In Ola Balogun’s hands, his acrylic on canvas “If You Can’ becomes an artistic compass. It challenges, uplifts, and reminds us: the sky is not our limit, instead it is an invitation to grow once you believe. Writes Ireho Aito

Ola Balogun was born in Ebute Metta, Lagos in the 70s and raised amidst the energy and vibrancy of Nigeria’s largest metropolis. From those early days, the constant flow of people and stories in the city inspired a voice in his art, an urge to capture not just scenes, but the human spirit behind them. He honed his skills at the School of Art and Design, Federal Polytechnic Auchi, graduating in 1999, where the school’s bold emphasis on colour became a foundational influence in his early work . Ola Balogun is a distinguished member of that charismatic class known as Klass of 99 – 1499 Art Force.

Balogun’s journey into the art scene was never meant to be a solo flight. He became a pivotal figure in Defactori Studio, a Lagos-based artists’ collective that fostered camaraderie and creative exchange. Under his infectious charm and collaborative spirit, Defactori became more than a workspace, it became a vibrant, communal forge of ideas, exhibitions, and mutual nourishment.

From earlier works rich with colour that has been part of his motif and human detail, Balogun’s style has evolved into global prominence. He is known to paint with refined hand with spare forms, careful lines, and broader emotional themes. While the bustle of Lagos still resonates, the stories he tells today transcend individual faces to explore universal truths, fear, love, longing, and hope now much more that he works from United States of America where he resides.

In If You Can, Balogun stretches that ethos into a single, unforgettable vision: against a vast swath of layered blues, birds take flight into the open sky which is a metaphor not just for dreams, but for life itself.

His canvas communicates truths that echo beyond art and this could be seen in If You Can

In If You Can, Balogun transforms a canvas into a vast expanse of layered blues, where birds rise into an endless sky. It is more than a depiction of flight. It is a meditation on dreams, resilience, and the boundless possibilities of life. The open air becomes a metaphor for space we all need to grow, to stretch our limits, to discover what we are capable of.

Each bird in mid-ascent whispers a truth: progress is found not in arrival, but in the climb. The strain against gravity mirrors the resistance every dreamer must face, where persistence turns weight into lift. There is trust in every wingbeat, for before flight comes belief which comes from the quiet certainty that we are made to rise. And in their shared journey, the flock reveals another truth: together, we find courage in when one soars, others follow.

Above them, the wide sky reminds us to expand our vision, to refuse the boundaries we too often draw for ourselves. In If You Can, Balogun paints the very essence of possibility. It is a silent manifesto, declaring that courage is the wind beneath every dream.

Words/Ireho Aito/Don’t Keep Your Art in the Finger!/Artwork If You Can/Ola Balogun/Pictures/Ola Balogun archives