Plaques as Fine Art

In Nigeria, carved doors reflect the owner’s wealth, power, and prestige. Usually, they consist of a set of bas relief panels. Lamidi departs from this tradition creating individual plaques as unique art objects. For these narrative plaques he makes preliminary drawings to work out the relationship of the figures and to organize the story.

Compare Ogun Priest, carved in 1960, with the more recent plaques. Lamidi uses steel chisels which produce finer, more precise details and to separate the figures from the background.