Maro Itoje On A Lifelong Love Of African Art

Who are your favourite artists?

To be honest, I don't have a favourite artist per se. I appreciate a lot of different artists' work and their contribution. Recently I was in Nigeria and I spent a lot of time in Lagos, viewing a lot of local artists, people like Faribo, I bought some of his stuff. I have [work by] people like Ola Henry, another local Nigerian artist, I have a lot of his works in my house, like Steve Brown, another Nigerian artist. Then there was one really impressive artist I saw at Signature Art Gallery, Dennis Osakue. So, I don't really have a favourite artist but, as I say, I just appreciate a lot of different artists' work.

What did you enjoy most about curating the Signature Art Gallery exhibition?

I think I enjoyed the reasoning and the messaging behind the exhibition the most. Obviously the artists were very talented, but I really enjoyed getting the message across through the art.

How does art inspire you or how do you think art should inspire everyone?

Art tells a story and the great thing about art, is that I can look at an art piece and get a certain message from it and another person can look at an art piece and get a completely different message. So it's incredibly subjective. Art is often a reflection of what's actually going on in your head and how you interpret it.

I think art has a lot to give, and through interpretation which I think is very subjective, can inspire a lot of people.

And can you remember the first artwork that you saw which left an impression on you?

Good question. So growing up, my family home was decorated with some African art pieces and I took that as normal, then once in the outside world, I realised that these pieces are pretty hard to come by, you don't really see them much either through visual media, television, newspapers or magazines, et cetera. Or in how my friends and peers have chosen to decorate their houses.

So I'd probably say that art in my parents' house was the first impression of art that I had. But I have an auntie who's heavily involved in the art game, who's a collector and her home is always full of beautiful art. So, yeah, I guess it's a mixture of the two.

I read that you really started collecting art for yourself when you were decorating your house and you'd gone to markets back in Africa, is that right?

Yeah, that's correct. When I moved to my first apartment, I wanted to decorate the place with some African art but I couldn't find any adequate African art within the UK which I could afford. So when I went back to Nigeria, my mum said, I'll take you to the art market. And it's pretty much been...almost like every time I go to the art market and see what's what, see the latest pieces that they've got on offer.

And did you say you've just been recently? I'm assuming during the pandemic you weren’t able to go back as much, so I bet it was nice to go back recently?

It was, yeah, I haven't been back to Nigeria since 2018, so to be able to go back just a couple of days ago was really nice.

And when you go back do you see quite a lot of change in the art being made out there, do you see differences? I don't want to say trends, but have you seen new ideas come into play?

I think there's a lot of similarities, but it often depends on what you're looking for and how you're looking. So before when I was going there, I was looking at relatively big canvas pieces, and I'd bring them back to England and re-canvas them here. This time, I wanted to get something a little bit different, so I got a few pencil sketches which I hadn't had before, some smaller pieces of work, some framed pieces of work in slightly different styles to what I had before.

So within the art market, there's quite a lot of variety, I also spent some time going to some of the major galleries in Lagos as well, which was good, to get a vibe of some of the stuff that they had going on.

Do you have any favourite pieces at home?

I do. I'm redecorating my living room and what I'm trying to create is a gallery wall on both sides. In terms of my favourite piece, it's probably the one I've got of Adeniyi.

Maro Itoje's Picks Of Contemporary Curated

Launch Slideshow

Maro Itoje's Picks Of Contemporary Curated

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  Flora Yukhnovich 'Study (26)' (2018) 6,000-8,000GBP
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  KAWS 'Final Days' (2016) 700,000-1,000,000GBP
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  Moufouli Bello 'Breonna' (2020) 10,000-15,000GBP
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  Oluwole Omofemi 'Daydream' (2019) 7,000-9,000GBP
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  Omar Ba 'Identity 2' (2017) 20,000-30,000GBP
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  Sean Scully 'Untitled' (1990) 20,000-30,000GBP
• 

  Shoko Maemoto 'The Story Of Houju' (1985) 20,000-30,000GBP
• 

  Wole Lagunju 'Flower Power Mask III' (2019) 12,000-18,000GBP

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We're very excited to be working with you, and I just wondered, from your perspective, what drew you to this collaboration? And what do you hope to bring to your curation?

Well, my curation with Signature was my first step into the art world, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I definitely see it as a space in which I want to continue to grow and learn. I also feel that Sotheby's is one of the most respected and well-known auction houses.

So it seemed like a perfect type of mesh to me, I think I'll gain a lot from learning about how you guys do your business and put things together. But I also think I may be able to bring a slightly different twist to some of the stuff that you do.

The Signature show obviously was focussed on African art, but are there artists from other countries or movements from the past that you find particularly inspiring or are drawn to?

My main passion lies with African art but that being said, I do appreciate other mediums to varying degrees. I'm not a massive fan of all mediums, but I like some - like old-school photography, especially from the early 20th century. I think I have an appreciation for all art, but African art is where my heart lies.

Obviously we should talk about sports. I think people see art and sport as very separate disciplines, but do you think that they are closer than people think or that there could be areas where there's crossover? How would you want to see the two come closer together?

I think they're more similar than you would imagine. I think sport is often self-expression, the way people play is an expression of who they are and I think that's the same with how artists portray themselves, they express themselves through their work. So I think there's relative, similar ground here.

Are there other sports players who share your passion for art?

I'm sure there are, I'm sure I'm not a unicorn here. It's not something that we talk about too much but I'm sure this is the case.

Do you have any advice you want to share with someone just starting to build an art collection? Or is there something you wish someone had told you, when you first began buying art?

Not really, to be honest. What I would say is, first and foremost, just buy the pieces that you like and enjoy. When I first started buying art, I was buying because I enjoyed the piece, as opposed to anything else.

When you were growing up, did you visit lots of museums and galleries? Is there any particular institution you enjoyed visiting?

Not particularly, I like to think I come at it from a relatively pure place. Obviously growing up, I visited museums and all that kind of stuff. But I come at it from a place of aesthetic satisfaction, more so than anything, rather than an overly scholarly point of view.

Past Auction

Contemporary Curated

4–10 November 2021 | 2:00 PM GMT | London