GANI ODUTOKUN 
O MORE BOUNDARIES: 
REMEMBERED BY MJARIA. 
EKPO UDO UDOMA 
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an increasingly commercialised art market. 
Boniforty^meyearsagoinSamsonsvniage.Nsawan, Ghana, G a n , , ^ 
and secondary schoolstn Ghana before gaining admission into Ahmadu Bello Umvers.ty Zar.a, in Nigena. He 
graduated with a first class honours in painting in 1975 and a Masters of Arts degree in 1979. 
as a testimonial for the generations coming behind. 
of his works artist 
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results are not necessarily obtained. This remains the frailty of human kind, nevertheless, 
results could also be more rewarding than actually anticipated. 
According to Dele Jegede, the artist's works are in some cases '... attempts to imbue matter 
with a new status, through a materialisation process...' This goes to further confirm versatility 
of this Nigerian artist whose career as an artist and lecturer spanned over a period of eighteen 
years starting as a graduate assistant rising to the position of senior lecturer and Head of 
Department. As a practising artist, he had participated in about thirty-five exhibitions in 
Zaria, Kaduna, Lagos, Kassel and Bonn in Germany; London, Liverpool and Bradford in the 
United Kingdom. His commissions ranged from wall murals to garden sculptures and book 
cover designs for various organisations in Kaduna, Zaria and Abuja. 
Even though Gani could be regarded as a star in the artistic landscape of Nigeria, in that he 
was good in most areas of the visual arts, he would be more fondly remembered as a painter. 
His paintings represented a sense of freedom expected of a thorough-bred artist. For example 
The Triumphal Return Of The Garden City, oil on canvas, 300cm by 170cm, a painting 
produced in 1991 which is currently in the private collection the proprietor of an arts gallery 
in Lagos, is a scenic rendition of an architectural facade superimposed on a mountainous 
landscape amidst caricatured images all fused together showing a resplendence of warm 
hues. Free flowing brush strokes, and a kaleidoscopic view of yellow, red, pink and purple 
pigments seen in the sky-like background. The most interesting aspect of this work is the 
manner in which the images are superimposed upon each other in such a way as to give the 
work several interpretations depending on who is viewing . 
Architecture in art, which has always been a major concern to the artist, is evident in the use 
of Greco-Roman arches and columns as an integral part of this composition. This painting 
also shows the artist as an experimentalist. An idea has been '...splashed on canvas, allowed 
to run its course and gather its own momentum...' It is however, only in the delicate hands 
of a master like Gani Odutokun whose keen sense of perception could transform images 
created, by accident or otherwise, into works of intense appeal. 
King, Queen, Moonlight And Fire, a painting in gouache, 55cm by 77cm, produced in 1988 
represents Gani Odutokun as the designer par excellence. The essential character of this work 
is the artist's use of colour and tone as design elements. This he has made possible through 
the transposing of flat surfaces with broken lines and curvilinear striations. This is very 
apparent in the clothes worn by the man and woman in the painting. Effective balance is
achieved by positioning the window, from 
which we see a cityscape under the moonlight, 
on the bottom right hand corner as 
opposed to the top of the picture plane. 
Man, it is said, is a political animal, and Gani 
Odutokun was no exception. As a political 
cartoonist, the artist showed great passion in 
constantly reminding the military in Nigeria 
that their place was not on the soap box but in 
the barracks. In his The King Shares A Joke 
With His Generals, an oil painting also done 
in 1988, alludes to the political dispensation 
under General Ibrahim Babanginda, whose 
government made pretentious claims to liberalism. 
The whole gamut of Gani Odutokun's art 
would require a book for justice to be done. 
This not withstanding, one can say without 
equivocation that in the short period the artist 
practised, he had produced not less than two 
hundred outstanding works which is by no 
means a small achievement. One however 
must look ahead and try as much as possible 
to learn from the example which has been 
laid down by a master of the fluid line. 
Time—no Boundaries, an exhibition of 
paintings and sculptural pieces opened June 
7 at the Maison de France along Kingsway 
Road, Ikoyi, Lagos. Ended on June 17, Time 
was a premiere parade with regard to the 
stature of the artists convoked. It was possible 
to assemble for the first time in Lagos the 
works of adozen outstanding artists from the 
North because the exposition was a tribute to 
the late Gani Odutokun, head of Department 
of Fine and Applied Arts, Ahmadu Bello 
University (ABU) who passed on last February 
15. 
Odutokun was one of three other artists who 
lost their lives in a fatal crash while returning 
to Zaria from Vibrations, an art exhibition in 
Lagos which followed a workshop organised 
by the Goethe Institut. An intellectual 
and accomplished artist, he was the leading 
light of the Zaria-based art intel lectuals called 
The Eye, which publishes a quarterly journal 
art is shifting. 
ntemporary African Art 
year, published quarterly. 
8 per individual, $34 per institution 
rtside the US, please add $10 ] payable to' 
[Journal of Contemporary African Art] 247 
:on Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205. 
now. 
of the same name on contemporary Nigerian 
art. 
Presented in collaboration with Alliance 
Francaise, Kaduna and with the assistance of 
Captain Usman Mu'azu, Managing Director 
of Universal Jet Trading Limited, Time 
brought to view 54 works altogether from 
four sculptors and eight painters. The sculptors 
were Tonie Okpe, Tunde Babalola, Matthew 
Ehizele and Lasisi Lamidi. In the latter 
group were Tayo Quaye, Ayo Aina, Jerry 
Buhari, Jacob Jari, Ken Adewuyi, Kefas 
Danjuma, Muazu Mohammed Sanni and Gani 
Odutokun himself. 
With respect to the tragedy which befell the 
Zaria School early this year, Time was a 
reflection of the irrepressible spirit of man. 
The only way to honour a fallen general is to 
win the war, which is why we found the 
regenerative attitude of Gani's professional 
survivors admirable. GR 
With MAURICE ACHIBONG. 
call Nka, 718.935. 
0907 
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