Author and book illustrator/designer, educator and folklorist, and musician, was born in
Washington, D.C. He is a self-taught artist who started painting at only 4 years old. As a young man, he left D.C. for Harlem, attended many schools, and eventually graduated from New York’s Pan American School of Art. A realist artist, Taiwo produces work filled with color, mostly bright colors, that seem to jump out at the viewer. The artwork shows people in action like jubilant festival performers or small groups of men drumming. Although the people depicted are in motion, the pieces of artwork remain still as if they were actual photographs or windows into their lives. He is a published author and book illustrator/designer. Examples of his work includes writing Venial Sins, an Autobiography and co-illustrating Echo the Gecko Goes to the Circus. Taiwo has been active, since 1953, as an ashiko drummer. He is one of the original drummers on Michael Babatunde Olatunji’s “Drums of Passion” album. He has traveled and recorded with many other artists and groups throughout the world. Taiwo has exhibited in many venues including the Brooklyn Museum, Hempstead African American Museum, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, Dorsey’s Art Gallery, Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba, Hamilton Landmark Gallery, and Dwyer Cultural Center