Lagunju trained in graphic design at the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria but immediately established himself as an artist in his home country where he enjoyed a successful career before leaving for Germany in the mid 90’s and then arriving in the USA in 2007. His work is associated with Onaism, a contemporary art movement of the Ife Art School dedicated to reimagining the forms and philosophies of traditional Yoruba art and design. In recent years his work has focussed on the forms and traditions of Gelede masks and the juxtaposition of diverse cultural notions exploring post-colonial hierarchies and hybridisation.
Wole was awarded a Phillip Ravenhill Fellowship by UCLA in 2007 and a Pollock Krasner award in 2009. His work is held in numerous collections, including Collection Leridon and Fondation d'entreprise Francès (both France).
Selected exhibitions include: Cape Town International Art Fair, 2020, Yoruba Remixed, Ebony Curated, Cape Town, (2018-19), 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, 2018, London, Ed Cross Fine Art, Colour Chart, Ebony Curated, Cape Town (2017); Navigating Space and Time in African Contemporary and Diasporic Art, The Basement, London (2017); Wole Lagunju: African Diaspora Artist and Transnational Visuality, James Madison University, Virginia (2014); Womanscape: Race, Gender and Sexuality in African Art, University of Texas, Austin (2011); AFRICA NOW!: Emerging Talents from a Continent on the Move, The World Bank Art Program, Washington DC (2008); The Art of Oshogbo, Via Mundi Gallery, Atlanta (2006); Without Borders: Four Contemporary Artists, Pan African University, Lagos (2004); and Best of Ife, Goethe Institute, Lagos (1997)
