The hyper-realist artist, Olumide Oresegun, has returned to Mydrim Gallery, Ikoyi, for new solo titled, Threads Of Heritage: Cultural Weaving.

The show, which features 27 works, opened on July 18, and ends August 8, 2026.

For Oresegun, thread is both a symbolic bridge and a structural foundation, linking the high-contrast energy of his portraiture to the tactile history found within a still life composition.

The works in this show merge to demonstrate that cultural identity is a composite of what is projected to the world and the domestic artefacts preserved in silence.

He describes the objects as not just items, but vessels of heritage that share a thread with the living, breathing subjects of his paintings.

He remarked that the meticulous detail in the weathered surfaces of a vase mirrors, the intricate spirit of the figures depicted, proving that “our history is etched into the very things we touch and the way we see ourselves.”

He saidthis merging of themes creates a dialogue where the contemporary pop aesthetic loses its vanity and gains a soul, anchored by the weight of tradition. It is a curated look at how we carry our foundations with us, turning every modern interaction into an act of cultural preservation and every still life into a living portrait of a lineage.

For a long time, Oresegun’s world was defined by the physics of a single droplet. During his Water Series, he was obsessed with the way light refracted through water on a child’s cheek or the way a heavy downpour clung to braided hair. In those days, water was his language, as it represented “the raw, unadorned state of humanity; clean, vulnerable, and essential. Those paintings were a baptism of the soul, a liquid meditation on purity and the fleeting moments of youth,” Oresegun said.

“But art, like life, cannot stay in the water forever. You eventually have to step out into the sun.” The shift happened while he was painting an elderly man. He was focusing on the moisture on his brow, but then he looked past the water into the deep lines of his skin and realised that while water is beautiful, it evaporates. What remains is the history, the pride, and the things we choose to drape over ourselves to tell the world who we are.

He said he felt an urgent need to move from a ‘State of Nature’ to a State of Being’ which led to his ‘Royal Inheritance’ style. He traded his fluid, transparent blues for the opacity of Cadmium Yellow and Cobalt Teal. His subjects are no longer passive figures receiving the grace of the rain. Those children who once danced under his brushes in 2016 have grown into the striking men and women who grace his current work.

“I chose the title because I have been evolving over two decades. The Thread is a symbolic word I used to describe the creativity that goes into the work. It’s a tool that joins two things together.”

On how long it took to put the pieces together, he said: “Die to the time-consuming nature of my style, each work takes a month to produce so, having the collection of 27 works takes almost three years. I have been working on this exhibition since 2022. It’s difficult to exhibitevery year, I create more volume of works so people can come to the exhibition and immerse themselves in many works. I make sure to have a full understanding of the end result of my work before I start. I have been using my models for over 20 years and I have already mastered their features, so, I make sure I have everything in line before I can create each piece on canvass. I try to make people understand the colours I use, the subject and how it evolves.”

Speaking on hosting the artist, curator, Mydrim Gallery, IdowuBankole, said: “I saw his works on CNN and other platforms when I was still in school. It’s a privilege to see him back to Mydrim Gallery. I am optimistic about this show.”