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A COLORFUL JOURNEY FROM NIGERIA TO BOISE
Animal Paradise / PHOTO BY KAREN DAYAnimal Paradise / PHOTO BY KAREN DAYart, I gravitated to it: music, drama, drawing, and more,” Odunlade said. Odunlade comes from a royal family of the Yoruba people, one of the largest ethnic groups in Nigeria. As Yoruba tradition has it, on the eighth day after he was born, he received his names. In addition to family names that serve as his official identity, Odunlade also received a number of oracular or private names, taken from family history. One of these names, Ladire, means “one who makes Adire batik” [a form of textile art that uses wax and dye]. Another means “one who sojourns and never suffers, who embarks on a journey from home always prepared.” And yet another means “someone you meet and want to meet again.”
Animal Paradise / PHOTO BY KAREN DAYAnimal Paradise / PHOTO BY KAREN DAY
Animal Paradise / PHOTO BY KAREN DAYAnimal Paradise / PHOTO BY KAREN DAYIt doesn’t take long to recognize how the names have shaped Odunlade’s life path. A prolific and internationally recognized artist, Odunlade has works in the Smithsonian and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He’s been the recipient of prestigious awards from places like the Andrew Mellon Foundation and MacArthur Foundation. He travels the world—creating, performing, teaching, and serving as a cultural ambassador. And he leaves an impression.
Tunde Odunlade’s beaded batik tapestries weave stories in fabric, wax, and dye
BY JODIE NICOTRA
Whether artists are born or made is a matter of debate, but for Nigerian artist Tunde Odunlade, his creative destiny was literally written into his name.
“When people ask me why I chose art, my straight answer is that art chose me, because ever since I was born, it was predicted. I was never conscious of this. But while growing up, all I knew is anything that is art, I gravitated to it: music, drama, drawing, and more,” Odunlade said. Odunlade comes from a royal family of the Yoruba people, one of the largest ethnic groups in Nigeria. As Yoruba tradition has it, on the eighth day after he was born, he received his names. In addition to family names that serve as his official identity, Odunlade also received a number of oracular or private names, taken from family history. One of these names, Ladire, means “one who makes Adire batik” [a form of textile art that uses wax and dye]. Another means “one who sojourns and never suffers, who embarks on a journey from home always prepared.” And yet another means “someone you meet and want to meet again.”
It doesn’t take long to recognize how the names have shaped Odunlade’s life path. A prolific and internationally recognized artist, Odunlade has works in the Smithsonian and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He’s been the recipient of prestigious awards from places like the Andrew Mellon Foundation and MacArthur Foundation. He travels the world—creating, performing, teaching, and serving as a cultural ambassador. And he leaves an impression.
“He's a bit of a character. He's got a great personality, very outgoing, very gregarious,” said John LaBry, who is coordinating a Boise exhibition of Odunlade’s work.
The show includes some of Odunlade’s innovative textile designs, created through a process he dubs BBQT, for beaded batik quilt tapestry.
Batik is a process of waxing and dyeing fabric that produces paintinglike textiles. Odunlade innovates on the batik process by layering and perforating fabrics before batiking. He then adds applique and beads to make a complex, colorful, and unified image.
Like others of the Osogbo School, an influential 1960s Nigerian art movement, Odunlade incorporates traditional themes and techniques with contemporary perspectives.
“My art focuses on Yoruba mythology, Yoruba proverbs, the life of the people I live with, and my experience traveling around the world as a traveling artist,” he said. “All of these come together to form my inspiration as an artist.”
One of the pieces, from LaBry’s private collection, is titled “The Soulful Saxophonist.” It was inspired by Odunlade’s visit to the New Orleans Jazz Festival and incorporates the colors of both the festival and Mardi Gras.
Another, called “The Thoughts of an Artist,” incorporates a figure holding a brush, surrounded by paints and materials, with yellow zig-zags coming from the head. For Odunlade, it represents the process of artistic inspiration.
“The way an artist operates is that he doesn’t think straight,” he said. “Some form of a thing comes into his brain, and that’s the instant he gets inspired. At that point, he must do something, because if he doesn’t grab that inspiration when it comes, it may never come back again. Even though I say creativity is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, if you lose that 1%, you’ll never see it again.”
Art for Odunlade is magic, spirituality, communication, and healing. But above all, he believes, art does things.
“Art for me has all these potencies, and that is why I say I don’t believe in art for art’s sake. I believe in art with a purpose,” he said. “And that's the thoughts that run through my mind every blessed day: How do I make the world a better place using my art to support my country, to help my society, to alleviate poverty, to communicate with people that I meet on my way and make their life better?"
An exhibition of Odunlade’s works will be on display from November 7 through December 31 at the Delia Dante Gallery in downtown Boise.
