By Aubreanna Miller
For the Herald
Osamede Obazee moved to America from Nigeria around 17 years ago to pursue his art further. In his home country, Obazee cultivated his interest in art to express himself visually, starting with painting and eventually moving into sculpting in bronze.
Obazee has now made his home in California and has sculpted many pieces rich with meaning. His favorite sculpture, part of Wayne’s 2023 Sculpture Walk, lives at the corner of Third and Pearl Streets, outside the Wayne City Hall. To the artist, “The Messenger” carries many representations of past and present. Any visitor of the piece can find something they relate to, he said.
“Every single person is a messenger in some way,” Obazee said. “Even the flowers and nature bring messages, both good and bad. We all pass on messages as part of something that is bigger than ourselves.”
The sculpture depicts a man with a ribboning middle section and a sword pointed at the ground.
“Swords can be used for both destruction or defense,” Obazee said. “The man was in striking form, but now the sword rests, having served its purpose of protecting. The empty area in the middle represents the empty spaces in our physical forms. Our spirit needs to fill those spaces to get us through the hard times. Our physical existence cannot take form without a spiritual aspect.”
Obazee made this sculpture during an extremely hard time of his life, he said. Normally, his sculptures take him around four to five months to complete. This one, however, took around eight months. In the middle of the process, Obazee lost his home and studio because of a family dispute.
To express his feelings, he kept pushing through the work, finding any way he could to finish the piece.
“I love that piece,” Obazee said. “I set it as the background photo on my phone, so I always have the reminder that sometimes we need to struggle to overcome hardships.”
Obazee has other pieces in sculpture walks throughout the United States. Mostly, instead of taking commissions, he creates art that resonates with him and has a deeper meaning. He then sells these intricate metal creations during art exhibitions.
