Tour Artist Kehinde Wiley’s Quiet Creative Haven in Lagos, Nigeria
“It is a temple to solitude, a space to create much more experimental work,” the portraitist says of the home he decorated with the help of fellow artists
In rare moments of downtime, the peripatetic artist has historically retreated to Black Rock Senegal, the multi-studio artist residency he founded in Dakar four years ago. Cinematic in scale and named after the volcanic rocks that blanket the neighboring shoreline, the titanic compound overlooking the Atlantic Ocean features a trio of apartments and studios for artists, as well as a majestic private flat for Wiley himself and guest rooms for visiting creatives. His new home in Lagos, Nigeria, however, has become his current refuge of choice. “The Lagos space presented the opportunity to have a much more quiet, interior type of presence in West Africa. It is a temple to solitude, a space to create much more experimental work,” the artist explains, as he makes his way to a light-suffused studio tucked away on the top floor of his intimate, three-story sanctuary. “When I’m here, I paint whenever I feel like it. I paint in the middle of the night. I paint early mornings. I paint without the pressure of commercial obligation, without an endgame in mind. I get to play, feel vulnerable, and oftentimes have breakthroughs.”
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Ensconced in a secluded cul-de-sac in Lagos’s tony Victoria Island enclave, the home was previously owned by a local industrialist for several decades. It underwent an extensive, yearlong renovation guided solely by Wiley and his instinctual response to the space as it evolved—architectural improvisation, if you will. “There was never a real plan,” Wiley reveals. Instead, he focused on “allowing the process to be the star of the show.”
He brought down walls, brought in sliding glass doors, kept the chashitsu-inspired flourishes (shoji-esque frosted windows, a lacquered cherrywood staircase), but traded the terra-cotta bricks that once dominated the outside grounds for verdant gardens teeming with local flora. A warren of tiny rooms morphed into a massive primary bed-and-bath suite that manages to be an ode to minimalism and an over-the-top indulgence. He chose black for the faceted exteriors because he enjoyed the juxtaposition of a brutalist façade and an inland Eden.
The focal point of the house, a lyrical, glass-enclosed interior garden and pond, was a huge draw for Wiley because hortus conclusus is one of a handful of recurring themes in his paintings. The avid angler also immediately seized the opportunity to introduce koi fish—another thematic favorite— into the mix. “They’re psychologically nourishing,” he states, later adding that, since childhood, “I’ve been deeply drawn to bodies of water, whether it be my mother waking me up to get me out of the bathtub for fear of me drowning or visiting municipal fishing zones in Los Angeles.”
Wiley worked closely with Senegalese textile and furniture designer Aissa Dione to outfit the interiors. Several of Dione’s artisan pieces can be found throughout the abode, from the low-slung sofas and cocktail tables to the woven quilts and pillows. More standouts, like the foyer’s Hamed Ouattara sideboard and beaded Yoruba armchairs, were procured at the luxury concept store Alára.