Winning Black & White

The conceptual basis for the series of digital performances by David Olaniyi entitled “Winning” investigates and queries the role of art and artists in society today and the marketing of art and artists. In short, Winning is about value, how one values oneself and who/what dictates value.  

Referencing the American social construct of popular culture’s urban language, “Winning” – popularized by tv/movie personalities like Charlie Sheen and billionaire moguls like Jeff Bezos, referring to business gains as “Winnings” – to artists, Olaniyi believes the object created by the artist and gained value for the object are the “Winning” products of the artist.  Yet, the artist’s actual “Winnings” often rests fully on the value that the market of art places on the artist and the object.  So who dictates these values?  The “Winning” series addresses the valued system where mega-galleries decide who is “Next” in the art market. 

  The Winning series advocate a greater inclusivity and social consciousness in the art world.  In this series, building a performance through object digital art layer upon layer, Olaniyi creates vibrant textures of digital imagery tackling the Goliath of art and art enterprise.  How does the market and marketing of art today continue to drive or neglect art and art talent?  Does the influence of artist earnings solely drive an artist’s value as artists impact society through their work and lives?  What then is the value “Winnings” of art un-dictated relative to the art of today – art of greater humanity?

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Olabayo David Olaniyi is an academically and philosophically-imbued artist with one foot in traditional arts and the other in Western know-how. He creates art objects of power based on his unique philosophy “Life is a Performance.” He currently lives and works in the United States of America, bridging four realities – sacred, physical, old, and new – in an artform unique to him. He has a vast skillset of talents, including architectural, interior, and stage design, visual and performance art. His artful thought process makes him a valuable asset to any field or project he embarks on and any community he encounters.

Olabayo received his BFA from the College of Santa Fe in 1993 and his MA/MFA from the University of Iowa in 2002. He has been an artist-in-resident at the National Black Theatre in Harlem and at the University of Michigan, where he developed the artistic philosophy, “Life is a Performance.” He has exhibited, performed and conducted art workshops across the nation, artfully transforming every community he encounters. His art objects are in many prestigious private and public collections, including the New Mexico Governor’s office, the Smithsonian Institute and the University of Iowa Museum of Art.

Olabayo David Olaniyi was born in 1970 in Oshogbo, Nigeria, a city renown worldwide for arts and culture. His parents are two of Africa’s most prominent artists, Chief Prince Twin Seven Seven, the UNESCO 2005 “Artist for Peace,” and Chief Nike Davies Okundaye, renown 4th generation fiber-artist who currently owns and operates the largest art gallery in West Africa, Nike Art Centre located in Lagos, Nigeria. Growing up around a variety of traditionally-skilled artisans, craftspeople, and musicians, Olabayo absorbed and mastered a variety of mediums including woodcarving, beading, fiber art, weaving, drumming and theatre.

Olabayo studies and emphasizes the role objects play in daily performances relative to time and space. His in-depth understanding and unrivaled mastery of material births museum-quality art objects and collectibles employing a dynamic set of talents ranging from metalsmithing, wood/stone carving, painting, bead mosaics and digital art fused with today’s technology.