Ademola Akintola

(b. 1952, Oyo State, Nigeria)

Ademola Akintola is a distinguished self-taught contemporary African artist whose practice bridges tradition, memory, and modernity. With a career spanning several decades and exhibitions across Africa, Europe, and the United States, Akintola stands as a vital voice in the canon of contemporary African visual storytelling.

Born in Oyo State, Nigeria, Akintola’s artistic foundation was shaped by Yoruba cultural aesthetics and a deeply creative upbringing. His early exposure to the carved pillars and painted walls of the Alaafin of Oyo’s palace, alongside the intricate craftsmanship of traditional calabash carvers, instilled in him a reverence for symbolism, pattern, and narrative. By the age of eight, he was already modeling with clay and carving scenes from everyday life — an early indication of the narrative depth that would define his mature work.

Choosing independence over convention, Akintola declined formal academic training at Yaba College of Technology. Instead, he embarked on a formative period of travel across West and North Africa, sustaining himself through portraiture and commercial illustration. These journeys profoundly expanded his visual vocabulary, embedding his practice within a broader continental consciousness. Following residencies in the United States and an award residency at Tate, he relocated permanently to the United Kingdom in 1990.

Practice

Akintola’s paintings function as vessels of memory — layered visual narratives that merge mythology, lived experience, and socio-political commentary. Rooted in African oral traditions, his compositions are animated and symbolically rich, often addressing themes of identity, community, resilience, and transformation.

His work embodies a distinctly Pan-African sensibility, synthesizing cultural histories gathered through travel with personal reflection and contemporary realities. Through vibrant color, expressive figuration, and rhythmic composition, Akintola preserves storytelling as both cultural inheritance and contemporary dialogue.

For collectors, his work offers not only aesthetic power but historical continuity — bridging generations of African artistic expression while engaging the global contemporary art market.

Exhibitions

Akintola has presented numerous solo exhibitions and participated in significant group exhibitions internationally, including AIDS in the Black Community and The Black Family Exhibition. After over two decades of deep engagement within his local community, he has re-emerged onto the international stage with renewed momentum, presenting new bodies of work to expanding global audiences.