By Onyeka Ezike

Renowned artist Demola Ogunajo, known for blending a pop-art aesthetic with graphical design and illustration, his works raises the collision of the mundane and the mythic, where bumper sticker slogans meet celestial battles. The artist will be exhibiting his first solo exhibition themed “Womb 2 Street”. The theme describes Demola’s Journey of feeling and inner pre-occupation, gratitude and delight in God. The exhibition which opened November 5 will run till December 8, 2025, at Soto Gallery Ikoyi, Lagos.

Demola Ogunajo uses painting to explore the philosophical complexities of modern life, with a particular interest in the symbolism of objects, often imbued with spiritual, religious, and political undertones. The exhibition will feature twenty amazing artworks by the conceptual artist, showcasing Nigeria’s kinetic visual culture: truck decals, barbershop signage, and comic book heroics. His works on canvas are filled with paradox; playful yet profound, cartoonish yet cosmic, they interrogate themes of transcendence, divine struggle, and the absurdity of modern life through a lexicon of symbols that is both personal and universal.

In his painting, faith is neither hidden nor sanitised; it is presented in all its complexity.

The exhibition is a bold intervention in contemporary art discourse, challenging the secular biases of the art world while refusing to reduce spirituality to dogma.

He fuses Yoruba visual traditions with Christian iconography; he proposes a radical inclusivity in which faith and culture coexist in a dynamic relationship. His work invites viewers to confront the visceral reality of spiritual warfare, the ecstasy of divine connection, and the daily negotiations of belief in a fractured world.

In an era where identity and belief are increasingly politicised, Ogunajo’s paintings offer a transcendent vision: faith as lived experience, tradition as evolving dialogue, and art as a site of fearless testimony. This exhibition not only solidifies his place as a vital voice in African contemporary art but also redefines what it means to engage with the sacred in public space.

In an Interview with Demola explained that his works were affected by his experience growing up as a child and the consequences of Life. “ We grow every day, and as we grow, Life unfolds itself to us in diverse ways, and our experiences mature, we sometimes settle with Life realities as a child. Being a young person, you have freedom and the ability to do whatever you want, but the reality hits you that life has consequences, and you have to be responsible for your actions and be a good example to others.

One of the pieces in the exhibition, “Stilt Walk and Scorpion,” captures this idea vividly. The colourful painting depicts a man stepping carefully to avoid a scorpion, a metaphor, Ogunajo says, for “how you act towards things that caused you pain or upset you. It is an attitude of carefulness.”

According to Demola, the realisation of Life experiences has helped him produce good artworks that raise awareness of goodness and make the viewer think of things that are important to Life rather than being chaotic.

He said, “Womb 2 Street” is a journey of feelings, Inner Pre-Occupation, gratitude and the delight in God within the ambience of life’s responsibility. One of my works, titled “Chrome Heart”, speaks about empathy, Love that has wings everywhere, the consciousness of a clean heart. All my works have been based on creative ideals rooted in faith and consciousness, which helps me focus on what I do and relate with people, and all my creativity is an expression of faith and my journey as a Christian,” Demola said.

At the heart of Ogunajo’s practice is a relentless reimagining of identity and belief systems. The exhibition also traces Ogunajo’s alchemy of the everyday, applying his distinct practice to embark on an exploration of Christ-consciousness, exploring what it means to be open about your faith and delving even deeper by interrogating the tension between two worlds that exist between the richness of traditional heritage as a Yoruba man and the clarity of his Christian belief.

Ogunajo makes a return after producing a series of works for an appointed time, which will be showcased in the solo exhibition that will be curated by the Soto Art gallery. Demola Ogunajo’s works are appealing as each work shows the sincerity of his calling and purpose; each artwork shows his inner passion and love for his pre-occupation and his spirituality.

Demola said, “The idea of the womb describes the spirit that is around me that feeds my creativity, just like a child in the womb that is fed, and the nurturing of a child. When a child is in the womb, the child is nurtured by the mother. So for me, there is that strong feeling and the nurturing inner guidance, and that is why in my text I said symbolism of the womb is like an ambience, like a Christ consciousness that envelops everything that I do,’’ he said.

Demola Ogunajo studied painting at Obafemi Awolowo University. He was included in the group exhibition “Elsewhere” at Art Twenty One in 2015, and participated in Art Twenty One’s booth at the 1:54 Contemporary Art Fair in London in 2016. He has also illustrated for the Glendora Review – An African Quarterly Journal for the Arts.