103 Audience Perception of Effective Communication in Nigerian Paintings Johnson Adelani Abodunrin Department of Fine and Applied Arts, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria E-mail: jaabodunrin@lautech.edu.ng Received: November 12, 2016. Revised: December 10, 2016. Accepted: December 25, 2016 Abstract Artists in Nigeria perceived effective communication differently irrespective of the socio-eco- nomic status.Communication effectiveness depends largely on the understanding of the message being passed between a sender and a receiver. Painting has been used over time to express emo- tion and feeling to the perceiving audience. The study is audience’s perception of communica- tion in Nigeria painting and how it varies with the socio-economic characteristics such as age, education, gender, and being professional artist or art lovers. Questionnaires were distributed and administered to examine how the status of the art audience makes or mars effective commu- nication in painting. The inferential statistics that were employed include “chi-square test” to test the relationship between different variables. The data were taken in ordinal form using Likert’s scale, and transformed into interval data. This was done by attaching statistical weights to the responses in the order of importance which were summed up for the parametric testing. Findings show that gender factor has nothing to do with the understanding of paintings. Also, the level of education obtained by the audience does not have much to do with understanding of contempo- rary Nigerian painting but a better exposure to the issue concerning the stylistic development of Nigerian painting. Art practitioners must adequately be guided on stylistic trend in painting, art education should be more intensified in educational curriculum in Nigeria. The paper concludes that audience requires a better exposure to the issues concerning the stylistic development of Nigerian painting for effective communication to take place. Keywords: audience perception; communication; painting; Nigeria How to Cite: Abodunrin, J. A. (2016). Audience Perception of Effective Communication in Nigerian Paintings. Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education, 16(2), 103-115. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.15294/harmonia.v16i2.7824 HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 16 (2) (2016), 103-115 Available online at http://journal.unnes.ac.id/nju/index.php/harmonia DOI: 10.15294/harmonia.v16i2.7824 p-ISSN 2541-1683 e-ISSN 2541-2426 2007). At the beginning of the twentieth century, the school of Gestalt psycholo- gy emerged in Germany as a reaction to structuralism, another school of thought (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2014). The Ges- talt school of thought believed that percep- tion is the result of the relation between stimuli, rather than the existence of the sti- muli themselves. The word Gestalt means ‘form’, ‘shape’, or ‘whole configuration’ in German.There are different levels and aspects of perception, but however inex- INTRODUCTION Perception is the ability or conscious- ness of understanding something through vision, taste, smell, feelings and hearing. Also, it is a high-order function that deals with more complex characteristics. Audi- ence uses prior knowledge and experience to interpret and create meaning from what they see, taste, smell, feel or hear. Audien- ces have an innate ability to establish or- der according to certain laws of percepti- on, such as Gestalt psychology (Harrigan, HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 16 (2) (2016): 103-115104 perienced an artist or audience is, it is im- possible to paint without some awareness of the basic elements such as colour and shape. There is an important set of visu- al properties that are called ‘pre-attentive attributes’ of visual perception. They are pre-attentive in that the process of per- ceiving them does not involve conscious thought; it is automatic and immediate. This includes properties such as elements and principles of design. Visual perception is a function of our eyes and brain. We see images as a whole rather than in parts. However, images can be broken down into their visual elements: line, shape, texture, and color. This ele- ment allows the eye to see images of repre- sentation with the assistance of the human brain to decode them. Seeing objects of Art allow us to perceive the meaning of the expression. Audience perception of an ob- ject depends largely on the reaction of the eye been adequately sensed by the brain for effective communication to take place. Communication and perception are two inseparable concepts when it comes to the issue of meaning and interpretation of an object. The way one audience perceives ef- fective communication might be different from the other, thereby creating a multi- dimensional approach to the perception of an artwork. Communication as a means of relay- ing information is as old as creation itself. It is notably characterized by diverse lan- guages, both verbal and non-verbal. Ho- wever, as important as language is in the day to day activities of man, and to the humanity of man, its origin was difficult to locate both in time and space (Babajide 2000, p. 1). Consequently, language can be viewed as the use of words or signs in an agreed way as the method of communica- tion, among a particular group of people or creed (Barber 1964, p. 15). Communication also exists among different groups of ani- mals, which is the transfer of information on the part of one or more animals that has an effect on the current or future behaviour of another animal (Tracii, 2010, p. 25). The study of this sometimes called zoosemiotics (defined as the study of sign communicati- on, or semiosis in animals; distinguishable from anthroposemiotics, the study of human communication). Communication has been associated with all living beings from the very beginning. There are many comp- lex feelings which cannot be expressed through verbal means so people all over the word, use arts, particularly painting to express individual experiences and creati- vity. In this study, effective communicati- on is contextualized, when an expression of visuals is direct, unambiguous, informa- tive and meaningful to people irrespective of social and educational background. Painting as a form of communicati- on is an integral part of visual art studies. Through painting much is expressed wit- hout making a verbal statement. The artists symbolize the intended messages, codify them and allow the audience to decode and interpret the hidden messages or mea- nings. Therefore, painting is not only a tool of recorded human history, but also a tool for conveying a wide range of stories, emo- tions, feelings, inner world symbolically, didactically or in a hidden mode. Existing studies have shown that communication is relatively significant to human existence (Oyewo, 2000, p. 77-78; Lamidi, 2000, p. 86; Adeniji, 2004, p. 64). Specifically, Oladosu (2000, p. 1) reveals that the history of hu- man development projects communication as the main vehicle exploited to meet life expectation and upon which it gain comp- lete dominance of the immediate environ- ment. Communication through visual arts has been extensively explored by vario- us scholars, especially in the area of dra- wing, graphic design and photography. Among such scholars are Cleaver (1966), Hill (1966), Igboanugo (1976), Kalilu (1999), Folorunso (2001), Getlein (2002), Davidson (2003), and Woods (2011). Their works concentrated more on drawing as an instrument of visual communication rather than painting. However, painting differs from drawing with respect to na- ture, types, and materials. Painting is cha- racterized by colour and design and they Johnson Adelani Abodunrin, Audience Perception of Effective Communication ... 105 are of different types which include oil on canvas, watercolour, acrylic, and mixed media. The material use in painting also makes a significant difference. However, no specific attentions have been paid to audience perception of effective communi- cation in contemporary Nigerian painting, an obvious gap thus filled by this study. METHOD Audience’s perceptions of contem- porary Nigerian painting were analyzed to determine how styles, subject matter and media and how it contributed to the effective communication in Nigerian pain- ting. This study utilizes ordinal data using Likert’s scale, which ranges between 1 and 5 for strongly disagree (1), disagree (2) uncertain (3), agree (4) and strongly agree (5) respectively. This was aggrega- ted for all the respondents by computing the averages, which also range between 1 and 5 as for the individuals above. This was done by attaching statistical weights to the responses in order of importance. These weights were summed up and were subjected to descriptive statistics of mean and tabulation. Respondents’ assessments of different aspects of audience’s percep- tions of contemporary Nigerian painting were based on eighteen variables which are broadly divided into three, namely sty- le; media and subject matter. This study is limited to analysis of paintings in Nigeria by Nigerian artists. There are several categories of artists in Nigeria. The paintings that were studied in this work were produced by professional painters from diverse tertiary institutions and geographical background in Nigeria, who have also distinguished themselves through practices and exhibition over the years both at home and abroad. The stu- dy covers the period from 1970 to 2010 (a period of forty years). The media in pain- ting that the study concentrated on are: oil paint, watercolor, gouache, acrylic, pen and ink, pastel, ink and brush, beads and mixed media. The perception of the audience was measured based on the variables, emana- ted from Table 2 this includes style, subject matter, and media which enables effective communication and meaning in painting. The research question addresses how the audience understands the symbolic mea- ning and emotions of painting in Nigeria. The study was carried out in Lagos state, Nigeria. Lagos is the major commercial hub of Nigeria, where most of these art stakeholders reside were targeted as the sample frame for proper and comprehen- sive examination. Lagos State has evolved to be considered as the most urbanized and economic nerve center in Nigeria (Odu- mosu, 1999, p. 1). Furthermore, question- naires were randomly distributed based on the geographical spread and training of the respondents (Table 1). The question- naires were randomly distributed to gra- duate from various art schools, both in the teaching profession and professional prac- tice. A total number of 350 questionnaires were distributed out of which 287 were returned for analysis. Therefore, 115 ques- tionnaires (40.1%) were retrieved from ar- tists, who combine teaching and practice, this is necessary because they constitute a larger population among the respondents. Full-time professional Artists returned 86 questionnaires (29.9%), and this could be attributed to the instability in terms of lo- cation of various professional artists, while 29 questionnaires (10.1%) were received from 37 registered gallery owners in Lagos State (Directories of galleries in Lagos). However, 57 (19.9%) questionnaires were retrieved from Art lovers. The selection of this category was based on those who collect paintings both in private and public sectors in Nigeria. As indicated in Table 1 below. The data obtained from the questi- onnaires were then analyzed to determine perceptions of effective communication in painting. In order to achieve the objective of this study, the respondents were categori- zed into two: professional artists who are in full-time studio practice and those that are combining practice and academics. HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 16 (2) (2016): 103-115106 Table 1. Questionnaire Distribution (%) Audience Frequency Percentage Professional Artist 86 29.9 Teaching/Practice 115 40.1 Gallery owners 29 10.1 Art lovers/ audience 57 19.9 Chart 1. Questionnaire distribution in the study area RESULT AND DISCUSSION The results of chi-square test for a re- lationship between socio-economic charac- teristics and audience perception revealed that a significant relationship was found between education level and audience per- ception of painting being an aspect of non- verbal communication as one of the best forms of communication and audience un- derstanding of painting in terms of forms and colours as the primary contestant(X2 = 22.30, P= 0.034) (X2 = 33.70, P = 0.01) res- pectively. Also, a significant relationship was found between the age and the way Ni- gerians perceive colour symbolisms as means of communication. (X2 = 34.53, P = 0.01). In addition, age is also a significant factor to how symbolic and thematic cha- racteristics of Nigerian paintings are well understood (X2 = 9.63, P = 0.65) and the ex- posure of students (apprentice) to the rele- vance of communication in painting (X2 = 9.63, P = 0.65). It is also revealed from the results of the finding that the descriptive details or title of all Nigerian paintings and the apprenticeship methods of training are influenced by age (X2 = 26.65, P = 0.013) (X2 = 31.67, P = 0.00) while the pictorial expres- sion in the mind of the viewers and the ex- pression of paintings to collage, mixed me- dia and others are also influenced by age (X2 = 14.32, P = 0.28) (X2 = 47.28, P = 0.00). The results of findings in table 3 revealed that the audience perception is not influen- ced by gender or whether a professional or an art lover. This study utilizes ordinal data using Likert’s scale, which ranges between 1 and 5 for strongly disagree (1), disagree (2) un- certain (3), agree (4) and strongly agree (5) respectively. This shows that gender as a factor does not affect the effectiveness of com- munication, that is, the transmission of emotional feelings of the artist through painting to the perceiving audience is not influenced by their gender. That is, the Fe- male audience can equally understand the content of contemporary Nigeria paintings as their male counterpart. The responses when compared among male and female respondents are not significantly different. This implies that they perceive effective communication in the same manner; aside the fact that the percentage of male respon- dents are higher compared to the female respondents. It was revealed from the findings of the study that there is a need to improve with the development of art education in Nigeria so that the appreciable understan- ding of painting forms could be better un- derstood. Also, knowledge about percep- tion and understanding of the content of painting does not have gender affiliation for effective communication to take place and practitioners in the field of art must adequately be guided or informed on stylistic trend in contemporary Nigerian painting irrespective of the age difference, so that the confusing nature of the content of painting would be clarified.Also, the le- vel of education obtained by the audience does not have much to do with understan- ding of contemporary Nigerian painting but a better exposure to the issue concer- ning the stylistic development of Nigerian painting Table 2 reveals that the respondents with university education spoke more af- Johnson Adelani Abodunrin, Audience Perception of Effective Communication ... 107 Table 2. Distribution of Respondents by educational levels S/N VARIABLES UNI POLY NCE SEC Total Average X2 P-Value Remark 1 All Nigerian paintings are effective in terms of communication 536 151 09 60 756 2.6 16.2 0.184 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 2 Painting as an aspect of non-verbal commu- nication is one of the best forms of commu- nication 656 147 14 61 878 3.0 22.3 0.034 Signifi- cant 3 Nigerian are strongly aware of colour sym- bolism as means of communications 537 120 08 58 723 2.5 14.9 0.247 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 4 Audience in Nigeria are all aware of and look at painting 506 123 09 44 682 2.3 11.4 0.493 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 5 All artistic spectators can decode the content of painting 347 101 11 58 517 1.8 14.2 0.290 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 6 Communication is one of the functions of Nigerian painting 674 145 12 63 894 3.1 13.6 0.339 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 7 Paintings that are produced from 1970till date are expressive 589 125 12 55 781 2.7 11.2 0.514 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 8 Stylistic and thematic characteristics of Nige- rian painting are well understood 515 119 14 50 698 2.4 20.6 0.056 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 9 Painting expressed in realism or naturalism styles are clearer in content and meaning 654 146 13 67 880 3.0 8.2 0.770 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 10 Student /apprentices are adequately ex- posed to the relevance of communication in painting. 572 123 12 15 757 2.6 15.6 0.211 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 11 All Nigerian painting should have descrip- tive details or title 660 145 16 71 892 3.1 11.7 0.472 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 12 The apprenticeship method of training in art appears to be lost 490 114 08 57 617 2.1 10.8 0.597 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 13 The individuality and identity issue in contemporary Nige- rian painting seems to bring clarity of expres- sion. 560 129 10 55 754 2.6 9.7 0.692 Differ- ence not signifi- cant HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 16 (2) (2016): 103-115108 14 Paintingconstitutes a veritable bridge between the inner and outer worlds of man 649 138 12 62 861 3.0 20.9 0.052 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 15 A picture has a better and lasting impres- sion in the mind of the viewer than verbal aids. 722 140 13 64 939 3.2 20.0 0.068 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 16 Everybody is quite aware of painting as an aspect of art. 670 141 12 67 890 3.1 18.0 0.117 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 17 People have the understanding of painting in terms of forms and colours as the primary content. 620 114 7 70 811 2.8 33.7 0.001 signifi- cant 18 Paintings done in college, mixed media abstraction, mono- media styles, realistic styles are well known to everybody. 441 71 4 47 563 1.9 12.61 0.398 Differ- ence not signifi- cant Table 3. Distribution of Respondents by Gender S/N VARIABLES MALE FEMALE TOTAL AVERAGE X2 P-VALUE REMARK 1 All Nigerian paint- ings are effective in terms of communica- tion 556 296 852 3.0 1.863 0.761 Difference not Signifi- cant 2 Painting as an aspect of non-verbal com- munication is one of the best forms of communication 572 306 878 3.1 3.320 0.506 Difference not Signifi- cant 3 Nigerian are strongly aware of colour sym- bolism as means of communications 472 261 733 1.6 2.859 0.582 Difference not Signifi- cant 4 Audience in Nigeria are all aware of and look at painting 441 241 682 2.4 6.002 0.199 Difference not Signifi- cant 5 All artistic specta- tors can decode the content of painting 407 215 622 2.2 3.879 0.423 Difference not Signifi- cant 6 Communication is one of the functions of Nigerian painting 602 292 894 3.1 3.339 0.503 Difference not Signifi- cant 7 Paintings that are produced from 1970till date are expressive 525 256 781 2.7 5.641 0.228 Difference not Signifi- cant Johnson Adelani Abodunrin, Audience Perception of Effective Communication ... 109 8 Stylistic and thematic characteristics of Ni- gerian painting are well understood 457 239 698 2.4 5.455 0.244 Difference not Significant 9 Painting expressed in realism or naturalism styles are clearer in content and meaning 588 292 880 3.1 3.275 0.513 Difference not Significant 10 Student /appren- tices are adequately exposed to the relevance of commu- nication in painting. 491 274 765 2.7 6.806 0.146 Difference not Significant 11 All Nigerian painting should have descrip- tive details or title 587 305 892 3.1 4.349 0.361 Difference not Significant 12 The apprenticeship method of training in art appears to be lost 433 236 669 2.3 9.334 0.053 Difference not Significant 13 The individuality and identity issue in contemporary Nigerian painting seems to bring clarity of expression. 517 243 760 2.6 6.624 0.157 Difference not Significant 14 Paintingconstitutes a veritable bridge between the inner and outer worlds of man 580 281 861 3.0 7.222 0.125 Difference not Significant 15 A picture has a better and lasting impres- sion in the mind of the viewer than verbal aids. 617 322 939 3.3 3.526 0.474 Difference not Significant 16 Everybody is quite aware of painting as an aspect of art. 595 297 892 3.1 5.526 0.249 Difference not Significant 17 People have the understanding of painting in terms of forms and colours as the primary content. 545 266 811 2.8 3.418 0.490 Difference not Significant 18 Paintings done in collage, mixed media abstraction, mono- media styles, real- istic styles are well known to everybody. 356 217 573 2.0 8.507 0.075 Difference not Significant HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 16 (2) (2016): 103-115110 Table 4. Distribution of Respondents by professional artist and art lover S/N VARIABLES PROFES- SIONAL ARTIST ART LOV- ER TO- TAL AV- ER- AGE X2 P- VAL- UE REMARK 1 All Nigerian paintings are effec- tive in terms of communication 317 536 853 3.0 2.265 0.687 Difference not Significant 2 Painting as an aspect of non-ver- bal communication is one of the best forms of communication 354 524 878 3.1 13.170 0.010 Difference not Significant 3 Nigerian are strongly aware of colour symbolism as means of communications 262 461 723 2.5 7.371 0.118 Difference not Significant 4 Audience in Nigeria are all aware of and look at painting 258 424 682 2.4 8.237 0.083 Difference not Significant 5 All artistic spectators can decode the content of painting 231 391 622 2.2 18.552 0.001 Difference not Significant 6 Communication is one of the functions of Nigerian painting 367 527 894 3.1 7.587 0.108 Difference not Significant 7 Paintings that are produced from 1970till date are expressive 302 479 781 2.7 5.031 0.284 Difference not Significant 8 Stylistic and thematic character- istics of Nigerian painting are well understood 261 437 698 2.4 12.634 0.013 Difference not Significant 9 Painting expressed in realism or naturalism styles are clearer in content and meaning 347 530 877 3.1 3.849 0.427 Difference not Significant 10 Student /apprentices are ade- quately exposed to the relevance of communication in painting. 286 479 765 2.7 3.317 0.506 Difference not Significant 11 All Nigerian painting should have descriptive details or title 358 534 892 3.1 41.049 0.000 Difference not Significant 12 The apprenticeship method of training in art appears to be lost 235 434 669 2.3 6.014 0.198 Difference not Significant 13 The individuality and identity issue in contemporary Nigerian painting seems to bring clarity of expression. 296 462 758 2.6 5.516 0.238 Difference not Significant 14 Paintingconstitutes a veritable bridge between the inner and outer worlds of man 348 507 855 3.0 9.401 0.052 Difference not Significant 15 A picture has a better and last- ing impression in the mind of the viewer than verbal aids. 366 573 939 3.3 3.187 0.527 Difference not Significant 16 Everybody is quite aware of painting as an aspect of art. 332 560 892 3.1 1.296 0.862 Difference not Significant 17 People have the understanding of painting in terms of forms and colours as the primary content. 307 504 811 2.8 1.661 0.798 Difference not Significant 18 Paintings expressed in collage, mixed media abstraction, mono- media styles, realistic styles are well known to everybody. 188 385 573 2.0 12.885 0.012 Difference not Significant Johnson Adelani Abodunrin, Audience Perception of Effective Communication ... 111 Table 5. Distribution of Respondents by Age Groups S/N VARIABLES 18-25yrs 26- 40yrs 40- 60yrs >60yrs To- Tal Av- erage X 2 P-VAL- UE REMARK 1 All Nigerian paintings are effective in terms of commu- nication 401 391 43 03 838 2.9 11.903 0.453 Difference not signifi- cant 2 Painting as an aspect of non- verbal communication is one of the best forms of commu- nication 395 413 55 03 866 3.0 13.492 0.334 Difference not signifi- cant 3 Nigerian are strongly aware of colour symbolism as means of communications 348 323 38 03 712 2.5 34.534 0.001 Significant 4 Audience in Nigeria are all aware of and look at painting 305 323 37 04 669 2.3 7.704 0.808 Difference not signifi- cant 5 All artistic spectators can de- code the content of painting 322 358 30 02 612 2.1 28.004 0.006 Significant 6 Communication is one of the functions of Nigerian painting 394 423 59 04 880 3.1 10.606 0.563 Difference not signifi- cant 7 Paintings that are produced from 1970till date are expres- sive 350 360 55 02 767 2.7 14.088 0.295 Difference not signifi- cant 8 Stylistic and thematic charac- teristics of Nigerian painting are well understood 350 360 55 02 767 2.7 28.190 0.005 Significant 9 Painting expressed in re- alistic or naturalism styles are clearer in content and meaning 333 316 41 03 693 2.4 9.633 0.648 Difference not signifi- cant 10 Student /apprentices are adequately exposed to the relevance of communication in painting. 396 413 54 03 866 3.0 55.753 0.000 Significant 11 All Nigerian painting should have descriptive details or title 360 358 37 0 755 2.6 25.650 0.012 Significant 12 The apprenticeship method of training in art appears to be lost 400 432 48 02 882 3.0 31.675 0.002 Significant 13 The individuality and iden- tity issue in contemporary Nigerian painting seems to bring clarity of expression. 342 286 32 02 662 2.3 10.044 0.612 Difference not signifi- cant 14 Paintingconstitutes a verita- ble bridge between the inner and outer worlds of man 341 359 43 03 746 2.6 10.533 0.569 Difference not signifi- cant 15 A picture has a better and lasting impression in the mind of the viewer than verbal aids. 369 426 52 04 851 3.0 14.325 0.280 Significant 16 Everybody is quite aware of painting as an aspect of art. 412 458 54 04 928 3.2 18.881 0.091 Difference not signifi- cant HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 16 (2) (2016): 103-115112 17 People have the understand- ing of painting in terms of forms and colours as the primary content. 418 413 47 04 882 3.1 19.939 0.068 Difference not signifi- cant 18 Paintings expressed in college, mixed media abstraction, mono-media styles,realistic styles are well known to everybody. 384 347 40 4 775 2.7 47.284 0.000 Significant Table 6. Distribution of Respondents by degree obtained S/N Variables Ph.D Mas-ter Bach- elor HND NCE O N D OL To-tal Av- er- age X2 P- Val- ue Remark 1 All Nigerian paintings are effective in terms of communication 07 41 592 73 05 46 82 846 2.9 45.180 0.006 Signifi- cant 2 Painting as an aspect of non-verbal communica- tion is one of the best forms of communica- tion 14 48 601 77 06 41 87 874 3.0 34.561 0.075 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 3 Nigerian are strongly aware of colour sym- bolism as means of communications 12 45 493 63 03 34 78 728 2.5 22.333 0.559 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 4 Audience in Nigeria are all aware of andlook at painting 13 31 459 71 07 30 67 678 2.4 28.188 0.252 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 5 All artistic spectators can decode thecontent of painting 09 22 424 41 03 33 80 612 2.1 54.220 0.000 Signifi- cant 6 Communication is one of the functions of Nigerian painting 17 55 640 81 06 44 81 924 3.2 30.558 0.167 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 7 Paintings that are produced from 1970 till date are expressive 14 43 531 71 08 41 72 780 2.7 41.147 0.016 Signifi- cant 8 Stylistic and thematic characteristics of Nige- rian painting are well understood 09 33 481 64 02 36 66 692 2.4 39.062 0.027 Signifi- cant 9 Painting done in real- istic or natural is styles are clearer in content and meaning 07 46 598 82 07 36 91 877 3.0 21.570 0.605 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 10 Student /apprentices are adequately exposed to the relevance of com- munication in painting. 11 34 547 64 03 34 68 761 2.7 40.178 0.020 Signifi- cant Johnson Adelani Abodunrin, Audience Perception of Effective Communication ... 113 11 All Nigerian painting should have descriptive details or title 15 41 613 77 04 43 96 889 3.1 24.776 0.418 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 12 The apprenticeship method of training in art appears to be lost 08 34 456 51 04 36 76 665 2.3 48.908 0.002 Signifi- cant 13 The individuality and identity issue in contemporaryNigerian painting seems to bring clarity of expression. 14 39 525 73 03 32 72 758 2.6 33.884 0.087 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 14 Paintingconstitutes a veritable bridgebe- tween the inner and outer worlds ofman 16 47 585 77 03 39 90 857 3.0 26.987 0.305 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 15 A picture has a better and lasting impres- sion in the mind of the viewer than verbal aids. 22 51 648 80 03 44 87 935 3.2 18.956 0.754 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 16 Everybody is quite aware of painting as an aspect of art. 19 42 613 74 04 42 94 888 3.1 22.685 0.538 Differ- ence not signifi- cant 17 People have to un- derstand of painting in terms offorms and colours as the primary content. 18 36 561 59 03 36 95 808 2.8 38.421 0.031 Signifi- cant 18 Paintings done in college, mixed media abstraction, mono- media styles, realistic styles are well known to everybody. 07 22 418 36 0 21 65 569 2.0 37.791 0.036 Signifi- cant differences in the responses are not statis- tically significant. Most of the respondents support painting as an effective non-verbal communication. The responses when com- pared among the educational groups are significantly different from one another. This implies that while some spoke in sup- port, others responded against. The reason advanced for the difference in the respon- ses in this study is their level of education. In other words, advancement in art edu- cation influences people in the understan- ding of the works of painting. In particu- lar, seeing painting as one of the best forms of communication, in understanding the firmatively than other educational groups, as regards effectiveness of communication through painting. This is followed by the graduates of polytechnics and amazingly followed by secondary school leavers. The reason for this pattern may be the numeri- cal composition of the respondents which had favoured the groups in the listed or- der. Another reason may be the difference in art inclination (professional/art lover dichotomy) even among the educational groups. It is important to state that though there are relative differences in the respon- ses of the different educational groups, for some four variables, in particular, the HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 16 (2) (2016): 103-115114 the respondents spoke in support of these variables while some stand against it. This could be as a result of different exposures of different levels of the degrees obtained. CONCLUSION This paper has shown that audience perception of painting in Nigeria symbo- lizes the intended message that codifies meaning and expression of emotions of an art piece. It observes that painting is a means to convey a wide range of stories, emotions, and feelings. Painting in Ni- geria is a nonverbal means of expressing an idea creatively through colour, light, size, depth, and textual gradients. Effecti- ve Communication in visual studies and painting, in particular, depends on the un- derstanding of the message being passed through the adequate use of style, media and subject matter between the Artist and the audience. RFEREENCES Adeniji, A. A. (2004). Discourse Analysis of Convocation Speeches of Two Se- lected Nigerian Universities. Unpub- lished M.A. dissertation. Department of English, University of Ibadan. Babajide, A. (2000). Studies in English Lan- guage; Ibadan: Enicrownfit Publish- ers. Barber, C. (1964). The Story of Language, London: Pan Books Ltd. Cleaver, D. (1966). Art: An Introduction, Harcourt Brace, and World Inc. Davidson, M. (2003). How to Draw and Paint Texture. Quarto Publishing Ltd Folorunso, F. C. (2001). Visual Art and Com- munication Technology:Reshaping Nigeria’s Development in the New Millennium. Jindest, 2(2), 25-32. Harrigan, C. (2007). Abstract and Colour Techniques in Painting. London: Ano- va Books Company Ltd. Hill, E. (1966). The Language of Drawing. Englewood cliff: N.J. Prentice. Getlein, M. (2002). Living with Art. New York. McGraw-Hill Higher Educa- stylistic and the thematic characteristics of contemporary paintings, seeing pain- ting as a connector of the inner and outer world of a man and the understanding of paintings in terms of forms and colours are functions of educational level. Gender factor was also considered to determine effective communication in painting. The chi-square and P-values of the test of difference as associated with the gender rating are presented in Table 3. What you see stays more in your mind than what is being described through ver- bal communication. This could be because title given to a painting serves as a guide or tip to the understanding of the content of a painting. However, some titles often go contrary to the visual message of some painting. Painting as an aspect of non-ver- bal communication is one of the best forms of communication. It also receives a certain level of agreement from both respondents. The possible reasons for divergent opi- nions might be because the two categories of respondents are not equal in population size. Art lovers are greater in number than professional artists that responded to the variable. Also, it could be due to the fact that art generally is a universal language of communication which should be under- stood by everybody irrespective of their inclinations. Another variable that recei- ved divergent views from the two catego- ries of respondents is that all artistic spec- tators can decode the content of painting in Nigeria. Those that spoke against this va- riable might be considering the post-mo- dernism characteristics of painting which enable each artist to go individualistic in style rendition which often times create difficulty in decoding the content of such painting. Different age groups were also used to measure the variables as regards the effective communication in painting as been shown in Table 5. This shows the res- pondents’ views about different aspects of painting, and the test of variations across the age groups. The relative differences based on the degree obtained are statisti- cally significant in about six variables (1), (5), (8), (10), (12) (17), in particular. Some of Johnson Adelani Abodunrin, Audience Perception of Effective Communication ... 115 tion. Igboanugo, P. (1976). Home to Christopher Okigbo, an Exhibition by Obiora Udechukwu. Nigeria Magazine, No. 120. pp. 22-28. Kalilu, R. O. R (1999). Fundamentals of Drawing. Ogbomoso: Department of Fine and Applied Arts, Lautech. Lamidi T. (2000). Language, varieties and context’ in Babajide A.O. (ed) studies in English Language. Ibadan: Enicrown- fit Publishers. Odumosu, T. (1999). Location and regional setting of Lagos State. In Balogun Y., Odumosu T., Ojo K. (ed). Lagos State in maps. Ibadan: Rex Charles Publica- tion and Connel Publications. Oladosu, I. (2003). Review of Basic Concepts in Communication. Ogbomoso: New Age Publications. Oyewo, Y. (2000). Human Communica- tion: An Introduction in Babajide A.O (ed) Studies. in English language; Ibadan: Enicrownfit Publishers. Tracii, H. (2010). What is verbal communi- cation. Retrieved from http://www. Livestrong.com Woods, H. T. (2011). The Factor of Draw- ing in Visual Communication in Ni- geria, (1998-2008). An Unpublished M.Tech. Thesis in the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, LAUTECH, Ogbomoso.