User:PeterBraun74/Emmanuel Eni

Emmanuel Eni, 2015

Emmanuel Eni (born in Igbanke in Nigeria) is a Nigerian painter, sculptor, multimedia and performance artist, poet and philosopher.

Early life

Eni studied art at Igbobi College in Lagos, from 1982 to 1984. He then studied fine arts at the Polytechnic University Auchi, where he earned his Ordinary National Diploma in fine arts. He holds a bachelor's degree in sculpture from University of Benin, Nigeria.

Career

Eni has exhibited his work at several biennales including Biennale d'art contemporain de Lyon, the Biennale in Dakar (Dak'Art) and documenta 12 in Kassel Germany. He is a speaker at both private and public conferences. His work is known in the Western world, most famously his philosophical art. The Guardian describes him as an "iconoclast of unusual proportions". Eni is the writer and performer of Blackman in European Kitchen, the creator of the "basic metric scale for art products" in Death of the Curator drama, and the inventor of light painting art.

Works

Eni creates sculptures in bronze, fiber glass, re-enforced concrete and terracotta. His work focuses on the use of recycled materials, as well as some new materials. His most famous work is entitled "Elephant", which for the artist represents the mother of all animals and the largest terrestrial mammal. Eni claims that without elephants, nature will no longer exist.

"Elephants" is made of steel re-enforced concrete with the elephants complexion of "earths colour" just emerging from a mud bath.

Installations

Eni's Israel and Palestine installation is a shaped wall made of empty recycled cans, adorned with dynamite dummies. The installation shows the formal language of two components, one of which requires the other.

Performances

"Peace Restoration performance" - Israel and Palestine

This performance developed from the eponymous installation. The Peace Restoration performance grew to present a platform to deconstruct and interact with the visual installation. The performer employs the flags of Israel and of Palestine, waving them to depict the breakdown in peace. The performance ends with the rolling and tying up of the two flags, in a ceremonial pattern suggesting continued efforts at peace.

"Blackman in European kitchen" - a poetic dance musical poem-lyric

Eni performed this piece in about 70 performances in Africa, Europe, US and Scandinavia. Its text was published in Masquaradeundressing poetry collection. The work includes two drummers and three dancers over a duration ofis 25 minutes.

The piece is about an African who suddenly finds himself in a European kitchen. He is hungry, he cooks. His hostess is a woman named Sabina who is celebrating her birthday, including many expected guests. He perceives the kitchen as a great, shiny, piano. This brings new ways to overcome his challenge. The confrontation with the new kitchen, so unlike his old world, explores the differences and similarities of varied cultures.

Exhibitions

"THE BOOM" exhibition of new light painting art and sculptures

• "Brightness of the picture" - sculptures and paintings, Schwarzenbach an der Saale, Bavaria, Germany
• "Haske Zanen" - sculptures, paintings and performance with new light, painting, art
• Thought pyramid Gallery Abuja / German Embassy Abuja Nigeria
• "Art Merchant“ - sculptures and paintings, National museum Lagos, Nigeria
• Diverse lecture activities in sculpture, installation, audiovisual performance and literature
• "Leaf spirit totem" - 7 m high sculpture for Syke, Bremen Germany (Wood, Terra Kota, Mirror glass, 2011)
• "Blackman in European Kitchen", ICD Institute for cultural diplomacy, Berlin, Germany
• "Ear as a long road" - poetic performance, Berlin, Poetry Festival Lyricline
• "Consciences and frontiers" installation "Israel and Palestine" and "Knowledge is power" - SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
• Exhibition / performance Israel and Palestine "Schlachtfelder" - Battlefields Anniversary of 250 years battle - city of Minden, Germany
• "Black History month" - Africa reflection - sculptures and paintings, America Haus, Berlin, Germany
• "2nd African Legends Performance" poetic musical dance performance, America Haus, Berlin, Germany
• ARESUVA - African regional summit for visual arts, Abuja, Nigeria
• Visiting professor new media/performance - Art University Berlin Weißensee. Kunsthochschule Berlin - Weißensee Berlin, Germany
• "Africanize" installation - Grassi Museum, Saxony Ethnographic collection, Leipzig, Germany
• "Africanize" installation KUNSTBANKEN Museum Hamar, Norway
• "Blackman in European Kitchen" - installation/performance, Goethe-Institute, Lagos, Nigeria
• "CharacterLAGOStika", Goethe-Institute, Lagos, Nigeria
• "Death of the curator" installation/performance, documenta 12, Kassel, Germany
• "CrossCulture" installation/performance - Goethe-Institute, Dakar, Senegal
• Publication "Death of the curator" drama. E.N.I Publishers, Berlin
• Group Show "Blackk Paris" African position on contemporary art of Diaspora. Paris France, Iwalewahaus, Bayreuth, Germany
• "Blackman in European Kitchen" - performance Iwalewahaus, Bayreuth, Germany
• "Israel and Palestine" installation/performance Dakart 2006 Biennial of Contemporary African Art, Dakar, Senegal
• "Junking of the Elephant" – destruction of a 20-ton heavy "Elephant" Monument of re-enforced Steel Concrete - Before a live Audience. For the Ecology and nature
• "Death of the curator" installation/performance, Grassi museum Leipzig, Saxony Ethnographic collection, Germany
• Guest professor sculpture - Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), USA
• Publication "Maskuaradeundressing" (poems, tales and stories), CPN publishers, England
• "Water Burns" - exhibition/installation on "Water Uses" in the New Millennium Vienna, Austria
• "History of love" - sculptures and paintings. Galerie im Prater, Berlin, Germany
• Making of "Elephant" (20 ton monument for nature) und Making of "Leaf“ (7 meters high monument for nature) steel concrete
• "Characteristics of living things", Castle Colombi Park, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
• "Parts of CIay" - Centre Monroe for the Arts, Hoboken, New Jersey, USA
• "Clear Walls" - Lisa Parker Fine Art New York, USA
• "Parables" - National museum, Lagos, Nigeria
• "Creation Story" - Albertus - Magnus - Haus, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
• Drawing School, University of Lagos, Nigeria.

Bibliography

• Emmanuel Eni: Death of the curator. Berlin 2007.
• Emmanuel Eni: Elephants and new – light paintings (Ausstellung vom 19. August bis 9. Oktober 2011, Galerie Schwartzsche Villa, Hrsg.: Bezirksamt Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Kulturamt. Projektmitarbeiter: Anja Braun, Stefan Martinkat)
• Emmanuel Eni: The Art of Blackman in European Kitchen. 2017.

External links

• Death of the Curator-Kunstinstallation im Leipzig Museum of Ethnography (German)
• Emmanuel Eni on Facebook
• Blackman in European Kitchen - public figure on Facebook

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eni, Emmanuel}} [[Category:1967 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Nigerian painters]] [[Category:Nigerian sculptors]]