For his latest exhibition at Saatchi Yates, the London-based artist Slawn converts the gallery into a live studio, an active setting where painting, music and collaboration unfold in real time.
Running from 22 January to 22 February, Slawn’s Studio invites visitors into the world of his practice, with spontaneity and shared energy as its core inspiration. Across the exhibition period, the gallery functions as Slawn’s day-to-day workspace. Paintings are produced and reworked, music is composed and recorded, and ideas move freely between forms. Friends, collaborators and fellow artists drift in and out, shaping an atmosphere that is busy, informal and charged.
Most of the works were made during Slawn’s residency in the space and form the backbone of the exhibition, which shifts and adjusts as the month progresses. Long a draw for attention, Slawn’s Studio has attracted leading collectors alongside well-known figures from music, sport and public life. That same energy is carried into the gallery, brash at times, quick-moving, rough and unsettled. Saatchi Yates presents the project as an experimental approach to exhibition-making, where production and display are hand in hand.
Olaolu Slawn was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and is known for blending street-based aesthetics with elements of Abstract Expressionism. Grounded in Yoruba heritage while engaging directly with contemporary social themes, his work has reached a broad audience, including A$AP Rocky, Tremaine Emory and Skepta. His practice addresses questions of politics, race and identity, and began in Lagos at Wafflesncream, Nigeria’s pioneering skate shop. That early involvement led to the co-founding of the apparel collective Motherlan.
Slawn began painting during the COVID lockdown in London in 2020. His first exhibition was held at the Truman Brewery in 2021.
His work is often a playful visual language with a pointed awareness of the world around him. In 2022, he entered the auction market with a debut in Sotheby’s Contemporary Curated sale. The following year, he designed both the statuette and stage set for the Brit Awards, becoming the youngest artist — and the first born in Nigeria — to take on the role, before being chosen to design the FA Cup Trophy for 2024.