Yemisi Shyllon: Nigeria needs serious investment in art — the tourism potential is extensive

Yemisi Shyllon, a renowned art collector, has advised the federal government to take investment in art seriously.

Shyllon said this over the weekend when he was featured on The Toyin Falola interview series.

According to him, there is “extensive” tourism potential in art which can contribute significantly to improved revenue generation for the country.

“It is a legal transaction that is respected all over the world. It can be passed from generation to generation. It also helps to promote the culture of a nation. It helps to develop young minds into being more productive in society,” Shyllon said.

“Collecting art is a form of providing employment. If Nigeria could invest in art, the tourism potential is extensive.

“The Eiffel Tower takes about 10 million visitors per annum. The potential behind art is huge and unimaginable.

“Art will give this nation something to be proud of. It will give this nation something to showcase, which in fact means that we contributed to civilisation, that we had history before we were colonised. It is completely better than ransom-taking.”

Shyllon also spoke about how he became a renowned art collector.

“I started out of love, interest for art. I had a latent talent in art. As I moved from interest, I went into passion. In that passion, I began to read about Nigerian art,” he said.

“In my work life as an executive director of a multinational company, I had gone round the world. Before I knew what was happening, the passion became an obsession. I told my people that that obsession had grown to become glorious. It gave me the opportunity of making a mark in my life.

“Many people who meet me only recognise me as an art patron the moment I introduce myself as Yemisi Shyllon. They do not recollect that I am an engineer; they don’t remember I have a degree in business administration; they don’t remember I am a lawyer; they don’t remember that I am an investor.

“I am best when I am within my artworks. My best friends are artists because we share the same values of life. We look at life from a very expansive point of view.

“A good artist or collector is never parochial. You cannot be a good collector and be tribalistic because you are going to collect art from different tribes. Over time, I discovered that there are a lot of intrinsic values in art in terms of investment.

“Investing in art is one of the best forms of investment. In other climes, when there is a recession, what people do is put their money into art and gold. Art is more stable than gold. You cannot buy the glamour in art with money.”

He also cautioned on ascribing demonic fetishism to art.

“The average Nigerian does not understand what culture is. He sees culture from the prism of religion and no more. I have had cause to give lectures to demonstrate the fact that culture is much more encompassing than religion. Religion is only part of the philosophical trapping of culture,” he said.

“Even within the philosophical concept of culture, we talk about the values of society, the attributes expected within a culture. This is only a part.

“When you look at culture from a wider angle, it has the elements of customs which again is very large. You also have the problem of tradition. After this, you look at the systems of government. You look at the literature, music, dress pattern, language, and food.”

The interview panel was led by Toyin Falola, a renowned professor of history; Peju Layiwola, an art historian and visual artist; Dele Jegede, painter, art critic, cartoonist, and curator; and Victor Ekpuk, an artist.