Historical documentation of events through visual language: the Ochigbo’s paintings in retrospect

Abstract

The history of painting dates back to the cave painting period in Altamira in Northern Spain. Then, it was not seen as a source of documentation but rather, as a gateway to catching the painted animals as prey. Today, modern painters paint because of circumstances surrounding the rationale for such paintings. Ochigbo keyed into this perspective and he was never stingy with the reality of life in his paintings. The purpose of modern painting is such that communication should take place non-verbally, using visual language. Mostly, colours without paints were made in his works, with the same (if not more) functions, interpretations and references. In his paintings, plastics, rubber and other materials were used to intimate the art lovers with the rudiments of in- depth understanding of the use of alternative materials. The problem of preservation was addressed as he tried to use extraneous materials as binder. The thrust of this paper is to expose the society to the fact that artist can equally communicate through his art works, and not for painters to paint for aesthetic purposes only, but to educate, document, correct and inform the public.

KEYWORDS: Painting, Communication, Extraneous, Materials, Aesthetic, Visual language, Documentation.