SOTO Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition by Demola Ogunajo
ìgbàgbọ ́ (Belief).
The solo show will kick-start with a private opening on November 4, 2025, while it opens to the public on November 5, 2025, at SOTO Gallery, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Meanwhile, Demola Ogunajo’s work arises from the collision of the mundane and the mythic, where bumper sticker slogans meet celestial battles. The exhibition delves further into Demola’s signature universe, a vibrant tapestry with the signature irreverence and graphic precision of pop art, where angels share canvas space with Lagos street motifs and other intriguing oddities.
He draws his from Nigeria’s kinetic visual culture: truck decals, barbershop signage, and comic book heroics. His paintings 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.
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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.
In the presentation, 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.
By fusing 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 politicized, 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.
