The reupholster of stained glass designs and “the deceptive silence of stolen voices”

Abstract

Reflecting on the seminal theme of Biography as a provisional means of accessing artistic substance, this study dares a reading of the metamorphosis of the artistry of the Nigerian glass designs of Frank Ugiomoh and Nsikak Essien. Utilising an empirical analysis, principal art works of these masters are examined. However, a hermeneutic investigation is engaged to aid an unraveling of the tooling mechanisms and the art making traditions that the artists deployed in their engagement with the natural synthesis cognomen in affecting the ecclesia in Africa paradigm. The designs of Frank Ugiomoh are discussed with a hermeneutic detailing that draws attention to the peculiarities of his artistry as emblematic in the growth and development of glass designs. However, that investigation revealed (I) that the artist Nsikak Essien in re-upholstering his pictures diligently sourced his devises on mimetic reinstatements of the canons of academe; but introduced lineal schemes culled from the art forms of his Nigerian art world, specifically Uli and Nsibidi; while (II) Ugiomoh toed the intellectually subtle repositioning of themes and tooling mechanisms, declaiming the prime masters’ narratives but implanting a language of pictorial codes that deter the dearth of symbols.

Keywords: biography, provisional, metamorphosis, hermeneutic, paradigm shift, re-upholster, deceptive silence of stolen voices