TREE BARKS; A new material for artists to explore?
Painting is one of the oldest forms of art in that it has been in existence since the age of the early men who used the blood of a killed game to draw the image of their next kill on their cave wall.
A post shared by Olojede Babalola Ifeoluwapo (@olojede_explora) on Mar 7, 2019 at 5:34am PST
Over the years, it has taken several forms and new innovations to it are still springing up. One of these is the Tree Bark Painting, which dates back to the 1930s and is mostly practiced in Australia by the Aborigines. This kind of painting involves painting on the interior of a stripped tree bark after flattening and drying it.
The Aboriginal Art may have found its way into Nigeria as Ifeoluwa Olojede, a local artist, has drawn inspiration from its composition and personalised this rare form of art by taking a departure from the normal routine of painting on its interior.
Olojede, who is a visual artist with primary focus on painting, confirmed the tree bark painting is originally an initiative of the Aborigines in Australia but emphasizes that his own concept takes a “whole” different method and outlook.
“The way the Aborigines do their tree bark painting is different from the way I am doing mine. While the Aborigines peel the bark off a tree (especially the Eucalyptus tree) which is a way of killing the tree, I make use of dry tree barks of fallen lumber or those that have peeled off dead trees themselves. So, I call it Tree Bark Exploration,” he said.
A masters degree holder in Fine Arts from Obafemi Awolowo University, Olojede recalled the journey began during his final postgraduate thesis defence in the university. He added that his specialization was inspired by his final project work which he titled “Eyin L’ohun”, a painting exploration made with tree barks affixed to a board with glue which depicts a cock, a gong, a tract-like image of a bird and a calabash – all made with adjoining pieces of tree barks of different shades and colour.
However, he reiterated that tree barks are not the only materials which can be used for a painting exploration as a lot of other materials can also do the job depending on the artist’s resourcefulness and ingenuity.
Olojede said, “I have explored a lot of materials since I ventured into exploration. I have used energy bulbs, palm kernel shells, knotted nylons of different products, and of course tree barks. In fact, I have used them to make my self portrait and frame my other painting works, some of which I can’t share now because I don’t want them duplicated.”
Speaking on his inspiration to put ideas on canvas, the Eruwa-born artist said, “the environment is my primary source of inspiration. Artists tend to be inspired by things around them; things they see and experience daily. Though my inspiration is not limited to my environment only and I think most artists will agree with this because an artist will have to make art for his immediate environment and beyond.”
Olojede is the first runner-up of the 2011 Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library National Art Competition, a feat he achieved as an undergraduate in the university.
