Lagos, the Undercity
Born in 2000 in Lagos, Nigeria, Olaolu Akeredolu-Ale, better known as Slawn, didn’t come up through traditional art circles. His first studio wasn’t a gallery, it was the streets. The clatter of skateboards, the hiss of spray cans, and the layered energy of Lagos became his early education. He spent his teenage years deeply immersed in Wafflesncream, Nigeria’s first skate shop, a hub for alternative youth culture and rebellion in a country that doesn’t always know what to do with either.
There, Slawn linked up with friends Leo and Onyedi, and together they co-founded Motherlan, a streetwear collective that quickly gained cult status. It wasn’t long before the movement caught the eye of global tastemakers, including the late Virgil Abloh, who supported and wore their designs.
In many ways, the scene mirrored something out of Arcane. Lagos had its own undercity: raw, vibrant, scrappy, and bursting with creative power. And Slawn was one of the kids building it from the ground up.
A New City, A New Canvas
In 2018, Slawn moved to London to study graphic design at Middlesex University. Middlesex may have been the destination, but it was the boredom of lockdown that cracked something open.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, with little else to do, he began painting, mostly out of boredom, and mostly for free. “I started giving my paintings away at parties,” he told The Face in a 2022 interview. “I didn’t even know why people wanted them.” But people did.
His work, messy, loud, full of colour, often featuring cartoonish figures with exaggerated features, hit something raw. By the time galleries were opening again, Slawn already had a following. His first solo exhibition in 2021 at the Truman Brewery in Brick Lane drew in crowds and collectors.
The Work: Chaos, Humour, and Commentary
Slawn’s paintings feel like jokes with teeth. Bright colours, squiggly outlines, and exaggerated faces, often referencing racist caricatures and flipping them on their head. His pieces are chaotic, funny, unfiltered but they’re not careless. There’s a deliberate tension in his work: what looks unserious is doing serious work.
“I don’t even like calling myself an artist,” he once said. “I’m not trying to send a message. I just work. I don’t stop working.” That contradiction is part of what makes his art compelling; it’s self-aware, but not self-important.
He’s described his process as instinctive, often sparked by sudden ideas, sometimes after a nap, and driven more by momentum than method.
In one exhibition, he painted a thousand miniature canvases for a mural, each with a different face; a blur of identity, commentary, and speed. And guess what? They sold out.
Breakthroughs and Big Moments
2022 marked a turning point. Slawn’s work entered the high-end art market when one of his paintings was auctioned at Sotheby’s Contemporary Curated sale, a collection curated by British-Nigerian artist Skepta, who debuted his own artwork alongside Slawn’s. That same year, he painted the late Virgil Abloh’s portrait in his signature squiggly style as a tribute.
In 2023, Slawn became the youngest and first Nigerian-born artist to design the BRIT Awards trophy: a surreal, crown-wearing figurine that added edge to an otherwise traditional event. He also designed the stage for the show.
In May 2023, he opened BeauBeau’s Cafe in East London, named after his son, blending art, family, and hospitality.
2024: A Blur of Paint, Metal, and Motion
If 2023 was about expanding his name, 2024 became the year Slawn expanded his territory.
– FA Cup Trophy: He was commissioned to redesign the 2024 FA Cup trophy, making him the first contemporary artist to do so in the tournament’s 153-year history. It was a subtle nod to chaos: clean but offbeat, like most of his work.
– Louis Vuitton Collaboration: In June 2024, Slawn launched a collection with Louis Vuitton titled Stolen Bag, featuring hand-painted bags in limited editions. Each piece was signed, numbered, and unmistakably his.
– Art Cars: Slawn took his work beyond canvas by spray-painting a Lancia Delta Integrale and later a Ferrari 348 Spider, blending art and engineering into mobile graffiti sculptures.
– Rolex Custom Paint Job: He also customised a Rolex in his signature doodle style, flipping high luxury into something personal and punk.
– Body Painting: He body-painted rapper Rubi Rose, proving again that his art isn’t confined to walls.
– Saatchi Yates Solo Show: His show “I Present to You, Slawn” at Saatchi Yates featured 1,000 mini-portraits. It wasn’t just a show, it was a performance of scale, speed, and chaos.
– Artist of the Year 2024: Named by Simon Says Drip, reinforcing that despite his claims to “not be an artist,” the art world sees him as one.
– Investment in Kick Game: In July 2024, he announced an investment in the sneaker retailer Kick Game, declaring, “I’m not an artist, but I make art. I’m not a businessman, but I own businesses.”
Not a Blueprint, Just a Trail
What’s striking about Slawn isn’t just the work, it’s the refusal to package it neatly. He paints, opens cafés, customises watches, invests in fashion, all without boxing his art.
He’s not trying to be relatable, or perfect, or profound. But in doing exactly what he wants, often faster and funnier than expected, he’s becoming one of the most interesting artists working today.
No Plan, Just Paint
There’s no five-year plan behind Slawn’s rise. No carefully curated persona. Just a relentless output of work that feels honest, weird, loud, sometimes funny, and sometimes uncomfortably true.
He often says he doesn’t even consider himself an artist. He doesn’t like the labels, the expectations, or the idea of being placed inside a tidy frame. And yet, he’s become one of the most talked-about names in contemporary art.
For those who feel boxed out of traditional routes into art, fashion, or culture, Slawn’s path offers something simple but powerful: proof that there’s space for the unpredictable.
What do you see when you look at Slawn’s work, chaos or clarity? Drop your thoughts in the comments.
