Ben Enwonwu

Nigerian sculptor and painter; Art Adviser to Nigerian government.
Born in Onitsha province in Nigeria and schooled in government colleges there before traveling to pursue secondary education in Europe, Benedict Enwonwu grew up to become perhaps the foremost Nigerian artist of his time. In England he studied Fine Art, Aesthetics, History of Western Art and Anthropology and began an artistic career in earnest. Working with diverse media in his painting and sculpture-wood, bronze, metal, plastics, plaster, cement, oil and watercolors-Enwonwu's work was popular throughout his career, which was brought to international attention when Queen Elizabeth II sat for him at Buckingham Palace in the late 1950s. Enwonwu has exhibited sculpture around the world, at London's Berkeley galleries (1947), Howard University (1950), the Galerie Apollinaire (1950), the Goethe Institut (1976) and the Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2001). He has written of the political contained in visual art cultures, and was a proponent of using artistic expression to provide local or individual representation, even in the face of Western art forms or techniques.

Duke Asidere

Asidere is idealistic, passionate and  spontaneous . One of the most talented Nigerian artists .The sort of artist people will term "ahead of his time".
He captures Nigeria - ugly, brutal , stupid All the things that are hateful - yet sometimes he imbues it with a hint of what could be , if we only tried a bit more - a true visionary artist.
He studied art Ahmadu Bello University , Zaria and lectured art in Auchi Polytechnic for a while before becoming a full time artist.

Ola Balogun

Many Nigerian artists have painted the chicken markets . This is an unusual take on it, capturing not the market but a lone girl on her way in or out of the market. The colours are vibrant and expressive

Abayomi Barber

At 77, Abayomi Barber is one of the oldest artists in Nigeria , and one of the most influential. A painter , sculptor and teacher, Barber has created some of the most fascinating landscapes in Nigerian art. His dual images serve both as mesmerizing sceneries and as stories of Nigeria's past and present. His sculptures grace diverse places - the House of Commons and the National theatre. As a an art teacher in the university of Lagos , Barber has groomed some of Nigeria's most interesting new artists

Tony Enebeli

Many of Enebeli's themes a derived from his native Anioma area of Delta State. According to Enebeli , his art is a bridge between old and new Nigeria, capturing fast-disappearing traditional festivals and rites and highlighting aspects of Nigerian culture that are being submerged by today's more international culture. His main media are cast and metal foil . With these unusual media he has been able to create a distinctive style that, like his themes, captures the strength of old Nigeria

Hamid Ibrahim

Ibrahim creates vibrant , pictures of people and places in Lagos and surrounding areas. His brush strokes are broad and colourful, capturing the energy of life in Nigeria, but also capturing the hopes and aspirations of people living in difficult times Ibrahim finished from the Yaba College of Technology in 1990.

Zinno Orara

Born in 1965, Orara's emotive renditions of life and living invoke beauty even in ruins or rust . His works are simple and pared down yet emotive and warm. Orara graduated from Auchi Polytechnic

Toni Oshiame

Oshiame may well be the most imaginative user of the pastel medium in Nigeria today. His pastels and oils capture everyday rural Nigeria - people going to the market, to their farms. He tends to focus on the rural areas rather than the big city capturing its charm even as he shows the lines of anxiety and hunger in people's faces as they fight for survival. It's an interesting an uneasy balance he tries to capture - deprivation and joy. Oshiame studied in Auchi Polytechnic and is a full time painter.

Sam Ovraiti

Nobody in Nigerian art today captures images in water colour the way Ovraiti does. His strength is probably the ability to capture the subtlety and evanescent qualities of the medium. Like the best artists , Ovraiti works as effectively in other media like oil and pastel as he does in water colour. Ovraiti studied at the Auchi Polytechnic and after a few years teaching in secondary schools became an art teacher at the polytechnic. He remained in Auchi till the mid nineties. He is today a full time artist based in Lagos

Tony Enebeli

Tony Enebeli is one of Nigeria's most prominent artists. His main media are plastocast and metal foil, With these unusual media he has created a distinctive style. His works capture scenes from his native Anioma area in Delta state as well as other parts of Nigeria - the ceremonies, rites and traditions. The Ipu Afia series for instance are about an annual ceremony in his Anioma village. At a fixed point in the year all indigenes of Anioma return to the village to celebrate together. To signal the beginning of the ceremony, the oldest women in the village is escorted to a hut with a gourd tied to the wall. The ceremony starts when she breaks the gourd. His series of "Ipu Afia" works capture the procession leading the woman to the hut. According to Enebeli, his art is a bridge between old Nigeria and new Nigeria, bringing disappearing traditions, ceremonies and cultures back to the fore. While his themes and ideas are a throwback to tradition, his execution is bold and unusual. Enebeli's exhibitions include 'The Nigerian arts exhibition' in Fredrisveaek, Sweden and Spanua, Berlin in 1986; Contemporary West African Arts Exhibition at Impression Gallery, Boston Massachusetts in 1989; 'In Africa' at Avanguardia , Milan , Italy in 1993; 'Visions of Ancestral Heritage', Italian Cultural Institute, Lagos in 1992 ; 'African Passage', Air Gallery, London in 2003.