The Artist - Lanre Olagoke
website: www.lanreolagoke.com
Mobile phone: +44(0)795 151 9282
Born in London in, 1962. Married with two daughters and a beautiful wife. Aged four his family moved back to Nigeria. Growing up in a middle class family, where parents are divorced, ending up in a foster family home with some of his sibblings. This has had a major impact in his growing up.
Lanre came back to England at the age of 20 and hoping he will carry on with his Art, little did he know, when he was sent to study economics at North East London Polytechnic, which didn't take him long to become a drop out, for Art sake! With the pursuit of Economics behind, and squatting with like minded friends, he ended up into drugs and eventually became homeless.
Lanre's contributions to the Creative world is unquestionable, his name has become synonymous with his work and passion for the Arts and people. Lanre's signature and his exceptional mastery of colours is phenomenon. Textured work that brings the masters work alive.
Lanre was a student/ apprentice of Professor Ben Enwonwu, one of the greatest premier African modernist and indeed a pioneer, who opened the way for the postcolonial proliferation.
To late Professor Ben Enwonwu's credit, a sculpure of the Queen as part of his collections, Ben Enwonwu needed an artist at his Swiss Cottage/ Belsize Park home, London in the 80's
"So, I went to him when the news got to me and all I was doing was learning and eating at the masters table, helping with his domestic chore.
He was the one who told me I have an eye for colours and also added these words: '" Never give up, keep striving, you will be a great Artist" Those words never left me".
Lanre has exhibited all over the continents and his words " I don't paint for fame, I don't paint for money, I paint because I am passionate about Art and I love to paint" Lanre '88
Because of his passion for the Youth, The Arts and his community he set up Art-Alive Arts Trust in 1998 and got registered in 2001, working relentlessly in the communities where most of his peers won't venture to go into. He was one of the pioneers who started doing art projects in Prison.
He also set up the first ever Soho Arts Fair which was held yearly on the famous street of the Westend Carnaby Street, during the summer bank holiday in August. He also organised the 1st ever Big Clean Up in the UK by over 120 youth taking over and taking care of their environment, and also ownership.
His next project is The Open Door Project, 2016.
Lanre at work
Lanre at work
Debayo Desalu was born in Manchester in 1995, grew up in Lagos, Nigeria and eventually moved to the UK in 2012 for university; eventually awarded with a first class master’s degree in medical engineering in 2017.
With a lifelong interest in the bottomless wells of fascination that are science and art, this Nigerian-Irish artist consistently maintained these seemingly opposite interests, appreciating the cleverness of nature’s rules and art’s ability to highlight, bend or break them.
Through abstraction, Debayo’s main means of artistic expression, he revels in trying to create pieces of visual poetry, expressing ideas/emotions that almost always concern the human experience, an experience we all share.
As a self-taught artist, Debayo’s education in artistic techniques comes from mountains of sketchbooks filled over 2 decades, a mind and eyes always open and keen to explore, and a deep drive to create; if only for its own sake.
Contact: