Solomon Wangboje’s Creative Work: The Romance of the Headload Series and Festival of the Gods

Abstract

Solomon Wangboje has, without doubt, excelled in his artistic craftsmanship which reached a very advanced stage. He has contributed immensely to the development of printmaking in Nigeria through the application and exposure of various themes, techniques and media in his creative work. This paper will examine Wangboje’s prints, namely “Romance of the Headload” (Series II, III, IV) and “Festival of the Gods”, with a view to highlighting the socio-cultural and religious themes projected by the artist, among them the promotion of entrepreneurial development through artistic endeavours in “Romance of the Headload” series and religion and culture in “Festival of the Gods”. The paper will also analyze the techniques applied by the artist to enhance and project these themes.

Keywords: romance, printmaking, headload techniques