THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 25, 1996 TAG: 9610230105
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COVER STORY
SOURCE: IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 153 lines
WORKS BY NIGERIAN printmaker Bruce Onobrakpeya will be shown to the public over the next month by Richard Singletary, one of the artist's most ardent admirers.
Revered in his own country and well-known in New York and other large American cities, Onobrakpeya is not known as well in this region, Singletary said.
``I felt the need to introduce him to Hampton Roads,'' Singletary said. ``Most people here don't know much about contemporary African art.''
But that's not because Singletary isn't trying.
Now working on his doctorate at Virginia Commonwealth University, Singletary is doing his dissertation on Onobrakpeya. On a journey to Nigeria last winter, the Portsmouth scholar spent weeks with his subject and returned home with a collection of Onobrakpeya's work.
Those works will be the focal point in the Singletary Gallery for five Sundays, Oct. 27 through Nov. 24, when the public is invited to see them.
The gallery is the main room of Singetary's home on the edge of Cavalier Manor. But all of his home is a museum.
For the showing of his Onobrakpeya collection, Singletary has redone everything in his one-man museum.
New wall coverings have been installed in the great room, where the works will be displayed. He also recently rearranged other rooms of his house to better display and accommodate his vast collection of traditional African art, including many musical instruments.
A wall-sized painting by Charles Sibley, titled ``Zimbabwe,'' dominates one end of the great room. Works by other well-known artists, as well as some by lesser-known painters, are scattered through Singletary's home.
He has a story to go with them all.
But right now he wants to talk about Onobrakpeya.
Singletary shows off the works he has that match those on the covers of a collection of books about contemporary African art, a subject he teaches at Norfolk State University as an adjunct professor.
``I didn't know a lot about Onobrakpeya, although I had seen some of his works in a book I teach,'' Singletary said. ``Then I took a course at VCU, and the cover of the book was one of his. It captured me.''
He now owns a ``plastograph'' print of the work done by the artist. A plastograph is a sort of engraving that is painted by the artist.
Singletary said he will have two original plastographs by Onobrakpeya for sale during the upcoming public showing of his collection. They sell for about $2,000 each.
He also has for sale some copies of a handsome book of the artist's work and life.
``I started with 20 copies, and I have only three left,'' said Singletary, who obviously is pleased with the progress he is making to tell people about his Nigerian friend. That they bought the books is an indication to him that they are understanding the importance of the artist and his work.
He produced a sheaf of papers about two inches thick to document his comments on the importance of Onobrakpeya.
``These are copies of articles written about him over the past 15 years,'' Singletary said. ``There are several hundred pages here. I copied them from the Smithsonian Institution files.''
Singletary's fervor for the artist and his work goes beyond his lifetime interest in art and collecting, and beyond his current work on the dissertation.
Some years ago he lived in Liberia, working there for the Peace Corps for two years.
``But I didn't feel a connection,'' he said. ``Then I went to Nigeria, to Lagos (where Onobrakpeya lives), and there was this comfortable feeling there. I felt at home.''
Although he has never traced his ancestry, this Winston-Salem, N.C., native said there could be some spiritual connection.
On the trip to Nigeria, Singletary concentrated on the Urhobo culture, which is a great influence in the Onobrakpeya works. He expects his dissertation to add to the small body of research on the culture.
Onobrakpeya went with Singletary to Urhoboland, where they spent last Christmas Eve with Adjara III, the king of Ogor. On another trip, they visited the artist's father in Agbarha-Otor, where Onobrakpeya is building a compound to teach and work with young artists.
Onobrakpeya and his wife live in a three-story building in Lagos. The first floor is an art gallery tended by the artist's wife. The second story is the living area, and the third story is the studio.
``It's wonderful to stay there with all of his work covering the walls,'' Singletary said.
He described Onobrakpeya as ``quite wealthy'' and ``very humble.''
``He has workers who apprentice in his workshop, much like in the Renaissance,'' Singletary said. ``They come there to learn their craft.''
There is, he added, a demand for good art in Nigeria.
``I was surprised to find art everywhere and people buying it,'' he said. ``There's a big clientele from all around. Embassy people from different places drive up to Onobrakpeya's to buy his work all the time.''
But, generally, academic circles have neglected contemporary African art, Singletary said, and have focused more on the ancient objects of the various cultures.
His interest in the Orhobo culture attracted attention from newspapers in Lagos, and his trip is documented in articles from The Guardian. Singletary is a man of many talents - and many jobs.
He teaches English as a Second Language in the Portsmouth Public Schools as well as the courses at Norfolk State.
Like Onobrakpeya's home, Singletary's home is multipurpose. He has a grand piano in the living room, where he teaches music and has produced some outstanding young violinists. One room is a library with walls lined with books and a computer on which he writes.
``Until I get this degree finished, I'm limiting my violin teaching,'' he said.
The doctorate is just one more step in the life of a self-described ``professional student.'' He has a master's degree in humanities from Old Dominion University and another master's in piano from Norfolk State.
``My next project is African-American architects born before 1900,'' he said. ``I recently did an all-day symposium for the Virginia Historical Society on five African-American churches in Richmond.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff color photos including cover by MARK MITCHELL
Richard Singletary, who has an art gallery in his home, plays piano
in a room that contains only a small part of his extensive African
art collection.\
In Izobo (Sacrifice), Bruce Onobrakpeya depicts the multiplicity of
human problems through the image of a priest offering a sacrifice to
a multiheaded deity. As one of its heads seems satisfied with the
offering, another one makes a demand.
Ekugbe (Unity) literally means coming together in diversity to
improve the lot of the whole. Onobrakpeya's plastograph reflects the
thought that if all the empires of Africa were to mediate, they
could reconcile their differences and live more in harmony as before
the arrival of Western influences.
The main room in Singletary's home serves as the Singletary Gallery,
but the extensive art collection throughout the house gives it the
atmosphere of a fine museum.
In this plastograph, Forms in a Landscape, Onobrakpeya shows his use
of the whimsical, the incongruous and the mysterious. A plastograph
is a print - an engraving - on which the artist paints.
This mask is among the many works of African art that line the walls
of Richmond Singletary's gallery-in-a-home.
Graphic
AT A GLANCE
What: Works by Bruce Onobrakpeya, Nigerian printmaker.
Where: Singletary Gallery, corner of Greenwood Drive and Rapidan
Street.
When: 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. each Sunday from Oct. 27 through Nov.
24.
Also: Lectures by the artist's son, Mudiare Onobrakpeya, at 6 and
7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26. by CNB