Contemporary artist Akintayo Akintobi has hit a big milestone in his 10-year art journey by getting a Nigerian patent for a unique visual art system that mixes textiles and culture.
The patent is called “A Cross-Cultural Textile-Integrated Visual Art Creation and Community Engagement System for Narrative-Based Artistic Expression.” It was filed on May 1, 2026, with Akintobi named as the patentee.
This patent gives him rights over the invention for 20 years, following Nigerian laws.
This development comes a decade after Akintobi started showing his art in Ile-Ife, Osun State. His art has looked into culture, identity, memory, and how people connect using textiles, painting, mixed media, public art, and community work.
Akintobi graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, where he got a Bachelor of Education in Fine Arts in 2016. He began showing his work while still a student, joining the “Ifectivity” exhibition at the university from 2013 to 2015. He also had his final year exhibition called “So Far” in 2016.
He got involved in public art projects as well, including a mural at the OAU Staff School.
By 2018, Akintobi's work gained more attention after he took part in Tales from Within at the National Museum of Art in Onikan, Lagos. This exhibition and his art were featured by many trusted media outlets across the country.
His art has included Yoruba traditional symbols, cultural stories, and textiles, which became key parts of his style.
In 2023, his use of fabrics to tell African art stories caught the eye of Nigerian media. The Guardian, Vanguard, New Telegraph, Tribune, and The Nation all reported on his solo exhibition named “The End of the Beginning” at South Rivers Art Studios.
Akintobi’s career took a new direction when he moved to the United States and studied at East Tennessee State University. He earned a Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art in 2024.
His experiences in America influenced his work, which looked at the connections between his Yoruba roots and Appalachian life.
This exploration resulted in T(h)reading Sands and Mountains, shown as his MFA thesis exhibition at ETSU’s Tipton Gallery in 2024 and later at Mars Landing Galleries.
Apart from gallery shows, Akintobi is also known for public art, creating large murals and installations.
His projects include the 23-by-54-foot Peace Global Crane Project at East Tennessee State University, murals in Lemmon, South Dakota, and large works in Atlanta like Snake and Snake II.
His American shows also include Holla If You See Me: Black Appalachia at the Kansas African American Museum in Wichita, Kansas, and Con-Figurations: The Human Body is Complex, Even Contradictory at the Panorama Gallery in Virginia.
In 2026, he held a solo exhibition called Surface, Spirit and Sand with the Tennessee Arts Commission in Nashville.
Akintobi has received a Global Iconic Award as an Emerging Global Icon in Fine Arts in South Africa and a Certificate of Excellence from East Tennessee State University in 2024.
Besides creating art, he has worked as an Adjunct Professor and Assistant Curator at East Tennessee State University.
The new patent marks another step in Akintobi’s growth, taking part of his art practice beyond regular exhibitions into a protected system.
Before filing the patent, he talked about the system at different conferences and exhibitions. This invention combines textile-integrated art, narrative-based artistic expression, and community involvement.
Ten years after his first exhibitions in Ile-Ife, Akintobi’s career now covers Nigerian museums, galleries, American exhibition spaces, and public art projects.
His work still reflects Yoruba culture while also connecting with new cultural experiences, especially in Appalachia.
The patent, he said, represents a new part of his artistic journey. This journey began with exploring materials, cultural identity, and visual storytelling and has grown into a system that links art, stories, and community.
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