Artists Must Protect Originality, Develop Signature Styles — Garga Art Galleries CEO

Nigerian visual artists have been urged to develop distinctive artistic styles and acquire a working knowledge of intellectual property laws to protect their creative works from plagiarism and unauthorised use.

The call was made by the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Garga Art Galleries Limited and Pioneer of Art Jollof Style, Aliyu Aminu Ahmed, who warned that ignorance of intellectual property (IP) protection could leave artists vulnerable to exploitation and undermine the growth of Nigeria’s creative economy.

Ahmed, who spoke on the need for greater originality and intellectual property awareness among artists, said developing a recognisable personal style should be the first step for creatives seeking to establish a sustainable career.

According to him, artists need to develop a unique style, technique or visual language that distinguishes their work from others.

“Before you can even talk about trademark or copyright, you need something that is truly yours a style, a technique, a visual language that people can look at and know it’s you,” he said.

He expressed concern that some emerging artists were increasingly copying established artists rather than developing their own creative voices, describing the practice as both an ethical and legal concern.

“Too many young artists are copying established names instead of developing their own voice. That is not just an ethical problem, it’s a legal one, because you cannot protect what isn’t original,” Ahmed said.

He described plagiarism in the visual arts as a “quiet but serious threat” to Nigeria’s creative economy, noting that copying another artist’s composition, artistic expression or concept could undermine the rights and commercial value of the original creator.

Ahmed further urged artists to familiarise themselves with four major areas of intellectual property protection copyright, trademark, patents and trade secrets.

On copyright, he said original artistic works enjoy protection from the point of creation, while registration with the Nigerian Copyright Commission could provide useful documentary evidence of ownership in the event of a dispute.

“The moment you create an original painting, drawing, or sculpture, copyright exists automatically. You don’t need to file anything for it to exist, but registering it with the Nigerian Copyright Commission gives you documented proof of ownership,” he said.

The Garga Art Galleries boss, Aliyu Aminu Ahmed said trademarks could also become important as artists build their names and commercial identities.

He explained that an artist’s name, distinctive logo or other identifying brand elements could potentially be protected through trademark registration, helping to prevent unauthorised persons from exploiting an artist’s identity.

On patents, Ahmed said the protection was more relevant to artists who develop genuinely new technical processes or methods.

“If you develop a genuinely new technique, a new way of mixing pigments, or printing and it is truly novel, not something already known or used, you may be able to patent that process,” he said.

He added that trade secrets could be useful to artists who deliberately keep proprietary techniques or formulas confidential.

According to him, intellectual property protection goes beyond preventing plagiarism, as it can help artists license their works, negotiate appropriate fees and build commercially valuable creative portfolios.

“Intellectual Property protection is what allows an artist to license their work, negotiate proper fees, stop unauthorised reproductions, and eventually build a body of work that has real, defensible commercial value both locally and internationally,” Ahmed said.

He warned artists against assuming that failure to register a work automatically removes the rights of the original creator, stressing that intellectual property disputes could arise even where formal registration had not been undertaken.

Ahmed also cautioned artists against copying other people’s works, saying Lack of awareness of intellectual property law was not necessarily a defence against infringement.

“If you copy another artist’s work, even without registering anything, that artist can still take legal action against you for infringement under the Copyright Act,” he said.

He, however, encouraged artists to properly document their works and maintain records that could assist in establishing ownership and provenance.

Ahmed said Garga Art Galleries would continue to engage artists, students and collectors on intellectual property, art valuation, documentation and provenance as part of efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s creative economy.

He said protecting originality and establishing credible systems for documenting artworks would be critical to enabling Nigerian and African artists to compete effectively in the international art market.

“Originality, once properly protected, is what allows African art to compete on the same footing as anywhere else in the world,” he said.