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About Me:

Who Is MUFU?

MUFU ONIFADE,AMNS.

Mufu Onifade attended The Polytechnic, Ibadan and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife where he won the best student prize in General Arts and overall best results in Fine ArtS respectively. He also trained (in 1992) under the legendary Lemma Guya at the African Art Museum And Training Institue to become the foremost Nigerian to master and practise the medium of Painting on Animal Skin.
Between 1989 and 1996, Mufu,through constant studio experiments, evolved a unique, authentic African painting technique called ARAISM,which he launched with a solo exhibition of 32 paintings at the Goethe-Institut(German cultural centre),Lagos in may 1998.He has since taken part in group exhibitions and joint shows in Nigeria, Austria, Belgium and United Kingdom.
Mufu was the curator and artist-in-residence for Ajibulu-Moniya Gallery where he initiated, organized and managed many arts-related events between 1997 and 2002.
One of the sixteen artists selected from 7 countries (Ghana, UK, USA, Trinidad, Cuba, Brazil and Nigeria)to stage an exhibition tagged '16 PIECES' in London, he also held a joint show with Suzy Gillett, a British artist in 2000. His exploits in the UK earned him an associate membership of the British National Society of Painters, Sculptors & Printmakers (NS).
Mufu is the contributing editor, Nigerian Videos Magazine (published in London) and has won some awards and prizes for his efforts.He is also a senior correspondent of The Wheel newspaper.
He now runs Ara studio as Founder/Arts Manager.

Education

St. Joseph's Catholic School, Lagos (1980)
Dolphin High School, Lagos (1985)
The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Nigeria (1988)
African Art Museum And Traning Institute, Debre Zeit, Ethiopia (1992)
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria (1997)

Other Interests

Traditional Dancing, Chanting, Poetic Writing, Acting, Traveling, Meeting People, Chating, Sharing Jokes...

What Is ARAISM?

An authentic painting technique create by Mufu Onifade, Ara is a Yoruba word that literally translates to Wonder. A.R.A. is an acronym of Aesthetically Rich Art. It is the fusion of ara and ARAthat forms the basis for ARAISM.The experiments began in 1989 and was temporarily concluded in 1996 with a result resulting in the evolution of an authentic African painting technique.
Araism is the brain child of MUFU ONIFADEwho opted to labouring himself with the responsibility of exploring and evolving a unique artistic signature. This unique creative engagement paved way for the artist's radical departure from various conventional techniques that have exited for more than 500 years. The technique is a process by which painting strokes are broken down to tiny units as opposed to the conventional use of brush to achieve strokes of slap dash effect.
ARAISM was launched with a solo exhibition of 32 paintings by Mufu Onifade in 1998 at the Goethe-Institut (German Cultural Center), Lagos. Ara technique has also been shown in Austria, United Kingdom and Belgium. But as a result of private collections, some of such paintings can be found in Brazil, USA, Paris, India, Australia,. Germany e.t.c,
Feb. 1, 2003 at the National Theatre, Lagos:Crown Troupe Of Africa presents 'ISE LO SEE DASE', a dance-theatrical interpretation of one of Mufu Onifade's paintings,


www.arastudio.20m.com



Painting, A Way of Life