Moyo Ogundipe, a prominent Denver painter, was born in Nigeria and fled its military dictatorship in the 1980 s. Before leaving Nigeria, he was an art teacher, a graphic illustrator, an award-winning television producer/director and an independent filmmaker. In spite of all his creative pursuits, he has always considered himself first and foremost a visual artist.

Ogundipe has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art from the University of Ife, Ile-Ife, Nigeria and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting from The Hoffberger School of Painting, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore.

One of Africa’s most celebrated and renowned artists, Ogundipe has exhibited extensively in Nigeria, Europe and the United States , including The Orlando Museum of Art, the Maryland Museum of African Art, the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, and recently, in “African Renaissance: Old Forms, New Images” at the Denver Art Museum.

Ogundipe’ s paintings have been described as hypnotic, colorful and densely patterned. He paints in the rich tradition of the Yoruba culture of Nigeria and attempts in his paintings to evolve a style that is a fusion or synthesis between his traditional heritage and his Western education.

In 1996, Ogundipe was awarded the Pollock-Krasner Fellowship, a nd in 2005, he was invited to become a member of Africobra, an organization founded in the 1960s whose membership is comprised of distinguished African American artists.

Ogundipe says, “I want to listen to the sheer poetry of life and to see and touch and feel and amplify and magnify the mysterious beauty of this infinite universe. I want to tune inwards, into the very xylem of my being. I want to explore the most secret places of my heart. I want to reach the farthest nooks and corners and crannies and recesses of my feelings. I want to hear the songs of my soul.”

For more information on Moyo Ogundipe, visit www.maigida.com.

About the Cover Art
An Unexpected Journey by Moyo Ogundipe
This painting is a metaphor for the unexpected twists and turns the journeys of life often take us —from the known to the unknown and from the unknown to the unknowable. (Original Size: 36 x 54 – Year: 2000.)

Editor’s note: A limited amount of prints will be available in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Denver Black Arts Festival.  Moyo Ogundipe will be available to autograph purchased prints.