Murphy Ajayi obtained Bachelors and Masters degrees in Fine Arts, with specialization in Sculpture, from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, and Doctor of Philosophy degree in interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences with concentration in African Arts and Culture from Union Institute and University, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Dr. Ajayi has delivered several academic papers at seminars and conferences, participated several invited one-man and/or group exhibitions, and curator of many exhibitions.

   Before relocating to the United States in 1994 Dr. Ajayi taught Fine Arts and Humanities courses at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Auchi Polythenic, Auchi, and his Alma Mata, the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. In the United States, Dr. Ajayi has held faculty positions at the Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, Ohio; Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland, Ohio; Kent State University, Kent, Ohio; and currently teaches Fine Art and Humanities courses at Harold Washington College, Chicago, Illinois,

Artist’s Statement

   My studio works are the result of exploration and development of form in two and three-dimensionality as well as the fusion of illusionistic and non-illusionistic sculptural space. I try to give expression to the unformulated ideals and aspirations of our age: new materials, new processes and new technology of diverse and often unknown potentialities.  My work is a synthesis of mass as an element of plasticity for dynamic rhythm.  Some of my abstract works, though meant to reveal a vision of transcendental order, are based on a priori elements of experience, which I believe are the necessary conditions of human knowledge; Thus, I enhance my artistic and aesthetic perception while taking a leaf from African idiomatic expressions, creative processes, art forms, meaning and function. I believe my own artistic and aesthetic perception are enhanced by this phenomenon, thus stimulate further research into unknown realms of art forms, new creative processes and, new meaning and functions of art in our fast changing world artistic endeavor.

   The body of work I have created ranges in size from 4”in to 95 ft., many of which consists of public and exterior monuments, which have necessitated the use of minimal upkeep and security conscious materials such as concrete, wood, steel, and granite.  However, the artist has also created significantly acclaimed works in bronze, assembled steel, copper, welded metals, and mosaic murals.   

   My personal response to the world and, therefore, approached to my creative work embraces humanism.  My beginning thesis is that the human being is the most significant and the most complex of all creations:  that all themes are consistent re-examinations of humans’ acts, ideas, events, and engagements with our world.  This response and approach reflect in my creations, which range from the realistic to stylization and to the abstract.

   My work inverts the logic process, going from the specific to the general, thereby allowing in the final approach for individualistic empathy while providing a provocative as well as definitive statement applicable to humankind irrespective of age, race, gender, culture, ethnicity, disability, or life style preference.  My work is never passive.  It seeks to illicit response, to encourage - urging expanded thinking and in the final analysis, to educate in its broadest sense. Fundamentally, I believe to educate is to stimulate or develop the mental or moral growth of an individual or group, which in a sense, becomes an inherent humankind manifestation.  However, I recognize that the fallibility and limitations or random unobstructed mental stimulation and development demand institutional specialization in the promotion of humanism and justice in contemporary and diverse society. Equally significant to this concept of stimulation and growth education is a recognized state of reciprocal nurturing between the learner or client’s goal and the broader community that surrounds it.

   I have produced several significant monumental outdoor sculptures, mosaic murals that grace a dozen major Nigerian cities. I also have several indoor artworks in corporate and private collections in Nigeria, France and here in the United States.