" Messenger of Spirit " Acrylic on linen, 2000 80 x 120 cm © Toyin Loye

" Spiritual Attention " Acrylic on linen, 2000 © Toyin Loye

I have stories to tell and I have chosen paint to express it.

My painting has always been a manifestation of my life experience -growing up in a very rich culture of visual and oral expressions.

Born to a royal house in Ijebu Jesa (1959) South west of Nigeria where homage is daily paid to ancestors, gods and hundreds of spirits who are roaming about or even guiding and reshaping our daily lives. Where spirituality fills the poverty of the mind. The spirits and symbolisms of animals and birds are sacredly invoked as a bridge to ancestors and deities, in other to attain spiritual enlightenment and solutions desired.

Moonlight tales : experience of my childhood

When I was young I remembered the old man or otherwise known as the man of wisdom in his multi-colored dress who was always coming around to tell us tales while we all sat under the big iroko tree. The bats are flying in the sky. The owls are making those sacred songs and the moon glowed like diamonds in the sky.

Life in the village then reminds me of children, goats, chickens, and dogs running around. We were very close to the nature. Festivities, rituals, masquerades with their colorful costumes, headdresses, body decorations, dancing steps, incantations (magical words), which are only chanted by the initiated ones are reminiscence of my childhood experience.

My family has always been the keeper of these great culture and tradition. We keep it, we protect it, and we exercise it. In preparation for spiritual ceremonies, walls are decorated with locally available color pigments ñ ocher, black, white yellow and blue.

As a painter, each time I re-visit this childhood experience my inspiration and fantasy are refreshed.

Painting for me is a celebration of spiritual experience.

" Journey to the Land of Spirits " Acrylic on linen, 2001 180 x 180 cm © Toyin Loye

" Play of Spirits " Acrylic on linen, 2001 150 x 180 cm © Toyin Loye

" King and Queen " Acrylic on linen, 2001 150 x 150 cm © Toyin Loye

" Song of Three Spirits " Acrylic on linen, 2001 180 x 180 cm © Toyin Loye

" Spirits of the Dancers " Acrylic on linen, 2001 100 x 150 cm © Toyin Loye

" Street Performers " Silk screen 70 x 100 cm © Toyin Loye

" Two Chiefs "
Acrylic on linen
© Toyin Loye

Toyin Loye's Biography