The Genesis Showcases Charity at Exhibition

Aesthetic painters like George Edozie, Abraham Uyovbisere, Osagie Rafael Aimufia, Gerald Chukwuma, Joshua Nmesirionye, Segun Aiyesan, Ebenezer Akinola, Wallace Ejoh, Kunle Adegborioye and Bimbo Adenugba with a blend of medium from the Alpha Arts Group in Lagos were some of the artists that featured at the just concluded art exhibition of charity for Project No Excuse.

 

This cocktail of 10 reality artists joined the convoy of this group art exhibition on a lawn in Ikoyi, where 40 per cent of their proceeds will go directly to the Ovie Brume Foundation – the sole proprietor of the show through its Project No Excuse scheme for children from indigent homes.

 

Tagged 'The Genesis exhibition', its uttermost quest is to give children of poor homes opportunity to get education. Project No Excuse spells out that there is no excuse for anyone to be left behind, whether his or her parents are gatemen, cooks or whatever.

 

The idea is that someone sponsors a child – say N150, 000 a year. Another one may come to pay for their school uniforms, books, food and health insurance. By the time you have all these, you should have an opportunity. The Director of Ovie Brume Foundation, Barrister Wale Orokoso, had said.

 

“Also, the idea is so that the disparity in the quality of education the children from poor background and the rich get will not be too wide. There will be difference but you need to try and close the bridge,” he added.

 

According to the Director, this ongoing programme has got between 30 and 50 children on it. It started where the youth centre is in VI. We’ve gone to Ijiroko in Ebute Meta by Apapa road. I don’t want to stretch it but I know we have strong presence on the Island.

 

It is to raise funds for the foundation which has a youth centre, where children come to read after school. We also have the Barak Obama centre, where these children come to read about the USA. We do other stuffs like taekwondo classes and others.

 

Adding, he enthused that it’s not just as though you send kids to school then you leave them, we follow up and talk to them in case anyone is having any issues. We monitor behavioural changes. Education is not just about reading and writing, it is also to build personality and build confidence.

 

From his words: “This is for them to be well-grounded and rounded, too. We want to put up a purpose built Youth centre after the Lagos Business School in Ajah. Success is a burden as well. When you are doing well a lot of people will want to come in. So the space is not enough. And it is not good to send people back. You never know what they could turn out to be. I know we need money to do that. This is one of the initiatives we are using.”

 

Interestingly, with a pool of 30 and five aesthetic art pieces splattered the lawn of the Estate, varying art enthusiasts and art connoisseurs, both home and abroad, graced the day to have their own taste of the cocktail.

 

There were extremely large canvases with works like ‘Eden’, ‘Arise O Compatriots!, ‘Horsemen at Dawn’, ‘Reflection III & IV’, ‘The Eye’, ‘Baba Ijebu’, ‘The Guard’, ‘Eden’, ‘Green Seduction’, ‘Lost in the Crowd’, ‘Me and My Emotions’, ‘Fits of Passion II’, ‘Children of Paradise I & II’, ‘Mood I & II’, ‘Friends’ and ‘The Brides and Friends’.

 

Others are: ‘Wanderers’, ‘Guy’, ‘Enterprise’, ‘Vegetable Section’, ‘Somewhere in Lafiaji’, ‘Eko Si Kwalu ike’, ‘Mr and Mrs (ii)’, ‘Sugar Girls at Olosi’,  ‘Covered’, ‘Metamorphosis’, ‘The Cord’ ‘Adorned’, ‘Children of Paradise ii’, ‘Atinuke’, ‘Morenike’, ‘Man in the Mirror’ and ‘Supplication’ among aesthetic others.

 

“40 per cent from the proceeds of this array will go into charity in support of the Ovie Brume Foundation,” according to the Founder of the Foundation, Evelyn Oputu, art is a vital part of human development.

 

She went on: “While art is sometimes relegated to a secondary role in human development, it is important in a number of ways.” Adding, she says that every culture develops some forms of art, which gives identity and purpose to its inhabitants through mutually understood symbols and serves as a means by which values and attitudes are passed down from one generation to the next.”

 

The Foundation has funded fine art scholarship at three leading art schools across the country. She enthused that this is because the arts have always been a core part of the Foundation activities coupled with a weekly fine art classes for budding artists at the Ovie Brume Youth Centre.

 

Swiftly, the former Managing Director of Bank of Industry continued that their quest for The Genesis is to encourage the current generation as well as enhance the next generation of Nigerian artists.

 

Established in July 1973, its mission was mainly to support and promote institutions that serve as catalysts for accelerating the development of the nation by helping to realise the vision for a Nigerian society.

 

And at the tail of the show, while many had filled their stomachs with the cocktail of art, others were still trooping in