Kip Omolade creates Colourful chrome Masks that celebrate African Art and Beauty

Growing up in any Nigerian household or visiting Nigerian grandparents, you become accustomed to seeing traditional head sculptures displayed in various rooms. These sculptures, often recreated by modern sculptors, generally take inspiration from the Benin ivory masks and Ife bronze heads, if not modelled directly after them.

Adding even more of a modern twist to these much-loved African sculptures, New York-born mixed media artist, Kip Omolade creates the dopest, most colourful hyperrealistic oil paintings and chrome masks celebrating these African sculptures and the beauty of African features.

Omolade began his art career as a graffiti artist while interning at Marvel Comics and The Center for African Art, eventually earning a BFA at the School of Visual Arts. Omolade’s clients include Nike and Sony Music, but his most recent work involved creating the album cover for R&B singer, Fantasia’s latest body of work.

Speaking on his technique called Diovadiova, where he creates hyperrealistic paintings of chrome face masks of black subjects, Omolade says:

“My paintings and sculptures are part of a larger context called Diovadiova. Diovadiova is composed of the words, dio (the Italian word for god) and diva (the Greek word for goddess) and its meaning is togetherness.”

“My Diovadiova Chrome oil paintings study color, psychology and contemporary notions of beauty using a highly detailed yet minimalist style. The Diovadiova Chrome sculptures explore immortality through a luxury-branding motif. Together my paintings and sculptures look at the universal masks we all wear in society.”

“The labor-intensive process involves making a mold and cast of each model’s face, reworking the cast plaster sculpture, producing a version in resin and adding a chrome layer with artificial eyelashes.”

“The final sculpture then serves as a model for the hyper-realistic oil painting. This technique maintains the likeness qualities of portraiture while re-presenting a mask that serves as a conduit between the spiritual and natural world.”

To see more of Kip Omolade’s work, head to his website and check out his Instagram.