Olumide Onadipe (b. 1982, Lagos, Nigeria) is a Nigerian artist working across painting, sculpture and installation. Based in Lagos, he studied at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, before completing a master’s degree in visual arts education at the University of Lagos in 2012. His practice draws on the textures, materials and social realities of everyday Nigerian life, exploring consumerism, identity and our relationship with the environment. Artist biography.

His work has been presented by SMO Contemporary Art, which organised his solo exhibition Connecting the Dots in Lagos in 2018. International presentations include Material Insanity at the Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden in Marrakech in 2019, alongside appearances at ART X Lagos and START Art Fair at London’s Saatchi Gallery. His work is also included in the collection of the Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art in Lagos. Exhibition history, Museum collection.

In his paintings, human forms emerge through intricate arrangements of leaves, appearing partially concealed within the vegetation. This interplay between visibility and concealment reflects his understanding of society as a complex network of overlapping identities, structures and contradictions. The repeated leaf motif connects the human figure to the natural world while inviting viewers to look closely and discover the image gradually. Painting practice.

A similar process of transformation shapes his sculptures and installations. Newspapers, plastic bags, jute, packaging and discarded cables become expressive forms through folding, knotting and reshaping. These familiar materials retain associations with consumption, labour and daily survival, giving his work a social dimension alongside its environmental concerns. Across both painting and sculpture, Onadipe uses texture and repetition to reveal unexpected possibilities in ordinary things. Materials and process.