Twins Seven-Seven

Twins Seven Seven, born Omoba Taiwo Olaniyi Oyewale-Toyeje Oyelale Osuntoki (3 May 1944 – 16 June 2011), was a Nigerian painter, sculptor and musician. He was an itinerant singer and dancer before he began his career as an artist, first attending in 1964 an Mbari Mbayo workshop conducted by Ulli Beier and Georgina Beier in Osogbo. Twins Seven Seven went on to become one of the best known artists of the Osogbo School.

Early life and education He was born as Omoba Taiwo Olaniyi Oyewale-Toyeje Oyekale Osuntoki to a father, Aitoyeje, who was a Muslim from Ibadan, Oyo State, and a mother, Mary, who was a Christian from Ogidi, Kogi State, in Nigeria. The name by which he became known alludes to the fact that he was the only surviving child of seven sets of twins born to his mother, Nigeria having the world's highest twinning rate. His mother was instructed by a babalawo to drink water sacred to the river goddess Osun to ensure her child's survival. As a result, it was believed that Twins Seven Seven was a reincarnation of his great-grandfather, Osun-toki, whose name means "Osun is worthy of worship."

After performing a show in Oshogbo at the Mbari Club, Twins Seven Seven encountered Ulli Beier, a German editor and scholar living there at the time, who with his wife Georgina Beier ran an artist workshop. At the Beier workshop, Seven Seven was given basic tools and minimal instruction throughout his artistic processes. Through this, Seven Seven was able to create his own unique style of painting. However, as he progressed as an artist, Twins Seven Seven focused more on imagery based on Yoruba folklore and his own dreams.

In 1972, Twins Seven Seven taught in the US at Merced College in California and at the Haystack Mountain Crafts School, Deer Isle. He taught at the Ile Ife Black Humanitarian Center in North Philadelphia in the early 1970s along with Barbara Bullock and Charles Searles, whom he influenced.

In 2000, he moved to Philadelphia, where he hoped to permanently settle, but he was robbed, evicted, and fired from multiple menial jobs. At this low point, George Jevremovic mounted an exhibition for him in 2005 for a generous amount of money and gave him a space to work. He worked here until 2008 when a lack of money prompted his return to Nigeria.

Twins Seven Seven died aged 67 in Ibadan on 16 June 2011, following complications from a stroke.

Twins Seven Seven's work was included in the 2015 exhibition We Speak: Black Artists in Philadelphia, 1920s-1970s at the Woodmere Art Museum.

Family Twins Seven Seven's son is Teddy Tones, a Nigerian Singer-Songwriter and Multi-instrumentalist. Twins Seven Seven's grandsons are Kénnèth Oláríbigbé, known professionally as Oratio The Sage, a fast rising musician, songwriter, actor, band leader and Multi-instrumentalist, and Azeez Ojulari, an edge rusher for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League, and BJ Ojulari, an edge rusher for the Arizona Cardinals.

Private collections Olivier Doria d'Angri (Rome/London) The Glendonwyn Collection (Madrid/Tenerife/Dubai) Patrick and Awele Okigbo (Abuja, Nigeria) John Douglas Marshall (Vienna, Austria)

Discography Slang in Trance (Caravan of Dreams, 1986) With Ronald Shannon Jackson Live at the Caravan of Dream s (Caravan of Dreams, 1986)