Art galleries really isn’t my thing but the moment my blogger boo Bidemi of bidsingraceland threw open the offer, I couldn’t resist. Here is how our conversation went that fine Thursday afternoon.
Bids: Hey Mofe! We need to do something, we haven’t hung out in a while.
Mofe: I know right. We should. What do you have in mind?
Bids: Have you done a tour of Lagos island(old Lagos)? We should totally do that.
Mofe: I’m really not ready for that isale Eko hustle right now, please anything else but that. We can definitely do that some other time.
Bids: okay how about going to Nike Art Gallery? I’ve never been.
Mofe: me neither and it’s 5 mins away from home, shame on me.
Bids: there are a couple of galleries we can also visit too, so let’s do an art gallery crawl!
Mofe: I really have no clue about Art but I’m definitely down for this.
Bids: Me neither, hahahaha! Let’s do this.
And so our art gallery crawl was born. We penned down 5 galleries to go and began our journey across galleries in Lagos. Here’s how it went
OMENKA GALLERY: Location, 20 Modupe Alakija Crescent, Lagos.
After going in circles like 5 times, we finally found Omenka! We were even more pissed off when we got in and didn’t see any art. The people by the bar just watched us walk into the empty space and walk out of it.We were quite disappointed. However, the people of Omenka sent us a direct message explaining the situation and invited us to their next exhibition. I still insist that there should be someone at the door or hanging around to explain to people why there isn’t any art in an art gallery.
RELE GALLERY: Location, 5 Military Street, Lagos
I am embarrassed to say that we couldn’t find RELE gallery. I was really looking forward to taking the signature photo in front of the gallery but Google maps did us wrong! We kept looking for Military Street and gave up after 30 minutes. I’ll definitely create time to visit because the gallery caters to a younger crowd and the pieces all look pretty solid! I hear you can take photos too! That’s definitely a Win-Win.
SIGNATURE-BEYOND: Location, 107 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos
We bumped into this gallery after searching for RELE. I am glad we did. I totally loved this gallery and the manager was gracious enough to explain the idea behind some pieces that sparked our interest. It’s a small gallery with really unique pieces.This sexy woman made of steel (not very sure) was my favourite piece.
ART 21 LAGOS: Location, Eko Hotel and Suites, Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Unfortunately, they didn’t even let us into this gallery but it looked pretty cool from the outside. Lucky us, the Lagos Photo Festival was on (partially) and we were able to see some photos from world-class photographers. We were thoroughly impressed by the display.
NIKE ART GALLERY: Location, No 2. Elegushi Road, 3rd roundabout, Epe Expressway, Lagos.
The mother of all galleries. When I got here I understood why people constantly recommend Nike Art Gallery to lovers of art. There were easily over 3,000 sculptures and paintings made from all sorts of material such as metal, rubber, fibre, tree barks, wood, grass, brass and copper. Looking at some of the pieces you wonder what goes through these artists minds when creating such master pieces. I loved every bit of this gallery except as we got higher, it got HOT! After a while we began to sweat and it got uncomfortable. We met the owner, Nike Okundaye, and she seemed really pleasant.
An art gallery crawl is definitely something to consider when in Lagos. Lagos boasts of over 30 art galleries across the city so whatever type of art you are interested in, one of these galleries will definitely have something for you!
If you’ve ever been to an art gallery in Lagos, what are your favourites?
