Olu Ogunnaike is an artist whose practice sits between experiments in sculpture, drawing, performance, and installation.

His work centers around the use of materials—in particular wood—which he directly correlates with identity, both personal and communal. His interest lies in the investigation of the rituals and events that inform our sense of individual and collective self-becoming. Ogunnaike uses nature, and more specifically trees, as a motif of the onlookers of the community in which they grow and occupy, exploring their potential for reflecting systems present in the intimate and public realms we inhabit.

His work has appeared in galleries and museums all over the world, from France to Italy to London and beyond. He is a fellow of the residency program Neue Folkwang Residence, which the Museum Folkwang and Neuer Essener Kunstverein initiated in 2021.