Toyin Odutola has become the third highest-paid Nigerian artist of all time after her drawing ‘Compound Leaf’ sold at the Sotheby’s for £471,000 which is roughly N215m. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) stated that this record-breaking sale puts Odutola behind fellow female artist, Njideka Akunyili-Crosby, and the legendary Ben Enwonwu. After moving from Nigeria to America at the age of five, Ojih Odutola became aware of her blackness and began questioning her identity.

Due to the shock of this transition, she used art as a coping mechanism, and over time, it transformed into an “investigative, learning activity” for her. Speaking with Vogue about how art helped her escape, Odutola said: “I was obsessed, capturing everything I saw and being fascinated with the incredibly simple task of looking at something and transmitting it onto paper. It’s an immediate magic.

Odutola creates multimedia drawings on various surfaces investigating formulaic representations and how such images can be unreliable, systemic, and socially-coded. She has participated in exhibitions at various institutions, including The Drawing Center, New York (2018-19); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2017-18); Brooklyn Museum, New York (2016).

She has also exhibited at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2015); Studio Museum Harlem, New York (2015, 2012); Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield (2013); and Menil Collection, Houston, (2012). collections include Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Birmingham Museum of Art, Baltimore Museum of Art and New Orleans Museum of Art. Odutola’s collections have also been displayed in Philadelphia Museum of Art, Princeton University Art Museum, Spencer Museum of Art, Honolulu Museum of Art, and the National Museum of African Art (Smithsonian). PAY

Meanwhile,19-year-old Nigerian medical student, Emediong, has become the youngest artist as well as the first African to have her work displayed at the Cyprus Modern Art Museum which is also the largest museum in the Mediterranean region.

The excited young lady expressed her joy in an Instagram post as she further revealed that her painting is now in the possession of Forbes listed Cypriot businessman, Suat Günsel.

Meet 19-year-old student of medicine and surgery who is also a super-talented painter.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsfrkhuTO68

Nigeria is full of talents.
Our leaders are the first problem

wow!! @ lalasticala

proudly Nigerian

Great talent,..great drive.

@ lalasticala this is front page worthy naa..