The Singing Birds in Egg Count 2007

Curator: What immediately strikes me is the raw energy and meticulous detail—a compelling mix. Editor: Yes, and you can appreciate the composition, bursting with colors and intricate patterns. Let's delve deeper; this is Twins Seven Seven’s "The Singing Birds in Egg Count" created in 2007. Seven Seven was an important figure in the Oshogbo art movement, a fascinating chapter in modern Nigerian art. Curator: Oshogbo is really key here; it highlights how art production can be fostered in a place relatively removed from established art capitals, prioritizing indigenous knowledge and techniques. And Seven Seven worked across painting, sculpture, and performance—breaking down conventional distinctions between these different kinds of art. What I notice immediately are his media. It appears to be mixed media painting. He plays with density. Editor: Indeed. Consider how that artistic choice places this work within its specific time. The socio-political climate of Nigeria then, grappling with its post-colonial identity, heavily influenced Seven Seven and the other Oshogbo artists. They were actively forging a new visual language. We also can't forget the important role of Ulli Beier and Georgina Beier in founding the Mbari Mbayo artists’ and writers’ club. A very interesting attempt to decentralize art. Curator: Exactly! They embraced local materials and imagery, and the Oshogbo workshops became hubs for artistic experimentation. "Naive art" is an insufficient, lazy, description for something far more deeply rooted in both indigeneity, commerce and material. He is working on a ground stained brown to suggest the local earth that he knows. The labor intensiveness is part of what the work means, pushing back at ideas about a fast disposable westernized society. Editor: And this work definitely echoes Yoruba mythology. The symbolic importance of birds, the vivid palette… it speaks to Seven Seven’s heritage and how he incorporated it into contemporary expression. It seems to function as a commentary on the preservation of cultural knowledge or an invocation of fecundity. How did his legacy affect other Nigerian artists? Curator: The ripples of the Mbari Mbayo and other Oshogbo experiments have been quite powerful—helping legitimize new methods, processes, and materials. Editor: It makes you consider the institutions that have valorized—or, at times, perhaps overlooked—these critical contributions to modern art history. It gives me much to consider regarding art’s place in shaping our understanding of cultural and social identities. Curator: For me, it highlights that the materials are inextricably connected to larger histories, social struggles, and the stubborn drive to represent something important about the real.