Tolu Magbagbeola
1) How long have you been making art?
Only properly for about 3 years. I was actually really into art and used to draw a lot in school but when I was about 14 I became obsessed with basketball after watching this show called NBA 24/7 and seeing this feature on Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury. I was made choose between sport and art but I had way too much energy and passion for basketball to stop. It’s ok though because sport is pretty much performance art, that’s how I justify it anyway!
2) What genre best describes the kind of art which you create and what drives you to make it?
I’ve been painting for the past 2 years but before then I was doing mostly photography and drawing. It’s still early to tell but I think abstraction is the best way to describe my paintings – I don’t have a real set intension before I start. I have like little formulas I use, like I’ll say I just want to start with lines and circles and see what happens. What drives me – I just have this internal desire to create these visual images that I have in my mind, I think painting a primal instinct though, I don’t really question it. It’s a cathartic process too and it feels good.
3) How has your artwork evolved since you began?
I’ve began to use a little more colour. I used to only like to work with black and white and experiment with different surfaces and textures. My photographs also are mostly in black and white. Colour has so much implications.
4) Is there a medium or technique that you have yet to try but would like to?
I would like to make sculptures. I went to a show earlier this year called Transcending Boundaries and saw some really nice work by Bumni Babatunde. I also really like Anthony Gormly and Louise Bourgeois’ spiders. But painting is what I’m focused on for now.
5) What would your ideal solo exhibition be like and where would it be held?
It would be a show of these what I call ‘interstellar maps’ that I’ve been doing but much bigger. In one room, I’d do a series with UV paint so the room would be completely blacked out. I would have a bunch of stools in the room which would each spin around slowly in different directions – some going clockwise some anti-clockwise and Miles Davis’ ‘Star People’ would be playing in the background throughout. Sounds a bit psychedelic, I know! I’d also like a space where they’d be these virtual reality pods where inside, you could travel through the paintings in 3-D. The Tate Modern would be nice.
6) What do you like most about the art world?
There aren’t really any rules. For example I started out taking photographs, just for my own investigations. Soon after when the Olympics came around in 2012 I made some contacts with this company in America and got a commission to cover the Games by sending my portfolio from some events I had previously covered. People kept asking ‘wow how did you get to do that?’ I wasn’t much of big deal though – yes I had great photos but you know its also more about how you approach people and how you present yourself. You don’t necessarily need to have formal training to make art, or to be a curator or whatever. You just need the ambition and passion and obviously some skills which you can develop along the way. So you can pretty much carve your own journey or figure out what’s worked for other people and do the same. It’s an environment where your all your strange ideas are encouraged and people will still be interested in your vision or least consider it. I go to events and openings in London and have met with some gallery owners and a couple of collectors and not been intimidated by it at all.
7) Which artists either historically or current, have influenced you the most?
Currently the artists who I am particularly interested in are Richard Pousette-Dart, Leonora Carrington, Keith Haring, Wangetchi Mutu & Ibrahim El-Salahi.
8) If you had to choose just one, what would be your favourite piece of art?
At the moment – it would have to be ‘Reborn, Sounds of Childhood Dreams’ by Ibrahim El Salahi. Its really freaky but comforting at the same time.
9) Where did you sell your first artwork and how did it feel?
I haven’t sold anything yet, this will be my first show.
10) What are you planning to exhibit at the New Artist Fair in September 2014?
Some new paintings I’ve been working on, maybe some drawings.
Only properly for about 3 years. I was actually really into art and used to draw a lot in school but when I was about 14 I became obsessed with basketball after watching this show called NBA 24/7 and seeing this feature on Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury. I was made choose between sport and art but I had way too much energy and passion for basketball to stop. It’s ok though because sport is pretty much performance art, that’s how I justify it anyway!
2) What genre best describes the kind of art which you create and what drives you to make it?
I’ve been painting for the past 2 years but before then I was doing mostly photography and drawing. It’s still early to tell but I think abstraction is the best way to describe my paintings – I don’t have a real set intension before I start. I have like little formulas I use, like I’ll say I just want to start with lines and circles and see what happens. What drives me – I just have this internal desire to create these visual images that I have in my mind, I think painting a primal instinct though, I don’t really question it. It’s a cathartic process too and it feels good.
3) How has your artwork evolved since you began?
I’ve began to use a little more colour. I used to only like to work with black and white and experiment with different surfaces and textures. My photographs also are mostly in black and white. Colour has so much implications.
4) Is there a medium or technique that you have yet to try but would like to?
I would like to make sculptures. I went to a show earlier this year called Transcending Boundaries and saw some really nice work by Bumni Babatunde. I also really like Anthony Gormly and Louise Bourgeois’ spiders. But painting is what I’m focused on for now.
5) What would your ideal solo exhibition be like and where would it be held?
It would be a show of these what I call ‘interstellar maps’ that I’ve been doing but much bigger. In one room, I’d do a series with UV paint so the room would be completely blacked out. I would have a bunch of stools in the room which would each spin around slowly in different directions – some going clockwise some anti-clockwise and Miles Davis’ ‘Star People’ would be playing in the background throughout. Sounds a bit psychedelic, I know! I’d also like a space where they’d be these virtual reality pods where inside, you could travel through the paintings in 3-D. The Tate Modern would be nice.
6) What do you like most about the art world?
There aren’t really any rules. For example I started out taking photographs, just for my own investigations. Soon after when the Olympics came around in 2012 I made some contacts with this company in America and got a commission to cover the Games by sending my portfolio from some events I had previously covered. People kept asking ‘wow how did you get to do that?’ I wasn’t much of big deal though – yes I had great photos but you know its also more about how you approach people and how you present yourself. You don’t necessarily need to have formal training to make art, or to be a curator or whatever. You just need the ambition and passion and obviously some skills which you can develop along the way. So you can pretty much carve your own journey or figure out what’s worked for other people and do the same. It’s an environment where your all your strange ideas are encouraged and people will still be interested in your vision or least consider it. I go to events and openings in London and have met with some gallery owners and a couple of collectors and not been intimidated by it at all.
7) Which artists either historically or current, have influenced you the most?
Currently the artists who I am particularly interested in are Richard Pousette-Dart, Leonora Carrington, Keith Haring, Wangetchi Mutu & Ibrahim El-Salahi.
8) If you had to choose just one, what would be your favourite piece of art?
At the moment – it would have to be ‘Reborn, Sounds of Childhood Dreams’ by Ibrahim El Salahi. Its really freaky but comforting at the same time.
9) Where did you sell your first artwork and how did it feel?
I haven’t sold anything yet, this will be my first show.
10) What are you planning to exhibit at the New Artist Fair in September 2014?
Some new paintings I’ve been working on, maybe some drawings.
