Chief Frank Chukwuma Okonta, President, Nkem Gallery in Lekki, Lagos influenced the choice of the venue of the exhibition. It was his birthday, after all. Chief Okonta, as a major collector of Larry Isimah’s works, turned his birthday anniversary into an art event. What could be a more befitting way for this art personality to mark his birthday?
Nkem Gallery has been on the frontline of promoting Nigerian contemporary Art for well over two decades. Over this period, it has been involved in supporting artists, collecting exceptional creative works and staging art exhibitions as well as serving as art consultants to organisations in Nigeria and abroad. Some of its recent outstanding exhibitions have been at the Nigerian Copyright Commission in Lagos, National Theatre Lagos, at the Ikoyi Club, Lagos and at the American International School in Lagos. Exhibitions have also been held at the Institute of International Affairs in Lagos and at the MUSON Centre in Lagos to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the United Nations. The gallery also exhibited at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WPO) in Geneva.
With Isimah’s solo exhibition, the gallery also positions itself as an organisation that collects, promotes and projects the best in the various genres of Nigerian contemporary art.
Held at Nkem gallery from Friday, August 3 to 10, it was graced by the Who is Who in the visual art community. And it is for this reason that it was supported by the Visual Arts Society of Nigeria (VASON), of which Chief Okonta is a member.
VASON, an organisation that intends to gradually make a real impact on the support of art and artists in Nigeria, is a group of prominent Nigerians whose support for and association with art are well known.
As the guests contemplated Larry’s works, they were drawn to the depth of his thoughts, the universality of his appeal, the far-sightedness of his vision, the timeliness and relevance of his theme. His works, which blend the abstract with the representational, seem to tell the familiar folk stories with motifs and symbols that evoke multiple interpretations.
Larry Isimah hails from Agbor in Delta State. Born in Lagos, and supported by appreciative parents and nurtured by a rather rich cultural artistic local community, he had the perfect environment for his creativity. Larry saw his debut solo exhibition as a challenge to the local creative world. It is also a statement of his talent.
In the words John Updike:  “He brings something into the world that didn’t exist before, and he does it without destroying something else.”
And Larry, whose works are predominately colourful, believes that “without colours, there is no beauty anywhere”. So he tries to use colours to enhance the concept of beauty and uniformity. Without colours, he added, things won’t look as exciting. “Colours have some kind of psychological effect on people. Dull colours have negative impacts while bright colours impact some kind of happy and exciting dispositions in people”.
Speaking further on his use of colours, Larry said,  “I have always loved colours and I believe that as Africans, even the colours in our clothings enhance them”.
He owes no creative allegiance to any school. “I belong to Larry Isimah [school] and that is my work! If you look at my work, I don’t have any particular style, you see about 20 artists in one work. It is not like one straight cut out concept. I try to be versatile”.
He however concedes that his concepts are based on African motifs and symbols. “Looking at my works, I express more African motive and symbols and I think the inspiration thing is natural to me. Creativity is natural, if you are creative, you don’t have to go that far to get concept. If you look at my work, you would see a lot of creativity there and they come naturally, anyway. I don’t have anything that really triggers me. The mood comes just like a snap and when the snap comes in I jot something down”.
Unlike other artists that cling to the inspiration from their environments or experiences, Larry would not acknowledge any source of inspiration. “It is something of the mind. It is like when you sit down … like a writer, some writers don’t even have any story in mind but they just write.
“To me I would not say my works are influenced by the society, these things have always been there. Do I have to portray it for people to see it? It is nothing new I would rather come up with something new. Looking my collection of works, you cannot find what is common there. It is intellectual concept, looking at my work, a lot of things go on in your mind, and you can interpret it according to your imagination. I want people to look at my works and then imaginatively explore their minds”.
The recent exhibition is his is first local show, though he has had shows in Germany and other places. “This is just the beginning, I have more 100 pieces of works and hope to continuously come out with new concepts. In my next exhibition, you would not see most of the things you are seeing here today, it is going to be something new”, he boasted.
Isimah plans big for his next exhibition. According to him, he plans for something bigger and better. The exhibition, he added, was just a tip of the iceberg – just a way to introduce his style to people.
“People have been buying my works but have not had the opportunity to view them in an exhibition.”
Still on his works, he insisted that he does not adhere to a particular style. “If you look at all the works, they are different from one another. So you can see that I am versatile. I try to come out with different concepts.”

By Mary Ekah
Thisday Newspapers
Sun. 12, August 2007