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Olaniyi Adeniyi

"My interest in art was born at a very tender age as I helped my mother in her tie dye and batik business. Today, I own a gallery and, I must say that as an artist, I am not doing badly.

"Olaniyi Adeniyi is my name; I was born in Nigeria on July 10, 1958 where I also benefited from the Begoro Anglican primary and high school in 1970. I entered the Civil Service thereafter. I realized after two years in the Service, much to my relief, that my interest still leaned toward the arts. I resigned from the Civil Service without any hesitation and enrolled in an art school for a four-year diploma course. The program was more of practices and focused mainly on paintings, mosaics and batik making.

"Why do I paint? I paint because artwork is the beautification of places in the living world. Painting affords me the opportunity to portray Africa as it is; to present true African ideas to the outside world. In my works therefore, I focus mainly on African cultural themes. My paintings are mostly abstract and semi-abstract forms and the media I employ are predominantly oil on canvas, paper or on card, pen and ink on canvas and paper. One peculiar thing about my work is that no two paintings of mine are the same. I have been working on my own as an artist ever since.

"My group exhibitions include the French Cultural Center (Lome, Togo) and the Institute of International Tropical Agriculture (Ibadan, Nigeria), both held in 1992. I also participated in the SIAO, Burkina Faso fair held in 1998. In 1997 and 99 I exhibited my works at the Panafest fair held in Ghana. Again in 1999 I participated in the International Handicraft and Fashion fair held in Abuja, Nigeria. In the year 2000 I exhibited my paintings in the Grand Sales, Ghana, SIAO Ouagadougou, and the International Gift Fair also held in Ghana. Major collectors of my work are from the Caribbean and the USA."