By Henry Akubuiro
Emeka Ilechukwu is one artist who takes a critical perspective into the virtual world against the frailty of human submission to things man created himself. By deploying the media of sculpture and painting, he not only adds fizz to his craft but also swells it with a unique inspirational value.
Whether in welded art or in paintings, the artist creates a dual panoply bordering on the basic values of fine art, utilising the best application of materials to recall bygone era, as well as documenting changes of workaday life.
In one of his works Trio Beat (acrylic and thread on canvas, 38 X 48 inches, dated 2022), Ilechukwu echoes that, as much it’s possible for a solo drummer to achieve great beats, “it takes drummers to have a percussion symphony.”
Among his recent works is Ndi Nne Mama, a mixed media made from African teak dated 2021, in which the artist recalls how a local Mother’s Day event was celebrated in his primary school days. In figurative painting of relief on panels, Ndi Nne Mama depicts eight women, each with different fashion of either native or combined styles of western and African textures. Adding to the beauty of the work is the elegance, which the artist weaves around the women’s postures.
“During my primary school days, in the early 1980s, there was this beautiful tradition, which Christian mothers in our community exhibit annually,” Ilechukwu shared part of his growing up. “Before each Mother’s Day, these amazing women would mobilise themselves, buy all manner of gifts, mostly edible kinds, to give out in schools. It is part of the activities leading to the big day — Mothers day.”
Belonging to a generation that already grew into adolescent ahead of the virtual world of internet, Ilechukwu has the privilege to articulate his thoughts from the perspective of dual experience. This much he does in sculptures, specifically in a welded metal piece entitled Enyimba-2 (Real and Virtual Worlds), dated 2022.
Ilechukwu’s Enyimba depicts an elephant moving two globe objects, possibly representing the duality of real and virtual world. He noted how the gap between the “virtual world is fusing dramatically with the real world,” adding, “It is becoming so glaring that no one can do anything notable without the input of Information Technology.”
What has elephant got to do with his thoughts in depicting the closing gaps between real and virtual worlds? He said, “In this artwork, the elephant is a metaphor of structures and systems embracing the present realities of doing business. The fusing of the virtual world with the real world.”
For him, “it is intelligence and quick thinking to embrace and utilitilise all the advantages this new way of doing business affords us.”
Other recent works of Ilechukwu include Heartstrings (welded metal, height, width, dept — 80, 31, 30 inches), in which the artist makes tribute to all the individuals that have made indelible marks in the hearts of those they love and who love them; and Gush of Goodies (wood, 78 x 46 inches, dated 2022, as the artist affirmed the importance of deliberately developing one’s areas of strength and emotional intelligence to the point that whenever under pressure, the Goodies would emerge.
Emeka Ilechukwu graduated with Distinction as a sculptor from the Institute of Management and Technology Enugu in 1997. Born August 11th 1975 at Nnewi in Anambra State, Nigeria, he continues to create drawing, sculptures and paintings, which are informed largely from his inner visions and desires to solving creative problems. Through these modes of expressions, he addresses numerous socio-cultural and environmental concerns that affect him.
He explores diverse media in expressing his eclectic creative ideas, which are drawn from critical observation of everyday mundane things. His works are created to inspire hope and motivate courage. Emeka, as he likes to be called, dissects the opposing forces of life, such as light and darkness; good and evil; positives and negatives; he does this to tease out for his audience’s concrete mental imagery to ponder on. Part of his art ideology is creating visual statements, that adds aesthetics value to the world.
As an active artist, Ilechukwu has had five solo exhibitions, 50 salons, and has participated in over thirteen group exhibitions nationally and internationally. Due to the uniqueness of his works a number of collectors and art lovers around the world have them in their collection.