Images

Bruce Onobrakpeya is an innovative artist who often combines techniques of painting, printmaking, and sculpture. He trained as a painter at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology in Zaria, graduating in 1961. In 1963 he began teaching at St. Gregory’s College in Lagos—a position he would hold for seventeen years. After attending printing workshops organized by Susanne Wenger, Georgina Betts Beier, and Ulli Beier at the Mbari Artists & Writers Club in 1964, he decided to focus on printmaking. He worked unorthodoxly, deeply etching a soft zinc plate with corrosive hydrochloric acid and making print matrices from glue, sandpaper, and other unconventional materials. This print is an example of a technique he invented that he called plastography—a form of metal foil relief printing, in which thick foil is placed over a low-relief design (serving as a matrix) and pressed firmly so that it fills the design’s contours; it is then removed, filled from behind to maintain the shape of the matrix, and laminated onto plywood. He began using this technique in the 1980s. Due to their experimental nature, his prints’ edition sizes were often quite small.