Artists

Prince Twins Seven-Seven was a prominent Nigerian artist and one of the leading talents to emerge from the Oshogbo School led by German Ulli and Georgina Beier. He was a dancer with a travelling medicine show that sold ‘Superman Tonic’ before joining the school in 1964. Here he began by drawing in pen and ink on paper but soon developed a technique where he laminated paintings on wood. His works are influenced by Yorba mythology, cosmology, and culture. He was also a musician who continued to perform and record throughout his life. In 2000 he moved to Philadelphia, PA, USA but, after a tumultuous time, returned to Nigeria in 2008, where he remained until his death from a stroke in 2011.

Born Taiwo Bamidele Olaniyi Oyewale Oyekale Aitoyeje Osuntoki, he renamed himself Twins Seven-Seven (Ibeji Meje-Meje in Yoruba) because he was the only surviving child of the seven sets of twins born to his parents – he was from the seventh set. His great grandfather, Osuntoki, served as king of Ibadan in the 1890s, thereby allowing him the title of ‘Prince’.

Prince Twins Seven-Seven exhibited widely including in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, UK, and USA. In 2005, he was named one of UNESCO’s Artists for Peace, an honour bestowed upon those who use their renown in ways that promote UNESCO’s message and programme.