TOMORROW Ghanaian artist, Constance Swaniker, begins her solo show, Juxtaposed, in Nike Art Centre, Lekki, Lagos.The show of predominantly metal sculptures and mixed media pieces will be attended by the Ghana an ECOWAS missions in Nigeria. It will also mark the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana trained artist's introduction to international art market. And the bright-smiling female artist enthuses: 'After Lagos, I hope to do Johannesburg,' to underscore her international mission.She joins an art scene that for decades, have been familiar with such Ghanaian names as El Anatsui, Ablade Glover, Amon Kotei, Ato Delaquis among others. Indeed, Swaniker shares alumnus with Prof. Anatsui who over the years have become one of the major influences in contemporary Nigerian art scene as both art teacher and exhibiting artist. She brings Ghanaian sculptural effusions to the Nike Art Gallery show.Ms Swaniker's metal works ripple in floaty movements, see-through perforations, vibrant colour finishes and an amalgam of properties comprising wood, plastic, foils and even toys.Encounter with her Mended Distortions, shows a sculptor with as much sassy mindset in studio work as she does in one-on-one explanation. The reclining figure, finished in matt black, with velvety coating shows a 'well endowed' torso that 'speaks' eloquently of how she can communicate seduction, very directly and effectively. The figure sleeps as comfortably as it easily lures the viewer's eyes to the floor where it lays. There is also her Noah's Arc, 'an enigmatic human torso, fabricated into a gentle upward curve.' Same as her See [Sea'] Life, 'a nearly lifelike melang of sea creatures, dangling seductively from a pole.' Her Weapons of Mass Destruction is as much a tickle as its is a visual piece of metaphor and a dropper of the feminism tendency in her and her studio oeuvre.Among her wrought iron works are, Weapons of Mass Destruction (fabricated metal), In Celebration, Breaking News, The Long Walk, Nature Abstracted (welded sheets), Exhilaration (brushed metal with rust finishing), the somewhat assertive Walk a Mile in My Shoes, Problematic Solutions and the brightly coloured Momentum. Movement of forms thrills Swaniker like it would and impressionist painter. Among her materials are plates of mirrors like in Conversation with Mirrors, textile fabrics, metal plates (used heavily in Coping Mechanisms and The Road Less Travelled) and other. There hints of installation art in Progress Unexplained too. Her Killing Fields also show the pictorial composer in her. The very colourful if 'visually poetic' composition made of guns and colourfully painted metal plate reminds of wars, weapons, landmines and the many battle fields of contemporary Africa. And clear indicator that the young lady has bent down and picked the politically correct themes around the continent's art that easily draws the attention of western 'pundits' of African art.Truly, Swaniker has planned her step-up from her Accra studio to international art market and the two-week showing opening this weekend in Lagos shows vividly that she means every bit of that mission.
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