Temitayo OgunbiyiYou will have revelations along felled branches and longer roots/routes

In her first solo exhibition in the Midwest, Lagos-based artist Temitayo Ogunbiyi draws our attention to the medicinal capacities and visual complexities of local flora, showing exquisite drawings, paintings, and sculpture that respond to the social and natural environments of Chicago. While honoring the cancer journey of a close friend who was based in Chicago, Ogunbiyi considers the conventions of botanical documentation and the health trends associated with such North American plants as paw paw, echinacea, and milkweed. In a larger sense, the exhibition considers exchanges of friendship and translations of language by referencing various geographies that the artist has occupied. Thereby, Ogunbiyi aspires to forge new connections. In Chicago, she plans to engage a variety of viewers through community programming, including the manufacture and distribution of a bespoke ice cream flavor, communal food practice, and the incorporation and recirculation of vintage furniture in the exhibition display.

For the first time, the Arts Club will concurrently feature a commission by Ogunbiyi in its garden. Taking the rough form of an abacus, the installation on the Western exterior wall is composed of cast grinding stones made of melted plumbing fixtures sourced in Nigeria. Through reference to the ancient mathematical tool, the abacus, the artist asks “Who counts?”—considering ‘counts’ as a verb and state of being. She invites all to enter the conversation.

The exhibition is curated by Janine Mileaf, Executive Director and Chief Curator at The Arts Club of Chicago. It is made possible by a grant from Conor O’Neil; specific programming is supported by the Goethe Foundation. A version will travel to the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio, in 2026. 

Photo:You will find new framing in crafts of old, detail, 2023. Dimensions Variable. Commissioned by the Museum Tinguely. Photography by Bettina Matthiessen.

Temitayo Ogunbiyi’s practice explores the relationship between the environment, line, and representation. Moving between drawing, painting, sculpture, and installation, her work responds to and forges dialogues between global current events, anthropological histories, and botanical cultures. Systems that capture, mediate, and direct the movement of people and matter is a recurring subject of investigation in her practice.

In 2018, she built her first functional playground, appropriating construction materials and conventional household items into a composition of non-prescriptive stimuli and has made fourteen playgrounds to date. Her most recent playgrounds are on view at the De Singel (Antwerp, Belgium), and the Bundeskunstalle (Bonn, Germany). Another was recently on view at the Harewood Biennial (Leeds, UK).

Ogunbiyi’s recent and forthcoming exhibitions include projects at the Museum Tinguely (Basel, Switzerland), the 4th Lagos Biennale, The Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos, the Arts Club of Chicago and the Noguchi Museum (New York). She lives and works in Lagos, Nigeria, with her young family.