The artist
About
David.
David Olatoye (born 1995 in Ogun State) is a contemporary Nigerian artist based in Ibadan.
Self Portrait (Two Oceans Away) · 2024–25His paintings make room for tenderness and complexity in ordinary domestic life.
Olatoye works with acrylic and pen, often adding fabric and collage. Stylised figures, patterned surfaces and carefully composed interiors allow him to revisit family, childhood memory, masculinity and belonging.
Born in Ogun State and raised in Ibadan, he studied Fine and Applied Arts at Obafemi Awolowo University. He joined Rele Arts Foundation’s Young Contemporaries programme in 2020. His work has since appeared in exhibitions in Nigeria, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States.
In Love and Life, rooms become settings for care and connection: shared meals, companionship, quiet moments and intimate relationships.
Selected exhibitions
A continuing conversation
To Your Doorstep, New Culture Studio, Ibadan; Pursuit of Happiness, Windsor Gallery, Lagos.
Investec Cape Town Art Fair; Reflections of Identity: Voices in African Portraiture, Christopher Moller Gallery.
Love and Life (solo), Christopher Moller Gallery, Cape Town; Tête-à-Tête, Pi Artworks, London; Times Are Changing, GR Gallery, New York.
Autumn Is Fresh, Christopher Moller Gallery; presentations at 1-54 Paris and ART X Lagos.
Young Contemporaries, Rele Arts Foundation, Lagos.
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