Oladélé Ajiboyé Bamgboyé

Oladélé Ajiboyé Bamgboyé (born 1963) is a Nigerian-born British artist and scientist known for his Unmasking series which innovated with early 3D technology in the 1990s.

A founding member of the Street Level Gallery in Glasgow and curator at the Cambridge Darkroom Gallery, Bamgboyé has been exhibiting internationally since the mid-1990s. In 1997, he attended documenta X, where he won international acclaim for his work Paradigm Shift: African Stories.

Currently, he is a civil servant and member of the UK Government Science & Engineering Profession.

Early life and education
Bamgboyé was born in Odo-Eku, Nigeria in 1963 as the second of seven children to Salome and Ezra Bamgboyé. In 1975, the family emigrated to Glasgow, Scotland. After 6 years in Scotland, the family moved back to Nigeria in 1981 while he remained in Scotland to continue his studies.

In 1985, he received a Bachelors of Science in Chemical & Process Engineering (BSc) from the University of Strathclyde. He later attended the Slade School of Fine Art, graduating with a Master of Arts in Digital Media & Philosophy of Art in 1998.

Bamgboyé was awarded three residencies: International Artist in Residence Awards at the Banff Centre and ArtPace in 1992 and 1999, respectively, and the Koninkrijk der Nederlanden Artist in Residence Scholarship from the V2_Lab and Witte de Wit in 2000.

The Unmasking series
The Unmasking series was developed and exhibited in three parts and, as noted in the Unmasking-3 Framework, was "a logical development of the artist's general inquiry into the prevalent issues of cultural ethics, the role of a future art practice, and finally making sense of the artist's interest in the intersection of technology, culture, art, philosophy and politics".

First conceptualised when Bamgboyé was at Slade in 1998, it continued during his residency at ArtPace in 2000 and finally culminated in 2001 at Witte de With. Utilising cutting edge technology for the era, Bamgboyé tested the boundaries of art ownership and commodification by scanning artefacts held in museums and notably the Queen Mother Head, a 16th-century bronze sculpture from Benin, Nigeria, held by the British Museum.

He developed the series with scholars, computer programmers and scientists, publishing the Unmasking 3 Framework with coauthors David England and Ming Tai. Unmasking 3, as a research project and framework, was a joint collaboration with the Foundation for Creative Technology and V2_.

As a lecturer at Bridge the Gap, he focused on his interest in quantum physics and its potential applications in his Unmasking series, the influence of which can be seen in his Yokohama installation of Unmasking-3.

Publications






Honours, awards and nominations
Awarded the Richard Hough Prize for Photography (1992), Scotland.

Awarded the Gulbenkian Foundation Grant (1993)

Nominated for The Vincent van Gogh Biennial Award for Contemporary Art in Europe (2000)

Reviews and news
Oladélé Ajiboyé Bamgboyé (review), Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art

Interview with Oladélé A. Bamgboyé, Journal of Contemporary African Art

ART IN REVIEW; Oladele Bamgboye, NY Times

Oladélé Bamgboyé, The Unmasking, Part II and Earlier Photoworks, Time Out New York

For a few euros more | Art and design, The Guardian

Thick and thin, The Guardian

Into Africa, artnet.com Magazine

Oladélé Bamgboyé, The Unmasking, Part II, New York Arts Magazine

From, Witte de With, centrum voor hedendaagse kunst

Exhibition Histories - The Short Century, C&

Oladele Bamgboye, Artist of the Month (article), New York Contemporary Art Report

Anima Mundi (review), ETC

Documenta X - Reclaiming the political project of the avant-garde, Third Text

'''Moving In. Eight contemporary African artists''', Flash Art International

Oladélé Ajiboyé Bamgboyé, BE Magazin

The White Aesthetic Necessitated by the 'Glasgow Miracle'