Born on the 26th of January 1975, Dolapo Ogunnusi hails from Sagamu, Remo, Ogun State. He obtained his formal art training in art from the Auchi Polytechnic, where he acquired his Higher National Diploma in Fine and Applied Arts in the year 2002. After his formal training, he would set out for the Gallery of Modern Arts, (National Theatre,...
Born on the 26th of January 1975, Dolapo Ogunnusi hails from Sagamu, Remo, Ogun State. He obtained his formal art training in art from the Auchi Polytechnic, where he acquired his Higher National Diploma in Fine and Applied Arts in the year 2002. After his formal training, he would set out for the Gallery of Modern Arts, (National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos), where he practiced as a resident artist. Soon after, his unrelenting draughtsmanship introduced him to various opportunities. Beyond the two dimensional surface of the canvas, Dolapo is a skilled musician, and could have also easily become a successful textile designer.
Dolapo is evident of the popular maxim that the artist and his works are sequels of his environment. Having lived most of his time within Lagos and its outskirt, he has successfully created a profound signature, with his rich and timeless documentation of Lagos and its environs. Each day, for him, is an unceasing observation of his habitat, feeding his endless yearning to paint. He works with a wide range of drawing and painting mediums, ranging from graphite and charcoal pencils to watercolor, acrylics, and oil color.
Dolapo skillfully orchestrates simplified forms, graceful lines and vibrant colors in his works, for compositional coherence- a product of intensive training serving a vivid imagination. For him, abstraction of a picture is very crucial, regardless of the subject. Running the gamut between urban and remote spaces, his canvasses constantly keep abreast of themes like commerce, the fleeting environmental changes, tranquility, and even cultural identity; lurked in the luminosity of his palette.
His mastery of the language of color is absorbing. But one distinguishing element that could tell Dolapo’s canvas apart is his unconventional approach to painting of rough-textured, a technique he has mastered perfectly. More so, is the visually stimulating effect it creates, with stipples of his dark canvas piercing through the rich layers of colors in a dazzling contrast. In a nutshell, Dolapo’s works are a formidable synergy of form, material, and technique.
