Sola Olumuyiwa Sets New Benchmark in Watercolour Painting in Latest Show

Yinka Olatunbosun

A wet morning preceeded the press preview of the rich watercolour paintings that beautify the freshly painted walls of Mydrim Gallery, South-West Ikoyi. Setting the tone for the show which opens on October 10, painter Olumuyiwa Afolabi Olusola—widely known as Sola Olumuyiwa—unpacks the works in Echoes of the Commute. In a meeting with a handful of art writers held on September 23, the artist spoke on his desire for storytelling that necessitated his career pivot from multi-nationals to multi-gallery showcases.

The upcoming solo exhibition marks a deliberate, monumental shift in how watercolour, once relegated to delicate sketches and small studies, is presented and experienced on the Lagos art scene.

For Olumuyiwa, this show represents both a technical breakthrough and an ambitious statement. Featuring what is being described as some of the largest watercolour canvases ever produced by a contemporary Nigerian artist, Echoes of the Commute interrogates the shared story, kinetic rhythm, and subtle human stillness rooted in daily commute in Lagos.

Watercolour is famously unforgiving. Unlike oil or acrylic, which allow painters to build heavy layers, correct mistakes, or scrape away wet pigment, watercolour demands absolute speed, decisive brushwork, and meticulous planning. Once fluid meets paper, the pigment sets quickly, leaving no room for retreat. This process has been mastered by Olumuyiwa.

Whether he captures the sunset in Makoko or the floating rafts on the Lagos Lagoon, his brushwork is of premium value, pushing the boundaries of what is possible to replicate accurately on canvas.

In Echoes of the Commute, Olumuyiwa elevates this volatility into his greatest asset. Pushing watercolor far beyond traditional scale constraints, his expansive works balance strict structural technique with liquid freedom. Through the use of layered wet-on-wet washes alongside sharp, deliberate detail, he captures the atmospheric volatility of Lagos.

Light acts as a primary structural element across the collection. Rather than relying on opaque white pigments, Olumuyiwa allows the natural luminosity of the paper to glow through transparent layers of indigo, ochre, and warm amber.

At the heart of the collection are central pieces such as Urban Dilemma and Home Coming. In these works, iconic Lagos fixtures—most notably the omnipresent yellow Danfo commercial buses—are stripped of their pure chaos and recontextualised as glowing, collective vessels moving through a shared urban landscape.

Rather than offering hyper-photographic realism, Olumuyiwa focuses on mood, memory, and emotional resonance. Groups of commuters waiting under bus stops, traders navigating bustling crossroads, and solitary figures walking toward the horizon blur gracefully into softened washes of colour. The technique reflects the reality of city movement: individual identities temporarily merging into a singular, collective journey across the metropolis.

The show, his third solo, reflects Olumuyiwa’s evolving practice, following previous critical presentations such as First Insight and A Few Minutes After. Where earlier shows utilised watercolour to examine quiet resistance, social commentary in waterfront communities like Makoko, and localised environments, Echoes of the Commute turns its lens outward to the macro-rhythm of urban movement without ignoring the cultural resilience and history embodied in the brown roofs of Ibadan.

According to the assistant curator, Idowu Bankole, the gallery embraces Olumuyiwa’s ambitious proposal without hesitation because of the strong confidence in the artist’s vision to reset expectations for regional watercolour art. In an art market traditionally dominated by heavy oil canvases, mixed-media assemblages, large-scale painting in watercolour is both a rare occurrence and a statement of intent.

Echoes of the Commute can make visitors at the gallery pause amidst the hustle, to relish moments of stillness, dignity, and shared human connection captured in pigment and water.