Arts, Culture and Sport

Photorealistic paintings by Babajide Olatunji – a photo essay

Nigerian artist Babajide Olatunji had a private viewing of his new work in Ikoyi, Lagos. Babajide who is a self-taught artist came into limelight with his intriguing tribal mark series. His remarkable drawings are photorealistic.

Published

7 years ago

June 1, 2018

Socrates Mbamalu

Nigerian artist Babajide Olatunji had a private viewing of his new works in Ikoyi, Lagos. Babajide is represented by UK Art Gallery TAFETA, a gallery that specialises in 20th century and contemporary African Arts. Last year, his work was selected to exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts exhibition. The Royal Academy of Arts is home to Britain’s longest established art school.

Babajide who is a self-taught artist came into limelight with his peculiar tribal mark series. He started with coal on paper, before graduating to charcoal and pastels. By nature, Babajide is the type of artist that tries to do the impossible. His latest breakthrough is oil pastels and acrylic, a combination that has been described as being nearly impossible to do especially to create photorealism.

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Babajide’s paintings are steeped in the Yoruba culture. At just 28, the ambitious young man is working on a project based on the interpretation of Yoruba proverbs. Babajide is one of the artists represented in the Mott-Warsh Collection, a private owned publicly shared collection of art from the second half of the 20th century.