ARTIST STATEMENT:
“Mbari House” Normally done in clay made from crushed up ant hill. Mbari is an art form by the Igbo people of eastern Nigeria. It is usually offered as a sacrifice for peace and appreciation to mother-earth for favors done. The village builds Mbari – a houseful of earthen sculptures satirizing the community . This is a totem for peace and global friendship, Mbari literally means “a well decorated beautiful place”.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Geoffrey I. Nwogu is a sculptor, painter, and photographer. He was trained as an artist under his father and grandfather in Eastern Nigeria for over ten years, working mainly in wood. Nwogu is a pioneer of the famous “Mbaise School,” a school of thought in Nigerian art that stormed the nation in 1970. Although his training was in traditional Igbo art of his ethnic group, he went on in life to establish himself in both the national and international art scene as a contemporary artist through education, exhibitions, and interaction with other artists. He has been showing his work in galleries and museums throughout the world since he was a teenager.
Nwogu received a Certificate in Education from the University of London, England. He has lived in San Francisco since 1983, while showing his works in galleries and museums in Africa, the United States of America, Asia, South America, and Europe. He also has taught and lectured in many institutions of art in Nigeria and the United States, including the Academy of Art College, the University of California, Santa Barbara, San Francisco State University, and the San Francisco Art Institute.
Nwogu’s work has been collected by museums, public and private organizations, and individuals in many parts of the world. He is listed in Who’s Who in Nigerian Art, (Smithsonian, Washington, DC); Who’s Who in African Art, (Afrique E’encreation, Paris), and The Encyclopedia of Living Artists in America, (Directory Publishers, California). He also is a published photographer who has worked for The San Francisco Examiner and other clients.
Geoffrey Nwogu now lives in Michigan