Our Some of The Most Famous Artists Of All Time
Akanji Bolaji is a Nigerian figurative painter based in Lagos, Nigeria. His paintings are notable for the use of long necks and with unpredictable mood background strokes of surrealist dreamy symbols of Surrealism and pop abstraction. His way of exploring the complexity of humans and the ideal of the concept of beauty using the long neck as the prime cultural symbol. His body of work explores its subjects in mannerist style and form, a body of works that capture a compositional narrative of the perfect and imperfection of black beauty. His practice as an artist focuses on telling his story to a group of people unfamiliar with his artistic practice and his development to connect with his viewers through his figurative expressions showing his audience the concepts around black beauty experiences, philosophy and cultures, whilst emphasising the connectivity and contrast between contemporary African mannerist style with European mannerism.
Bolaji Akanji
/ Artist
Olayinka Salami (b. 1998) is a self-taught contemporary artist who lives in Lagos Nigeria and hails from the South-west part of Nigeria Ogun State.
While growing up, Olayinka has seen differences between humanity which has made him criticise human acts with one another and also with their environment at large.
He explores his art with various mediums such as Charcoal, Oil and Acrylic paints, he then portrays his subjects to signify certain emotions in accordance with his narrative which is getting humanity to understand mind control and how it is being affected by our environment.
Olayinka Salami
/ Artist
Ahmed Partay is a self taught artist based in Accra, Ghana. His art is inspired by West African masks, sculptural pieces, patterns and symbols. In his own way he re-imagine African artistic pieces to reflect contemporary times. The aim is to connect people to our ancestors and culture.
He calls his artistic style Afro-Ancestral spiritualism. This holds real meaning for him at a personal level and every African or non-African that appreciates it. By drawing inspiration from the imagery in African Culture and Religion he infuses his own uniqueness and extra layers of meaning to his art with emphasis on bold colours, abstraction and symbolism. He combines the flexibility of digital mediums with the authenticity of traditional methods to make them. He finds interest in themes such as identity, connection, religion, depression and rejection.
His biggest source of inspiration is African masks as a unique source that highlights African spiritualism and connection to the society in the spirit world and the physical world. Some of his art also highlights the essence of traditional names and the spiritual connection they have among the name bearers.
Ahmed Partay
/ Artist