallery in Ibadan. In
addition to working as an artist and teacher, Odunlade is involved with
organizations aimed toward improving Nigerian life; particularly, with the
Nigerian Artists for a Nation Anew (NAFANA), which encourages artists to use
their talents to overcome corruption and poverty.
Odunlade’s work is represented in the collections of the National Museum of
African Art, Washington, D.C.; the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Art, Amman,
Jordan; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the MacArthur Foundation
Collection, Chicago; and the State House in Lagos, Nigeria. He currently lives
in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, and continues to work and exhibit in Nigeria and
beyond.
