Olaolu Slawn -
Where not giving a fuck takes you
If you’ve been observing youth and fashion culture especially in the UK over the past few years, there’s hardly to no chance that you’ve never heard his name before. Even if you don’t recognize him immediately, you are most likely familiar with his quirky, colorful and sometimes obscure art circulating through Pinterest, Instagram or Tiktok. Perhaps you’ve seen your favorite artists, designers or rappers like Central Cee, Mowalowa, Skepta or Clint419 hanging around in his studio.
Born in Lagos around the turn of the century, Slawn soon began to cherish the defiant, disobedient lifestyle of skating, smoking pot and fucking around in the streets. In his late teens he began to work at Wafflesncream, Nigerias first-of-its-kind skate shop where he met his friends Leo and Onyedi. The three of them would spend time together skating through the streets of Lagos, filming Videos, designing streetwear and eventually would create the label Motherlan in 2018.
As a young troublemaking teenage boy in Nigeria, there’s no surprise that conflicts weren’t something out of the ordinary. In an interview with Independent he stated that Nigerian policemen were nobody to joke around with, carrying AK-47s not very hesitant to use them. “The enemy” as he calls them were a significant reason for him moving to the UK in 2018. He enrolled at Middlesex University to study graphic design but his studies quickly were interrupted due to the covid pandemic.
Being in lockdown as everyone else Slawn decided to pick up some spray cans, marker pens and some canvases and began to create first pieces. Reflecting his careless childish mind his art reminds you of school desks after a class filled with ADHD kids emptied their markers on it. His motifs are often of political origin, mimicking Nigerian policemen, the military or other authorities with the reoccurring “slawn-face” and cartoony figures on colorful backgrounds.
With the generous gift of 1000 pounds by a friend Slawn could rent his first studio which became Motherlan’s creative space after he moved his work to a bigger one in the same building. Slawns Batcave is located in East-London and is regularly visited by half-naked ladies some of London’s biggest creatives, and sometimes even by the British police. The space is not only filled with people but also an impressive amount of canvases and art supplies.
After giving away his artworks for free at parties and to friends they quickly found popularity in the community and on social media. Considering the increasing demand after his work Slawn began to sell some of his paintings. Not only could people buy some on his Instagram but also fight for it, eat a 1.3 million Scoville chicken wing or shave their head in order to get their hands on them. Regularly, pop-ups events are hosted by Slawn where fans need to get to a specific location to cop a piece. First-come-first. Simple. Chaotic. As you would expect from him.
Olaolu Slawn is a breath of fresh air in street and pop-art culture. He is a character, a creative maniac and a guy who just likes to get things done. Someone who’s testing out boundaries anytime he can, someone who doesn’t care about authorities and the opinions of strangers not afraid of offending people. Faithful to his roots, he’s giving back to his family and friends being thankful for what they’ve done for him. All in all, he’s someone to take inspiration from. Not in every aspect of life but in some. Sometimes there has to be people not obeying everyone and everything. People protesting and standing up for themselves and in this case people who just like to fuck around.