Pragmatism in Yoruba Art: Dada Areogun's Narrative Woodcarving as Cultural Stewardship

As stewards of their cultural heritage, indigenous Yoruba artists, including Areogun, have created evocative objects that members of their communities have found reassuring in their collective sociocultural practices and worldview. For example, universal association of indigenous Yoruba religious art with the transcendental spirits of Yoruba ancestors has fostered coherence in Yoruba people's positive disposition towards the continuity of their ways of life. In Yoruba cosmology, the human soul is immortal as it undergoes metaphysical transformation after death, going from physical manifestation on earth (aye) into a spiritual realm located in the otherworld (ode orun). Those living communicate with the transcended souls of their ancestors with reverence, while the spirits of their ancestors protect them from supernatural powers. The living usually relate with their ancestors through religious or orisa (deity) veneration. This mode of interaction often involves the use of orisa images that are fashioned by indigenous Yoruba artists, such as ose Sango (dance wand for Sango), edan Ogboni (statuette for Ogboni society), and opon Ifa (divination tray for Ifa). These religious sculptures are commissioned by patrons who range from Yoruba monarchs to orisa devotees and private citizens (Ademola and Olaniyi 2017; Abimbola 2000; Pemberton 1998, 1977; Adelowo 1990; Drewal 1986). Among the distinguished Yoruba sculptors who have produced exquisite woodcarvings for Yoruba royalty and wealthy patrons are Eshubiyi Akinyode (born ca. 1840) (Fig. 1), Bamgbose of Osi-Ilorin (died ca. 1920) (Fig. 2), Agunna of Oke Igbara (died 1930) (Fig. 3), Olowe of Ise (ca. 1873-1938) (Fig. 4), Oniyide Adigbologe (1875-1949) (Fig. 5), Agbonbiofe of Efon-AIaaye (ca. 1880-ca. 1945) (Fig. 6), Dada Areogun of Osi-Ilorin (ca. 1880-ca. 1954) (Figs. 7, 12, 13, 15), Duga of Meko (ca. 1880-ca. 1960) (Fig. 8), Osamuko of Osi Ilorin (ca. 1890-ca. 1940) (Fig. 9), Moshood Olusomo Bamgboye (Alaga) of Odo-Owa (1893-1978) (Fig, 10), Lamidi Olonade Fakeye (19242009) (Figs. 11, 14) and Abogunde of Ede (active Iate nineteenth century) (Okediji 2002; Walker 1998a; Drewal 1988).

Indigenous Yoruba artists relate to their audiences through the expressive contents of their works. What is expressed in Yoruba art are visual symbols and normative aesthetic values that encapsulate the fundamental beliefs of Yoruba people about their existence. Therefore, content and essence are congruent in Yoruba art. In this regard, Yoruba artists are stewards of Yoruba cultural heritage in their portrayal of Yoruba worldview and everyday life practices for purposes of social reflection, accountability, and action. These philosophical and practical dispositions are the focus of this article and they are exemplified in the expressive sculptures of Areogun as discussed here.

Conceptually, the ethos of Yoruba art consists of culturally evocative forms that draw upon long-established characteristics, including human figures modeled with bulging eyes to indicate awareness and disproportionately large heads that denotes spiritual importance by scale. This means that the Yoruba perceive a person's head as an embodiment of their spiritual essence. Another consistent feature in indigenous Yoruba art is the elaborate embellishment of forms with patterns such as zigzags, rhombuses, triangles, circles, and dots. Plant, animal, and bird motifs are also used as decorative patterns (Filani 2005; Okediji 1997).

Expressive contents in Yoruba art, such as forms, tones, and textures, convey specific emotional experiences and the aesthetic preferences of the Yoruba ethnic group. Thus, indigenous Yoruba artists often prioritize the specifications, processes, and quality of their work over personal fame or recognition. At the same time, minor variations in the contents of Yoruba artistic expression may be observed from one regional or dialect group to another (Adesanya 2012; Drewal, Pemberton, and Abiodun 1989). However, the techniques used in the production of most Yoruba art forms are universal, as seen in Yoruba woodcarving in which objects are modelled from one solid block of wood through the reductive process (Morton 2010).

Woodcarving is an enduring Yoruba artistic practice and Areogun was one of the distinguished master carvers of Opin.⁴ As is typical of indigenous Yoruba artists, Areogun was a humble carver who prioritized qualitative art production over personal fame in his career (Fashoro 2013). The modest disposition of indigenous Yoruba artists often precludes them from endorsing their work, and this has resulted in the labelling of the artists as anonymous by some observers, as noted by Roslyn Walker (1998b). However, in spite of the attribution of anonymity to the artists, some of them have been acknowledged for their unique styles and vocational accomplishments, including Areogun, who began to mark his sculptures at the later part of his career (Fashoro 2013). Among other Ekiti-Yoruba artists who developed recognizable styles are Olowe of Ise, whose woodcarvings have a distinct high-relief and elongated human neck (Fig. 4); Bamgboye of Odo-Owa, who produced distinguishable Epa masks with layered structures, carefully arranged figures in domestic and military scenes, decorative geometric patterns, bright contrasting colors, and symmetrical balance (Fig. 10); and Lamidi Fakeye, whose neoclassical Yoruba artistic forms shows remarkable attention to detail. Fakeye's prominently defined figures are accentuated with profuse use of decorative patterns and his compositions are symmetrically balanced (Figs. 11, 14) (Bridger 2012).

Furthermore, appreciation of indigenous Yoruba art has often been based on typological categorization and formal analysis of contents with little or no consideration of the sociocultural and lifeworld contexts in which the artists produce their work. In addressing some of the common omissions in the study of Yoruba art, this article takes a closer look at the distinct style and sociocultural context of Dada Areogun's artistic practice at Osi-Ilorin with attention to inherent philosophical and functional considerations in his artwork (Fashoro 2013; Adesanya 2012; Okediji 2002; Slogar 2002; Bascom 1975).

Dada Areogun was born in Osi-Ilorin in the northeastern Ekiti area of Yorubaland (Picton 1994). The name “Dada” is given to a person born with locks of knotty hair, as Areogun was. Areogun's outstanding artistic prowess earned him his oriki or praise name, Arowoogunbuna, which has dialect group variations such as Areogun-yanna. “Arowoogunbuna” literally means a generous person whose riches come from Ogun (Fashoro 2013; Okediji 2003). Areogun credited Ogun for the iron tools he utilized in his woodcarving and for his vocational achievements (Fashoro 2013).

Areogun began his career as a sculptor with sixteen years of apprenticeship in the woodcarving workshop of the renowned Bamgbose of Osi-Ilorin (whose sculpture is seen in Fig. 2). He also apprenticed at the workshop of Fasan of Isare, where he developed his recognizable style and earned enough money to start his own atelier (Carroll 1967). Along with refining his carving skills, Areogun developed a keen sense of responsibility towards the preservation and advancement of the Opin woodcarving tradition. This disposition would inspire and characterize the contents of his oeuvre as discussed in this article (Fashoro 2013).

Conceptually, Areogun used simplified forms and recognizable Yoruba symbols to facilitate immediacy in the comprehension of his art contents. Stylistically, the figures in his compositions are stout and stacked across the picture plane. This is seen in his wood relief panels in Figures 7 and 12, in which he saturates the picture plane with active figures and patterns that project tension in the artwork. It is these organic contents, with stout figures rendered in nonlinear narratives, that distinguish Areogun's sculptures from those of other Opin artists. Furthermore, the characteristic dynamic composition of Areogun's sculpture projects a sense of urgency that sustains the attention of viewers of his woodcarvings. Here, for thorough understanding of Areogun's oeuvre, a few of his sculptures are closely studied and analyzed as prime examples of his artwork, with emphasis on their aesthetic and pragmatic import.

The content of Areogun's sculptures was influenced by many factors, beginning with his observations of indigenous Osi-Ilorin artistic and cultural practices since his childhood. These observations included carved house posts, elaborate masks, and other orisa paraphernalia such as carved drum frames and ose Sango (Fig. 8). Areogun's sculptures also reflect his observation of the physical environment of his community. Areogun's apprenticeship training exposed him to enduring Yoruba woodcarving methods and processes that influenced his art production technique. He also learned early in his career that symbolic and venerable Opin sculptures have functional purposes in real-life contexts. These observations and acquired artistic and cultural knowledge influenced the conception of Areogun's sculptures (see Figs. 7, 12, 13, 15).

A closer look at Areogun's door panels in Figures 7 and 12 shows picture planes that might appear randomly stacked to a casual observer. However, members of Areogun's community who might be considered Areogun's primary audience would easily decipher familiar patterns of everyday life activities in their community in the contents of the door panels. The door panel in Figure 7 was produced in the early twentieth century and is currently in the collection of Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA). According to the MIA catalogue description of the panel (https://collections.artsmia.org/search/2003.87.1), it is a palace door that shows a king riding a motorcycle in one scene and a horse in another. This description of the contents of the panel is plausible in its denotation of the high status of the king of Osi in his community. Areogun's double door panels shown in Figure 12 are in the collection of the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Produced between the early and mid-twentieth century, the panels portray the authority and strength of the king of Osi-Ilorin as an equestrian warrior and leader of a military brigade. The panels also depict domestic and court scenes, including consultation with the king. In addition to these museum catalogue descriptions, other plausible meanings and artistic intentions might be deduced from the contents of these panels as conducted below.

The door panel in Figure 7 is divided into five equally spaced segments that show diverse real-life activities as observed by Areogun within his immediate community. The first segment of the panel shows two standing women holding wooden pestles that extend into a wooden mortar placed on the ground between them. Next to the two women is a male flutist, with a centrally positioned male figure holding ada and eben (ceremonial swords) standing to his left. To the left of the central figure is a male with a drum hanging from his left shoulder and resting against his left hip. In his right hand is a stick extended across his mid-section towards the drum. Positioned above the left shoulder of the drummer is a male figure with an accordion fan in his right hand. Beneath this figure is a seated female holding a bowl in her hands.

The second segment shows scenes of other aspects of Areogun's observations of sociocultural activities in his community, including two load-bearing enslaved figures with their hands cuffed together at the wrists, a cyclist wearing a helmet, a man holding a gun, and a kneeling female figure carrying a bowl in her hands and a child on her back.

As in Areogun's visual narratives in the first and second segments of the panel, the third one shows a male figure holding a large spear in his hands, an infant making a gesture towards an adult, an equestrian holding a gun and carrying a sheathed sword, and a male figure holding a gun in an extended hand. In the fourth segment, Areogun repeats some of the contents seen in the top three sections of the panel, including a kneeling female figure with a bowl in her hands and a child on her back, a flutist, a physically restrained female, and male figures bearing armaments. The bottom segment also shows recognizable images including a male and female in sexual embrace, an infant with rattles in both hands, a male figure holding a whip in one hand and a looped rope in another, an enslaved male figure with a noose around his neck and his hands bound together at the wrists, a male ruler sitting on a folding chair in front of the physically restrained male figure, and a figure standing in attendance behind the sitting figure.

The outer frame of the panel in Figure 7 is elaborately adorned with bell-shaped and rhombus motifs. At the upper right corner of the panel is a peglike extension that is meant to fit into a door frame at installation. Collectively, the five segments of the panel consist of different scenes or nonlinear narratives that become contextually coherent when viewed with pertinent cultural knowledge as discussed below. In establishing the characteristics of the panel shown in Figure 7 as typical of Areogun's art, it should be noted that the stylistic approach and contents of the panel are similar to those of Figures 12, 13, and 15.

Indigenous Yoruba artists typically do not conduct analytical explanation of their own work. Therefore, their works are often open to various forms of evaluative interpretations by observers of Yoruba artistic and sociocultural practices as conducted here. This open-ended approach to appreciating Yoruba art is consistent with Moyo Okediji's “semioptic investigation” (2003: 19). In explaining this method of inquiry, Okediji states: “Semioptic analysis demands a focus first on the image, as ground for making any conceptual connections and perceptual analysis…. this focus on the image nevertheless grounds the analysis …” (2003: 19).⁵ Here, I use a similar method of interpretive analysis in explaining the contents of Areogun's art examples used in this article. Furthermore, this article reflects on Areogun's expressive sculptures in relation to their cultural essences and possible psychological impacts on his Osi audience.

The visual tension created by the straining of multiple figures against the picture plane in Figure 7 is tempered by the repeat pattern of the outer frame and the parallel bars that forms the panel's segments. The embellished framework gives the panel an orderly appearance in spite of its dynamically stacked picture plane. Compositionafly, the central figures in each of the five segments provides them with focal points from which the viewer is guided through Areogun's visual narratives on the panel. The scenes depicted in the panel are typical of vibrant street activities in Osi-Ilorin and other Yoruba towns. Also, the visual storytelling approach to the panel shows Areogun's intimate knowledge of the real-life environments represented in the artwork.

Conceptually, the themes of the five segments of the panel in Figure 7 are tacitly related in forming a coherent and meaningful visual account (Drewal and Drewal 1987). The two women holding wooden pestles in the first segment are pounding yam in the wooden mortar before them. Pounded yam or iyan is a staple food in Ekitiland. The flutist and gangan drummer in the segment are musicians performing in honor of the central figure in the section. Gangan is a Yoruba drum commonly used in praise singing. The machete-ada and eben ceremonial swords held by the central figure combined with his protective vest and helmet, and his elaborate neck and arm beads, all suggest that he is a warrior king. Both the male figure holding an accordion fan and the seated female holding a bowl in her hands at the right edge of the panel are in a relaxed and leisurely mode that indicates high social status and affluence. In this section of the panel, Areogun depicts aspects of daily activities within the palace of the king of Osi. The scene shows that palace activities revolve around the authority and comfort of the monarch and members of the royal family.⁶

The two shackled, load-bearing, enslaved males in the second section of the panel are war captives and the centrally located bicycle is a British colonial officer, as indicated by his European-styled uniform worn by health and law enforcement officers during the colonial era in Nigeria. The male figures standing on the front and rear mudguards of the bicycle seem to be at the service of the cyclist, while the kneeling female figure with a bowl in her hands and a child on her back recalls olumeye, which is a lidded bowl commonly used for storing personal items such as jewelry and medicines. Olumeye is also used for storing obi or kola nut, a masticating stimulant traditionally used for entertaining guests. The kneeling posture of the female figure in olumeye denotes humility, generosity, and nurture, esteemed values among the Yoruba (see Fig. 6).

The equestrian at the center of the third segment is a warrior king and both the spear bearer in front of him and the male figure holding a weapon behind him are soldiers. The three figures are war-bound and the child with her hand on the uplifted leg of the spear bearer represents a daughter pleading with her father not to depart for war. This type of emotional reaction to war was experienced by Areogun himself in his childhood, as noted by Fashoro:

This reference to Areogun's childhood experiences in relation to regional warfare supports the premise that the contents of Areogun's sculptures are primarily informed by historical accounts and real-life occurrences in his community. Olumeye is repeated in the fourth segment of Areogun's panel in Figure 7. The nude female at the center of this segment is being arrested by the armed guards restraining her, and her apprehenders seem oblivious to her nudity, symbolizing her vulnerability. The desecration of the female gender through nudity signifies moral and ethical decline in society, and such humiliation negates the cherished status of women among the Yorubas as reflected in the saying iya ni wura iyebiye, meaning that a mother is a priceless treasure.

The male and female figures locked in embrace at the left edge of the bottom section of the panel are a married couple in sexual intimacy and the infant standing behind the female figure with rattles in both hands might symbolize the product of the sexual liaison. The centrally located figure with a whip and looped rope in his hands is a court guard. Before the establishment of the current Nigeria Police Force in 1930, the British colonial administration employed trained guards as constabularies for security and law enforcement purposes (Daly 2019; Ahire 1991). The enslaved male figure with a rope around his neck is standing before a colonial judge for sentencing and the figure located behind the judge's chair is a court attendant.⁷

Areogun's carving tools included axes, adzes, and scrapers (Fashoro 2013). Like those created by most Yoruba wood-carvers, Areogun's sculptures seen in Figures 7 and 12 were finished in their natural wood color. However, he sometimes finished his sculptures with light color coatings, as seen in Figures 13 and 15, as both natural and industrially produced coloring agents were available to Yoruba artists of Areogun's generation (Diara and Christian 2013).

Areogun documented sociocultural developments within his community through engaging and easily understandable visual narratives. In the composition of his wood panels (Figs. 7, 12) and sculptures in the round (Fig. 15), Areogun conveyed immediacy of contents through his simplification of forms, profuse application of patterns, frontal positioning of figures, and surface tension generated by pronounced relief and stacked perspective. He created movement in his art through the elaborate gestures of his figures and he used variation of scale and symmetry to guide viewers towards contents that are central to the understanding of his themed compositions. Furthermore, Areogun used familiar symbols and images to relay meaning in his didactic art contents. Those who are less familiar with the contents of his artwork are able to experience their embodied Osi ways of life vicariously through their narrative format. Beyond his dedivcation to the propagation of Opin artistic and cultural practices, Areogun's vision of a thriving Ekiti-Yoruba civilization was strengthened by his religious devotion to Yoruba orisa Ogun (Fashoro 2013).

Besides his artistic and cultural stewardship, Areogun was a respected elder and role model within his community. His social status as an esteemed citizen further strengthened the agency of his artwork as a medium for promoting social awareness, cohesion, and advancement (see Picton 1994 on Areogun's social status). The fundamental aim of Areogun's artwork is the portrayal of the collective experiences and aspirations of members of his Osi-Ilorin community. In summing up the contents of Areogun's panel titled Atahun Atejo, Okediji stated:

Okediji's summation of Areogun's Atahun Atejo may be expanded by relating it to Yoruba conception of itan or story. Structurally, itan consists of a beginning, middle, and an end with a moral lesson that is meant to be applied in real-life experiences. When considered as itan, the essence of Areogun's sculptures extends beyond their picture plane as seen in Figures 7 and 12, in which his objective narratives invite viewers to deduce meanings from the implicit and explicit contents of the sculptures. Therefore, his visual narratives are mostly selfless depictions of what is, as opposed to illusions about what might have been. In this vein, Areogun invites his audience to consider the future as a seamless extension of the present with some mentally projected modifications. Areogun perceived everyday life in his community as organic and dynamic as opposed to being static and unchanging, echoing the Yoruba saying igba laye, meaning that life's essence is realized in the passing moment (Lawal 1974). In other words, Areogun's panels as seen in Figures 7 and 12 seem to portray change as inevitable shifts in the conditions of life, while simultaneously communicating the impermanence of the discomforts that might result from change.

Cognitively, Areogun's visual narratives function as riddles and metaphors, thereby inviting the viewer to reflect on the art contents as co-creator. In essence, his visual accounts are analogous to the Yoruba axiom “abo oro la nso fun omolu-wabi, to ba de inu re a di odindi,” literally meaning “half a word is enough for the wise.” Areogun's panels mediated between cultural memory and the current realities of society by distinguishing between historical paradigms and the novel contexts in which current sociocultural experiences were framed in his community. Thus, by depicting contemporaneous observations of everyday life activities within his community without bias or judgement, Areogun pragmatically reduced psychological conflict between established Osi-Ekiti customs and the imposed colonial rule and European ways of life in his society. This was consistent with Igbomina hospitality and it promoted implicit order and psychological flexibility within Igbomina communities— known for their good-neighborliness—as needed at that period (Aboyeji 2016).

The Yoruba people understand that human conditions at any moment in time are not permanent. Therefore, the present time is understood as a product of the past, while the future is glimpsed in the present. To modify future conditions, pertinent action should be taken in the present. The simultaneous projection of colonial and indigenous cultural activities in Areogun's artwork represented hope for the continuity of Osi cultural practices. The individual and collective energy that might have been consumed by fear and uncertainty in the Osi community would have been channeled into purposeful undertakings that enabled Osi citizens to reduce their internal conflict regarding ongoing sociocultural changes in their community. With this disposition, Areogun was a discerning artist, visionary, sage, and steward of Osi-Ilorin ways of life. Furthermore, he must have been aware of the Yoruba belief that life unfolds with metaphysical purpose, as encapsulated in the concept of ayanmo or manifest destiny. Therefore, fatalism is subtly reflected in Areogun's artwork and members of his Osi community are predisposed to comprehend such subtle dimension in his visual narratives. The concept of ayanmo is closely associated with the concept of ori. As construed in Yoruba thought, a person's ori or head is the bearer of their destiny. Ori is further conceived as having inner and outer components. A person's character and destiny are closely associated with their ori inu or nonphysical inner head, and less so with one's ori ode or physical outer head. Ori inu is essentially spiritual and determines an individual's portion in life (Hallen 2000; Drewal 1988; Lawal 1985).

According to studies in the 1980s and 1990s, the majority of the Yorubas of southwestern Nigeria reside in their hometowns, where they have strong family ties and a sense of relative safety from the outside world (Altman and Low 1992; Buttimer and Seamon 1980). Osi-Ilorin is one of these modest and familiar communities as portrayed in Areogun's sculptures. Areogun therefore fostered psychological comfort within the Osi community through his affirmation of place-based identity in his sculptures (Rapoport 1982; Canter 1977; Relph 1976). During Areogun's lifetime, members of his community were ambivalent about the sociopolitical intentions of their British colonizers and saw them as a destabilizing presence in the society. As a result, the people were suspicious of British colonial institutions and their community development initiatives, especially in the areas of political, educational, religious, and law enforcement practices.⁸ At the same time, Igbomina's are broadminded and receptive to visitors and new settlers in their communities as opposed to being an insular group (Fadipe 1970). In fact, a portion of the Yoruba population with advanced Western education and extensive exposure to European ways of life usually perceive the change that comes with adopting Western cultural practices and social norms in Yorubaland as progress, which is why some have equated the displacement of indigenous Yoruba institutions and sociocultural practices by contemporary Western praxis with modernization and development (Bitrus 2017; Eze-Uzomaka and Oloidi 2017; Webster 1984).

Areogun's objective portrayal of the subjugation of members of his Osi community by British colonialists as seen in aspects of Figures 7 and 12 was an affirmation of the ongoing political and cultural changes in his community. Consequently, his paradoxical depiction of both the oppressive environment of colonialism and some vibrant indigenous sociocultural practices might have been meant to strengthened hope for the restoration of idyllic ways of life in a postcolonial Osi community. His art represented a conflation of past and current states of Osi cultural life and hope for the revival and continuity of displaced indigenous practices at Osi in a reconciled future (Abiodun 1994).⁹

Areogun depicted the movement of time and the changes that time brought to his community through synchronized delineation of Osi cultural practices and British colonial activities in his art, as seen in Figures 7 and 12. Furthermore, Areogun perceived the time-space continuum in which transitional and transformational changes were taking place in his community as having three distinct but related modes of the past, present, and future possibilities. This time-space continuum is seen simultaneously in tacit panoramas in Figures 7 and 12. I am mindful of the need to distinguish Areogun's time-space perception from Hermann Minkowski's theory of a four-dimensional space-time continuum in experimental physics, in that direct association of both would require complex domain knowledge in experimental physics (Odenwald n.d.). However, it should be noted that the basic premise of Minkowski's four-dimensional space-time continuum, as stated in his introduction of the theory, was: “From now onwards space by itself and time by itself will recede completely to become mere shadows and only a type of union of the two will still stand independently on its own” (Minkowski 2012: 39). This postulation does not exclude Areogun's simultaneous depiction of past, present, and future conditions in which Osi cultural practices and worldview are manifested in an unbroken and timeless continuity within the same geographical location, as expressed in Figures 7 and 12 and further explained below.

Firstly, Areogun portrays time-space continuum as memory, in which the viewer recognizes time-honored Osi symbols and images as markers of a rich cultural heritage. Within the context of Areogun's art, enduring Ekiti-Yoruba symbols and images, such as ose Sango, Olumeye, and equestrian figures, are prominently located for immediate comprehension and reflection.¹⁰

Secondly, upon situating the Osi viewer of his artwork in a familiar environment, Areogun depicts time-space continuum as a movement in which the past, present, and future are perceptible. In this mode of perception, the viewer recognizes the contents of Areogun's art while being simultaneously aware of changes in the portrayed environment. For example, the placement of an Olumeye behind the British colonial officer on a bicycle as seen in Figure 7 denotes a juxtaposition of distinct cultures within Osi community. Therefore, Areogun's second mode of time-space continuum conveys time as essentially transitional within the Osi community that was moving from indigenous ways of life towards Western modernity.

Thirdly, Areogun portrayed the timespace continuum as a quantum field with unlimited potential for the manifestation of individual and group intentions. In this mode, the time-space continuum is perceived as a congruent phenomenon with limitless capacity for the manifestation of infinite mental conceptions. It is in this state of timespace continuum that Areogun invites the viewer to participate in his artwork as co-creator of implicit mental images or glimpses of what is possible. In turn, an engaged viewer might act upon their mental projections on Areogun's artwork in a manner that could potentially generate further reaction to the visceral impact of Areogun's artwork by others in time. This generative tendency in Areogun's artwork is consistent with the Yoruba view of the timespace continuum as an endless loop (Kazeem 2016; Olupona 2014). The convergence of the vision represented in Areogun's artwork and the aspirations of viewers of his artwork constitutes a premium manifestation of ase or life force. Yoruba knowledge of the cosmos and embodiments of consciousness are encoded in the odu Ifa (Ifa divination corpus) which entails ase. Ase is embodied in all material things and nonmaterial phenomenon (Abiodun 1994). It is in making connections between the historical, current, and future possibilities in the contents of Areogun's sculptures from an all-encompassing perspective that viewers deduce meaning in Areogun's sculptures.

Areogun depicted periods, events, and observed human activities within his community in his artwork. Therefore, his perception of the present was inextricably linked with knowledge of the past and notions about the future. Accordingly, the co-creation of Areogun's art by a viewer begins where perception of Areogun's depiction of the past and present stops. The heuristic continuum of Areogun's engaging art process from conception to participatory visuality by his audience is symbolic of the immensity of Ekiti-Yoruba cognitive paradigms. Both Areogun and his audience become collaborators in their unbounded contemplation of enduring Ekiti-Yoruba forms and symbols in the construction of imagined possibilities. This field of time-space continuum in which the artist's vision and the hope nurtured by his audience converge is also the subtle realm of the collective Yoruba orisas. It is in this field that indigenous Yoruba images mediates the gap between the living and the transcendental spirits of their ancestors for the ultimate manifestation of ase or life force (Abiodun 1994). In essence, the limitless embodiments of consciousness encoded in odu Ifa (Ifa divination corpus) and transcendental orisa devotional doctrines connects Yoruba people (especially orisa devotees) to the world outside their psychological selves, reaching beyond the revolving cycle of memory and thought as engendered by ase.

The organic flow of Areogun's art contents facilitates a less fragmented perception of the environment depicted while projecting an energized and more adaptable view of the community. Ultimately, the fear that results from the uncertainties of a changing community is replaced by increased mindfulness of the moment and longing for a better future propelled by hope. In this mode of perception, Areogun's local audience, especially orisa devotees, attain harmony with the environment and find equanimity and fulfillment in everyday life.

In concatenating past experiences, current events, and mental conceptions of future possibilities in his narrative sculptures, Areogun postulates that there is continuity in change. Therefore, the colonial disruption of Osi-Ilorin ways of life and self-governance, albeit disconcerting, does not terminate enduring Osi-Ilorin cultural values. In this sense, the intersection of Osi-Ilorin ways of life and emergent Western influences presents an opportunity for reimagining established Osi sociocultural practices. In Yoruba cosmology, this mode of perception is boundless in scope in that even death is perceived as an opportunity for cosmic transition into better existence in which an individual transcends human suffering and the disappointments of this world. For the Yoruba, awareness of the impermanence of life and death tempers anxiety about the unknown, including death (see Drewal, Pemberton, and Abioudun 1989: 10-74).

In summary, the Yoruba axiom that asiko ko duro de enikan, meaning that time and space are inherently transitional, is depicted in Areogun's narrative panels and some of his sculptures in the round as discussed in this article. Figures 7 and 12 show time and space as movement in a manner that is analogous to still frames that make up motion pictures. Cognitively, the memory that Areogun worked from naturally consists of frames of cumulative knowledge that becomes fluid thought when accessed. It is this lucid thought that is expressed in Areogun's sculptures (Brown, Collins, and Duguid 1989). Thus, from Areogun's point of view, Osi cultural life is an organic and dynamic phenomenon as opposed to being monolithic and static (Osborne 1970).

Areogun's community-focused artistic practice is widely recognized around the world. The international recognition of his outstanding woodcarving skills may be partly credited to the working relationship he developed with the English priest Father Kevin Carroll. In 1947, the Roman Catholic Church sent Father Carroll to Oye-Ekiti on a church mission (Carroll 1967). In seeking avenues for the advancement of his missionary work, Father Carroll recognized that Oye was a culturally vibrant town with an established carving tradition and a concentration of active woodcarvers at that time. He acted on this cultural observation by establishing a workshop at Oye for the practice of indigenous Ekiti-Yoruba woodcarving and appointed Areogun's son, Bandele, as the head artist at the workshop. It was through Bandele, who was an established carver, that Father Carroll met Areogun, who lived only about sixteen miles away at Osi. Father Carroll was fascinated by Areogun's carving style and he wrote about Areogun's art in his book Yoruba Religious Carving: Pagan and Christian Sculpture in Nigeria and Dahomey (Carroll 1967). Furthermore, Father Carroll commissioned Areogun to produce his own version of the Wise Men from the East in three magnificent woodcarvings (Bridger 2012). Areogun's woodcarving style was consistent and he continuously received commissions to produce sculptures for patrons at home in Nigeria and abroad until his death in 1954.

In keeping with the Yoruba tradition of imparting artistic knowledge through apprenticeship, Areogun trained many carvers at his workshop, including Aworogun, Abuleogun, Ogungbe, and his half-brother Osamuko, who later trained Areogun's son Bandele (Fashoro 2013). Areogun's woodcarving also influenced other practicing Yoruba sculptors, including Lamidi Fakeye and Fayo of Ora, as evidenced in Fakeye's narrative panels in Figures 11 and 14. An exceptionally skillful artist, Areogun conducted his art career with humility and dedication to the propagation of Osi artistic and cultural practices.