The GodPromise

GodPromise

WORDS AND DEFINITIONS

Touted as the Dolce and Gabana of contemporary renaissance Nigerian art with a strong representation for the ingenious underrated resilient Niger Delta art axis, GodPromise is a force of creativity comprising the extremely conceptually artistic duo of Godwin Arikpo and Promise O’nali respectively from the Port Harcourt and Nsukka art schools. In recent times, these young Niger delta creative residents have hold sway their artistic prowess which in turn, has garnered a lot of religious followership for their works. This is just the beginning of a movement that would herald the new breed of contemporary artists who will stop at nothing to express themselves creatively. A fine blend of two extremely different characters in a brewing cauldron of intense creativity.

Godwin Arikpo’s creative prowess has paid off in the other artistic skills he possess. His branding experience owes a lot to his painting style of abstract expressionism which turns him to some sort of modern day Jackson Pollock fused with an umber intensive realistic painting skill. His mixed media technique can never be over emphasised and has also sets his works out from his contemporaries. These he combines with the use of beads to create an uncanny visually arresting pieces of art that pulls the observer towards the deep thought pattern employed to create these works of untimely relevance. He ground his teeth deep in book illustrations, graphic designing, interior decoration and designing, branding and photo realistic portrait painting.

Promise O’nali would rather be described as the Andre 300 of contemporary Nigerian art and be rest assured, he has so much to offer. One of the strongest creative forces to have ever emerged from the Niger Delta art axis, his oeuvres comprises so much that he thinks he cannot get them all out in one lifetime. With a creative forte that cuts across fictitious and non fictitious creative writing, poetry, hip hop music, fashion, spoken words, art critic, installation, mixed media, graffiti art and the list is just endless when it comes to describing this individual’s creative prowess. Though he has decided to sit on his art for now, he is one individual whose creativity supersedes him.

These two relentless artists have commingled under the codename ‘GODPROMISE’ which was coined from the combination of their first names; GODwin and PROMISE. However, the promise in this context refers to that ultimate power of God which we all posses in immeasurable abundance; creativity. A politics to man’s enigmatic and diverse phenomena, simply put, GODPROMISE is nothing short of a visual Pandora’s Box waiting to unleash its creative impetus on the contemporary art scene. Their works are driven by an emotional urge to create art that interrogates the existence of man and its effect on the most infinitesimal everyday occurrences that tend to form our physical lives.

 Promise’ abstracts have been nicknamed ‘embryo’ because they privilege verisimilitude to the dynamic emotional response that emanates from watching an embryo through a CT scan. They reactivate that feeling of continuity of life in us which his paintings argue for in a rather, different apt but dreamier manner. His use of colours and technique has been described by a collector to be intensely emotional and riddled with passion. Accordingly, and while one hesitates to proffer metaphorical readings onto Promise’ art, there is something apt about his deployment of circular swirls in many of his paintings. These he has likened to the energy, continuity and dynamism of life which is undoubtedly invisible to the human optical perception.

According to Benny Droscher, “we all stand in front of an artwork with a certain amount of information, ideas, even prejudices, if you’re going to communicate directly with what’s in front of you, these must be thrown away. Your normal way of understanding must be short-circuited, so you can speak in a nonverbal language.” Following this stance, the duo has employed a constantly coherent body of works to coax a new way of thinking and understanding from their audience, in a bid to suspend logic but push further, the fragile boundaries of artistic coherence. In other words, the works of these young duo confronts the viewer with something that can’t be contained by mere words or definitions. The result is a glimpse into the unscripted visual promiscuity of the duo, the genesis of a looping process aimed at opening doors of perception and then, making visible, our own propensity for understanding the ethereal via our innermost essence.

This etherealness and subtle spirituality is evident in the paintings of Godwin which ultimately give his works that uncanny feeling of looking through a dreamy film of reality. His constant use of folded fabrics, beads and the highly mastered technique of pouring his colours to explode in a visual conversation of divergent hues, divulging his ambivalence towards realism and his inherent post modern creative ideas. Godwin lends his visual statements to a bouillabaisse of techniques, from colourful realistic dancing figures to a rather modern and subtle Jackson-Pollockish colour play and highly textured backgrounds over an instinctive, confident sense of composition. One is tempted to see his work as a cornucopia of styles and techniques rendered with the strong ease and dexterity that comes with the constant burning of studio time. As if these styles and technique were combinatory ingredients employed to give that magical effect on his canvases.

   What GODPROMISE wants, in fact, to achieve is to create an engagement with reality through art, unencumbered by labels or categorisation. Pushing further, boundaries that can only pave way for a new beginning in contemporary African art. Bringing to the fore, that renaissance attitude that puts the modern artist on his toes, not wanting to be left behind. The last decade has witnessed a rather tectonic pattern in the global economy, forcing several African states to record tangible economic growth, Nigeria inclusive. Ultimately, the visual art sector is earnestly on the trail of this trend and GODPROMISE is leading the Niger Delta race with a relentless zeal.

BOTTLED POETRY As a lover of occasions and all things grandeur, I have noticed that most Nigerians serve more beer than any other beverage at ceremonies, well, that’s because most Nigerians drink more beer and spirits than wine. That part I pondered too and came to the conclusion that local breweries have invested heavily on promotions and publicity to drown our awareness and interest in other drinks that add colour and class to our ceremonies. To this effect, most Nigerians do not know much about the enormous goodness embedded in a bottle of wine. Martin Luther once said that “beer is made by men, wine by God”. Talk about class, style, elegance, grandeur, and that air of royalty that comes when you are having a conversation with that gorgeously dressed lady at that classy function with a tall glass of wine in hand, only two words could describe it ‘sheer beauty’. I guess that’s why Robert Luis Stevenson said that “wine is bottled poetry” because that’s when you reveal that aspect of you that screams renaissance. Although wine making and drinking has a pretty long and past history, it still remains the modern form of entertaining guests at major functions all around the world. According to Ernest Hemingway, “wine is the most civilized thing in the world”. Wine making could be traced back to 6000 BC in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Greece, Spain, Mexico, Rome and United States followed this trend. Wine became the valuable trade, ‘the crude oil’ of the time. The rich enjoyed it and the rulers tried to hide this treasure as a clandestine. GRAPES, the major raw material in wine making is a juicy fruit found in a variety of colours. More than 10, 000 grape varieties exist but only a few are used for commercial purposes. White and red grapes are the major grapes varieties which could be mixed or used individually to create fine wine. Varietal wines are wines that are made from single grape breed. However, many wines combine numerous grape varieties. The grape variety determines each wine taste and colour. To create a high quality wine, the wine maker knows how to choose and merge the grapes from different varieties. Although grapes come in great variety, some of them are more popular. The wine makers and consumers prefer them the most than any other variety. However, these grape varieties basically fall under the red or white grape category. Red grapes are basically red and are rich in vitamin c with a sweet pulp. Pinot noir, syrah, nebbiolo, and zintandel are some famous red grapes. White grapes are grapes that are green, yellow, pink, or brown in colour. The world famous white grape is the chardonnay because of its garmut flavours and styles. Wine making is an art, like every other art, it also needs patience. This art starts from the vineyard where the grapes are planted at the right place and soil texture, and then they are chosen and picked at the right time. Wine is basically a mixture of water, alcohol and grape flavours. By crushing the grapes and adding yeast to activate the fermentation process, the wine makers begin their job. Sugar and oxygen content in the juice are converted to ethyl alcohol by the yeast. Vinification is the process that transforms the grapes into wine. This process differ from region to region, financial state of the winery, as well as grape types. The first step employed in wine making is harvesting or picking the grapes. This is done manually or mechanically. After this, the grapes are sorted, the under ripped ones and the rotten ones are cut out. The next step is called destemming, which is separating the grapes from the stem. Some of the wine makers prefer to keep some fragments of the stem to increase the wine tannin. When this is done, the grapes are crushed to extract the juice from the skin. After crushing the grapes, juice will flow freely, selected wineries use pressers to make sure maximum juice is released. Once the grapes are pressed, they are introduced into the process of fermentation. During this process, the grape juice is converted into an alcoholic beverage. The yeast interacts with the sugar in the grape juice and converts them to ethanol and carbon dioxide. There are two distinct stages in wine fermentation. They are primary fermentation (Aerobic) and secondary fermentation (Anaerobic). Primary fermentation will last for the first 3 to 5 days. Mostly, 70 percentage of the fermentation process will take place during this period. Considerable amount of foaming may be seen during this rapid fermentation. Here the fermentation vessel is left open since air plays a very important role in the yeast cell multiplication process. Secondary fermentation takes care of the remaining 30 percent of the fermentation process and lasts for one to two weeks depending on the amount of nutrient and sugar available. During this process, the air exposure is kept at minimum. This is done to stop the yeast from multiplying and thus, release their energy fully to make alcohol. After fermentation, purification and refining of wine takes place. Here any solid parts that are left after fermentation are removed. Simultaneously, during this process, wines will be combined with other types of wines to produce preferred flavour, tannin, and acidity. Once the wine is purified and refined, they are preserved with sulphur dioxide or potassium sorbate. The preservatives added to the wine form an anti-oxidation or anti-microbial agent. These agents stop the ongoing meioiactic fermentation. However, wines are aged for a particular amount of time to get a more inviting taste. After purification, wines are moved to wooden barrels for aging. During aging, wine softens and slowly oxidizes. The final process is the bottling. During this process, a final dose of sulphite is added to the wine to prevent it from uninvited fermentation in the bottle. The bottles are then sealed with cork and screw caps. As a final step, capsule is added to the top of the wine bottle which is heated to get a tight seal. In both the northern southern hemisphere, the grapes are mostly grown between the latitudes of 30th and 50th degrees. But some grapes grow beyond this latitude and minor amount of these grapes are used for wine preparation. France, Spain, Italy, United States and Argentina are the five largest producers of wine in the world. Wines are classified primarily by the grape variety used to prepare it. Basically there are two categories; white wines which are colourless and red wines which are basically reddish in colour. Wines can be classified by their taste. Apart from the schemes of wine classification, the general types are as follows; RED WINES are colour wines; they are made from the red grape variety. These wines get their colour by allowing the skin of the grapes to get contact with the grape juice during the wine making process. They are available in different varieties and taste, the most popular red wines are; Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Zinfrandel. WHITE WINES are generally colourless and are made from the white grape variety. Some of them are made from the red grape variety. In such a case the skin of the grape is not allowed to have contact with the juice during production. The most popular white wines include; Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Gewurztraminer. ROSE WINES are also called Blush Wines, they are not truly red wines, instead they have enough reddish tinge to make them different from the white wines. They are mostly a mixture of red and white grape varieties SPARKLING WINES have a small amount of intense effervescences. Champagne is the most famous sparkling wine in many regions of the world. SWEET WINES or DESSERT WINES are prepared from the residual sugar that is left from the wine production. This gives the wine a very sweet taste. They vary from off-dry to super sticky sweet wines and are considered to be the sweetest wine. FORTIFIED WINES are produced with a small addition of the grape spirit. They generally include the dry and sweet styles. Some of them include; Port Wine, Madeira, Sherry TABLE WINES are also called “dry wines”, they are mostly produced in most of the regions of the world WINE AND YOUR HEALTH Wine has a long history of use as an early form of medication, being recommended variously as a safe alternative to drinking water, an antiseptic for treating wounds and a digestive aid as well as a cure for a wide range of ailments from lethargy and diarrhea to easing the pain of child birth. Study shows that wine drinkers have a 34 percent lower mortality rate than beer or spirit drinkers. Drinking wine moderately, that is having one or two glasses per day, will actually do well for the health according to medical history. Generally, wine has been recommended by physicians to treat iron deficiency anaemia. The conventional use of wines along with meals offer many health benefits like helping with the digestion process, stimulating the absorption of nutrients and also reduces the level of cholesterol, thus, reducing the risk of heart disease. Moderate drinking of wine also has the following benefits; Lower the level of cholesterol, lower blood pressure, increase the density of the bones, reduce the risk of kidney stones, enhance memory power, promotes longevity, reduces heart-attack risk, lowers risk of heart disease, reduces risk of type 2 diabetes, lowers risk of stroke, cuts risk of cataracts, cuts risk of colon cancer, wines have some anti-coagulation effect which makes blood clothing rare. Antioxidants in red wine called polyphenols may help protect the lining of blood vessels in your heart. A polyphenol called resveratrol is one substance that has gotten attention. Resveratrol is a key ingredient in red wine that helps prevent damage to blood vessels, reduces ‘bad’ cholesterol and prevents blood clots. Now that you have gotten a taste of the enormous goodness wines present, make it a point of duty to get some of the best wines you can afford for that classy ceremony you are planning to host. In the words of Clifton Fadiman “if food is the body of good living, wine is its soul” Promise O’nali Artist/artiste/writer/designer 08134932103 Port Harcourt

BOTTLED POETRY As a lover of occasions and all things grandeur, I have noticed that most Nigerians serve more beer than any other beverage at ceremonies, well, that’s because most Nigerians drink more beer and spirits than wine. That part I pondered too and came to the conclusion that local breweries have invested heavily on promotions and publicity to drown our awareness and interest in other drinks that add colour and class to our ceremonies. To this effect, most Nigerians do not know much about the enormous goodness embedded in a bottle of wine. Martin Luther once said that “beer is made by men, wine by God”. Talk about class, style, elegance, grandeur, and that air of royalty that comes when you are having a conversation with that gorgeously dressed lady at that classy function with a tall glass of wine in hand, only two words could describe it ‘sheer beauty’. I guess that’s why Robert Luis Stevenson said that “wine is bottled poetry” because that’s when you reveal that aspect of you that screams renaissance. Although wine making and drinking has a pretty long and past history, it still remains the modern form of entertaining guests at major functions all around the world. According to Ernest Hemingway, “wine is the most civilized thing in the world”. Wine making could be traced back to 6000 BC in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Greece, Spain, Mexico, Rome and United States followed this trend. Wine became the valuable trade, ‘the crude oil’ of the time. The rich enjoyed it and the rulers tried to hide this treasure as a clandestine. GRAPES, the major raw material in wine making is a juicy fruit found in a variety of colours. More than 10, 000 grape varieties exist but only a few are used for commercial purposes. White and red grapes are the major grapes varieties which could be mixed or used individually to create fine wine. Varietal wines are wines that are made from single grape breed. However, many wines combine numerous grape varieties. The grape variety determines each wine taste and colour. To create a high quality wine, the wine maker knows how to choose and merge the grapes from different varieties. Although grapes come in great variety, some of them are more popular. The wine makers and consumers prefer them the most than any other variety. However, these grape varieties basically fall under the red or white grape category. Red grapes are basically red and are rich in vitamin c with a sweet pulp. Pinot noir, syrah, nebbiolo, and zintandel are some famous red grapes. White grapes are grapes that are green, yellow, pink, or brown in colour. The world famous white grape is the chardonnay because of its garmut flavours and styles. Wine making is an art, like every other art, it also needs patience. This art starts from the vineyard where the grapes are planted at the right place and soil texture, and then they are chosen and picked at the right time. Wine is basically a mixture of water, alcohol and grape flavours. By crushing the grapes and adding yeast to activate the fermentation process, the wine makers begin their job. Sugar and oxygen content in the juice are converted to ethyl alcohol by the yeast. Vinification is the process that transforms the grapes into wine. This process differ from region to region, financial state of the winery, as well as grape types. The first step employed in wine making is harvesting or picking the grapes. This is done manually or mechanically. After this, the grapes are sorted, the under ripped ones and the rotten ones are cut out. The next step is called destemming, which is separating the grapes from the stem. Some of the wine makers prefer to keep some fragments of the stem to increase the wine tannin. When this is done, the grapes are crushed to extract the juice from the skin. After crushing the grapes, juice will flow freely, selected wineries use pressers to make sure maximum juice is released. Once the grapes are pressed, they are introduced into the process of fermentation. During this process, the grape juice is converted into an alcoholic beverage. The yeast interacts with the sugar in the grape juice and converts them to ethanol and carbon dioxide. There are two distinct stages in wine fermentation. They are primary fermentation (Aerobic) and secondary fermentation (Anaerobic). Primary fermentation will last for the first 3 to 5 days. Mostly, 70 percentage of the fermentation process will take place during this period. Considerable amount of foaming may be seen during this rapid fermentation. Here the fermentation vessel is left open since air plays a very important role in the yeast cell multiplication process. Secondary fermentation takes care of the remaining 30 percent of the fermentation process and lasts for one to two weeks depending on the amount of nutrient and sugar available. During this process, the air exposure is kept at minimum. This is done to stop the yeast from multiplying and thus, release their energy fully to make alcohol. After fermentation, purification and refining of wine takes place. Here any solid parts that are left after fermentation are removed. Simultaneously, during this process, wines will be combined with other types of wines to produce preferred flavour, tannin, and acidity. Once the wine is purified and refined, they are preserved with sulphur dioxide or potassium sorbate. The preservatives added to the wine form an anti-oxidation or anti-microbial agent. These agents stop the ongoing meioiactic fermentation. However, wines are aged for a particular amount of time to get a more inviting taste. After purification, wines are moved to wooden barrels for aging. During aging, wine softens and slowly oxidizes. The final process is the bottling. During this process, a final dose of sulphite is added to the wine to prevent it from uninvited fermentation in the bottle. The bottles are then sealed with cork and screw caps. As a final step, capsule is added to the top of the wine bottle which is heated to get a tight seal. In both the northern southern hemisphere, the grapes are mostly grown between the latitudes of 30th and 50th degrees. But some grapes grow beyond this latitude and minor amount of these grapes are used for wine preparation. France, Spain, Italy, United States and Argentina are the five largest producers of wine in the world. Wines are classified primarily by the grape variety used to prepare it. Basically there are two categories; white wines which are colourless and red wines which are basically reddish in colour. Wines can be classified by their taste. Apart from the schemes of wine classification, the general types are as follows; RED WINES are colour wines; they are made from the red grape variety. These wines get their colour by allowing the skin of the grapes to get contact with the grape juice during the wine making process. They are available in different varieties and taste, the most popular red wines are; Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Zinfrandel. WHITE WINES are generally colourless and are made from the white grape variety. Some of them are made from the red grape variety. In such a case the skin of the grape is not allowed to have contact with the juice during production. The most popular white wines include; Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Gewurztraminer. ROSE WINES are also called Blush Wines, they are not truly red wines, instead they have enough reddish tinge to make them different from the white wines. They are mostly a mixture of red and white grape varieties SPARKLING WINES have a small amount of intense effervescences. Champagne is the most famous sparkling wine in many regions of the world. SWEET WINES or DESSERT WINES are prepared from the residual sugar that is left from the wine production. This gives the wine a very sweet taste. They vary from off-dry to super sticky sweet wines and are considered to be the sweetest wine. FORTIFIED WINES are produced with a small addition of the grape spirit. They generally include the dry and sweet styles. Some of them include; Port Wine, Madeira, Sherry TABLE WINES are also called “dry wines”, they are mostly produced in most of the regions of the world WINE AND YOUR HEALTH Wine has a long history of use as an early form of medication, being recommended variously as a safe alternative to drinking water, an antiseptic for treating wounds and a digestive aid as well as a cure for a wide range of ailments from lethargy and diarrhea to easing the pain of child birth. Study shows that wine drinkers have a 34 percent lower mortality rate than beer or spirit drinkers. Drinking wine moderately, that is having one or two glasses per day, will actually do well for the health according to medical history. Generally, wine has been recommended by physicians to treat iron deficiency anaemia. The conventional use of wines along with meals offer many health benefits like helping with the digestion process, stimulating the absorption of nutrients and also reduces the level of cholesterol, thus, reducing the risk of heart disease. Moderate drinking of wine also has the following benefits; Lower the level of cholesterol, lower blood pressure, increase the density of the bones, reduce the risk of kidney stones, enhance memory power, promotes longevity, reduces heart-attack risk, lowers risk of heart disease, reduces risk of type 2 diabetes, lowers risk of stroke, cuts risk of cataracts, cuts risk of colon cancer, wines have some anti-coagulation effect which makes blood clothing rare. Antioxidants in red wine called polyphenols may help protect the lining of blood vessels in your heart. A polyphenol called resveratrol is one substance that has gotten attention. Resveratrol is a key ingredient in red wine that helps prevent damage to blood vessels, reduces ‘bad’ cholesterol and prevents blood clots. Now that you have gotten a taste of the enormous goodness wines present, make it a point of duty to get some of the best wines you can afford for that classy ceremony you are planning to host. In the words of Clifton Fadiman “if food is the body of good living, wine is its soul” Promise O’nali Artist/artiste/writer/designer 08134932103 Port Harcourt