Bruce Onobrakpeya

Professor Bruce Onobrakpeya is one of the most respected and prolific artists working in Nigeria today.

He completed his undergraduate studies at the former Nigeria College of Arts, Science and Technology (NCAST), now the Ahmadu Bello University, from 1957 to 1961, shortly after the college was moved from its original location in Ibadan to Zaria, where his classmates included Uche Okeke, Yusuf Grillo and Demas Nwoko. As a direct response to having received the conventional Western academic training in draughtsmanship and observational realism, on 9 October 1958, the group founded the Zaria Art Society, later called the Zaria Rebels, with the aim of decolonizing the visual arts as taught by expatriate Europeans. During a period dominated by nationalistic fervour, with the attainment of independence in 1960, this group believed in the celebration of indigenous cultures as a central part of its art movement. The Zaria Art Society became known for championing ‘natural synthesis’, a term coined by their unofficial leader, Uche Okeke, to describe the combination of contemporary Western art techniques and African ideas, art forms and themes. Despite being filled with references of traditional culture and technique, the Zaria Rebels’ work does not present itself as purely indigenous by any means. Instead, what becomes apparent is the complexity of the relationship between European and African aesthetics.

Following his time in Zaria and having taken part in Ulli Beier’s print workshop in Ibadan in 1963, Onobrakpeya later led print masterclasses at the Mbari Club and in Osogbo. Over the next fifty years Onobrakpeya discovered, innovated and perfected several techniques both in printmaking and relief sculpture that are uniquely Nigerian, including bronzed lino relief, plastocast relief, plastograph, additive plastograph, metal foil deep etching, metal foil relief print and ivorex.