Spatio-Environmental Conflicts and Artistic Resolution: Case of Three Nigerian Diaspora Artists

Abstract

Scholars such as Gombrich, Lim, Marshall and D'Adamo, Puppe et al., and Sullivan agree that art movements developed from contradicting theories and beliefs. But conflict and resolution in art have not been given directional and scholastic attention aside from our inroads into such possibilities. This study, hinged on conflict theory, examined spatio-environmental conflicts and their impacts on artistic practices using three Nigerian diaspora painters - Dayo Laoye, Olu Oguibe, and Victor Ekpuk - as examples. The painters were purposively selected from 29 artists presumably that no matter who is studied, all artists would show practice dynamics invariably linked to spatio-environmental conflicts. Morphological analyses of the pre-Diaspora and Diaspora works and the spatio-environment of the artists were conducted. Qualitative method was used for the exploratory and observational dimension to data analysis. Primary data were sourced from the three painters and their web domains while secondary data were further sourced on spatio-environment characteristics, conflict resolution, art and its practice. Results indicated that intrapersonal and interpersonal conflicts from the artist’s spatio-environment: work-space; communities and their socio-political-cultural tendencies; audience and critics; and art materials and the artist’s resolution of these conflicts invariably influence and result in changes in and of certain aspects of their art practices. The paper concludes that, generally, studying art from spatio-environmental dynamics will broaden discourse on conflict resolution, and will, particularly, aid the understanding of artists’ practice shifts in the arts.