Life and styles of contemporary African artists: a biography of Jaji M. Adio & Sani M. Muazu

Abstract

It is a consensus among scholars that the greatest contributions of Africans to civilization are in the arts. Great European artists like Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and others had to copy African art styles to change the face of European art in the early 20th century. Today, contemporary African artists have the zeal and persistent carriage to compete with any artist on the globe. Thanks to the talented, hardworking and prolific traditional artists who laid the foundation for continuity. With a combination of traditional style and European approach to art, these artists have evolved new and peculiar styles worthy of analysis. Funke Efeta, an artist and a lecturer in University of Lagos rightly observed at the 50th anniversary of the Department of Fine Arts, ABU Zaria that these artists are hardly celebrated, the result of which a lot of contemporary African artists are still left undocumented. This paper therefore looks into the lives and styles of two contemporary African artists to give credence to those who are carrying African art to the next level. The artists are Jaji Muyideen Adio and Mohammed Sani Muazu.