Tunde Odunlade (b. 1954) is a Nigerian artist whose richly textured works draw together Yoruba mythology, everyday life, music and the visual traditions of the Osogbo School. Working across batik, textile, linocut and handmade paper, Odunlade has developed a distinctive language in which pattern, colour and material become inseparable from the stories and cultural histories they carry.

Born in Ile-Ife, a city deeply embedded in Yoruba history and spirituality, Odunlade began working with Yinka Adeyemi, one of the artists associated with the second generation of the Osogbo School, in the early 1970s. This encounter established many of the foundations of his practice: a belief in art as a living, communal language and an approach to making that allows traditional Yoruba imagery to coexist with the contemporary world.

Odunlade is perhaps best known for his batik works, where layers of dyed and appliquéd fabric are built into dense, tactile compositions. His technique draws upon adire, the traditional Yoruba textile practice, while pushing it into a highly individual form of contemporary expression. Figures, animals, musicians and symbolic forms emerge from fields of pattern, creating works that feel simultaneously ancient and modern. There is a sense of movement throughout them — as though the images have been caught in the middle of a performance, ritual or story.

Music is particularly important to Odunlade. A musician as well as an artist, he has performed with theatrical and cultural organisations including the Nigerian National Troupe, and rhythm and performance recur throughout his visual work. His prints and textiles often seem to operate according to a musical logic, with repeated forms and patterns building a visual rhythm across the surface.

Alongside his batiks and linocuts, Odunlade developed floatography, an experimental process combining batik, marbling and calligraphic techniques. The resulting works move towards abstraction, with organic shapes, flowing lines and layers of colour replacing the more recognisable figures found elsewhere in his practice. Yet the underlying interest remains consistent: the transformation of materials, traditions and experiences into something distinctly personal.

Odunlade's work occupies an unusual position between fine art, craft and cultural practice. Rather than treating Yoruba traditions as historical subject matter, he approaches them as something active and evolving — a vocabulary that can be continually reinterpreted. His work is held in significant international collections, including the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.