‘My wife and I are married to art’

Babatunde and his wife, Oluwatoyin
For Olawale Babatunde and his wife, Oluwatoyin, online marketing of artworks is profitable and a social networking site such as the Facebook is a good platform, Juliet Bumah writes

Olawale Babatunde, known as Wale Art-afrik, is an Ile Ife, Osun State-based artist. When he was about 12 years old, the headmaster of his school wrote on his testimonial card, “Wale is the school artist.” It wasn‘t only his headmaster that saw the talent in him, people around him also noticed that he could draw very well and they encouraged him.

“I was an elementary school pupil in St Peters AC School, Oke Esho. What my headmaster, Mr. Awotipe, who is now late, wrote on my testimonial report card encouraged me to go into the art profession,” he said, adding, “If I didn’t end up an artist, I would have been a writer.” Musing aloud with his palms turned upward, he said, “My art is just like the lines on my palm in the sense that it is inbuilt.”

The quiet, almost shy artist is into the textile art and sells his works online. “I’m strictly based on batik art, but I print too. I draw and paint also. I’m versed in wood cut media and mono print, but people buy art of textile more because it is a kind of popular art and everybody can afford it. In our society, people love artworks but cannot afford it because they have to eat first but everybody has to wear clothes.”

His wife, Oluwatoyin is also an artist. Apart from being a partner in Wale State of the Arts and Integrated Concepts, which also owns the Wale African Aesthetics and Research, she teaches art in a secondary school in Ile Ife. “My wife is a trained teacher of art, a painter. She is into the art of arts. She thinks of art more than other things. Art brought us together. We are both married to art and not to each other,” Babatunde, said, with smiles dancing around his eyes.

Okonfo Rao Kawawa of Jungle Communication, Osogbo and his German wife, Iyalode, he added, hosted her wife during her industrial attachment.

The Babatundes are known for their quality batik which they market online on social networking sites like the Facebook and others. “Online marketing of art is lucrative,” he noted, although he pointed out that there were the initial doubts. They make use of courier services to get to their clients who are based both in Nigeria and abroad.

“Many of our clients are outside the country. People buy from us online. It takes us one to two weeks to deliver, depending on the quantity. White people appreciate the value of our art more,” he said. He added that they use quality brocade - 100 per cent cotton - for their batik. “People should understand that to get good art, you must use good materials. We use the best brocade in the market. Our art is not expensive. Our prices are reasonable and affordable. Our works are unique. We have to sit down and think of new things, designs.”

According to the father of one, print batik is an ancient art which is learnt from the elders in Osogbo. “Like the Aso Oke, the skill and secret is with our elders in Osogbo. Print batik is labour intensive.”

The artist said that his company works in conjunction with the Institute of Cultural Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife and has his studio in the Gallery of Fine Art in the Institute. With seven people, “all from the Osogbo School of Art” working with him, they make not only batik, but also T-shirts, tops for both male and female, in addition to painting, wood work and others, he said.

Wale Art-afrik is a 2004 graduate of philosophy with emphasis on African philosophy and aesthetics, from the OAU, Ile Ife, but he went into professional arts in 1996.

He has participated in many exhibitions - both solo and group. His first exhibition - a group exhibition - was sponsored by the Department of Philosophy/Faculty of Arts, OAU, in commemoration of the Faculty of Arts Week. That was in 1996. In 2007, his outfit provided creative costumes for officials and ushers of Ife International Festival of Arts coordinated by the Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka. He also provided costumes for officials and ushers of 2008 World Festival of Yoruba Arts and Culture organised by the Alaroye magazine and many others.
Source:http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201011100211762