Eugene Chime-Age is a renowned painter who uses his peculiar style of exploring different media to depict diverse situations. He recently held an art exhibition themed ‘Woman: Filling the Broken Pieces’ at the Abuja International Conference Center. In this interview, Eugene talks about the exhibition, its purpose, and other matters relating to the world or painting. Excerpts:
What was the purpose of the exhibition and what is the motivation for your works?
The works showcased at the exhibition emphasise the truism that the story of a home begins with a good wife and mother, since the woman is the one who selflessly ensures a peaceful environment, supports her husband, nurtures the children, and makes it easier for her husband to function effectively.
The purpose of the exhibition, therefore, was to encourage all women to hang in there and continue to in their work/role of keeping the home and filling the spaces left behind by husbands and fathers who have to toil to provide for their families.
My motivation comes from the fact that over the years I have actually studied The Woman and have drawn the conclusion that indeed, she is very strong, resilient and resourceful and will hold her own in the face of situations, even very difficult ones.
What memorable moments have you had so far in the field?
Memorable moments are the times that people study the work and want to know how I come up with the concepts and ask for explanations and the incredible thing is that I get the same reaction from art lovers over the years; they are always amazed at my explanations.
What was it like preparing for the exhibition? Did you encounter any challenges?
For this exhibition, the main challenge was that I had to put together all the materials I have been using for decades and even added some new ones. Most of them cannot be bought off the shelves so I had to drive to different places just to pick up materials.
At the end of the day, the job always gets done and knowing the end result helps me cope with any temporary challenges.
Who influences your art works and how do you rest?
My greatest influences are God, my wife who is my biggest fan and critic, and honest people with integrity who mean what they say at all times.
I play the clarinet and saxophone and sing too, so when I am not working, I relax by playing an instrument.
How do you price your works?
Like everything else, due to higher cost of materials, the price for the works has changed. The materials I use have note really changed just that I have added some more because I like to use as many different materials as possible on a painting.
What would you tell upcoming artists?
I will like upcoming artists to be more empowered, and involvement of artists in aesthetics and beautification of different parts of the country is long overdue. There is a level of ‘art’ in every sector, unfortunately artists are not remembered when it comes to such work.
My advice to young people is that they should develop the will power to work hard, no matter what their hands find to do, they should work hard at it because successful people started from somewhere. There are no free lunches anywhere…if you do not work, you cannot put food on your table or expect someone else to do it. For those who have studied one course or the other, they should still learn a skill…it is the future
