Lemi did not have any formal training, but chose to sustain his ingenuity, following Fela’s advice : ‘He had advised me against compromising my pristine initiatives through institutional training’ . Lemi talks about first learning European drawing techniques and then adding the African touch, but as Fela told him, you could learn the basics yourself from a book, but when it comes to creating, the start should be fresh and non-impoverished by the past. Fela himself was trained to play classics, but the musician ended up playing original Afro.
‘Fela told us that education will stick on us a post-colonial mentality which will blind us from seeing the social reality in Africa‘.
So much for education’s power to free minds. Lemi proudly declares:
‘I am a student of the University of Life’.
As for inspiring the upcoming generations, Lemi promises he will continue to give free training to all the apprentices who come his way.
Art's Own Kind 