Passion Alone Won’t Pay The Rent: Art is Business — And the Banks Are Open

LAGOS — The romance is dead. The market is awake.

That was the hard verdict from artists, curators, bankers, and cultural stakeholders on Monday, April 20, 2026, at the Art Business Roundtable Mentoring Discussion during the Juliet Ezenwa-led Art Arising Festival 2026. Theme: Excelling in the Business of Art Practice.

The message was blunt: Passion alone is bankruptcy in a brushstroke. In today’s creative economy, the artist who cannot read a balance sheet will not hang in a boardroom.

“YOU ARE NOT JUST AN ARTIST. YOU ARE A BUSINESS”
Mr. Moses Ohiomokhare, Chairman of Art Galleries Association of Nigeria, AGAN, who moderated the session, tore up the myth of the starving artist.

“When you come to the real world, you understand that art is not easy,” Ohiomokhare said. “You are not just an artist. You are a business person. You must begin to understand the important things that happen around you.”

He warned that cheap materials are career suicide. “In four to five years, they give way. You shortchange yourself because the collector will not look for you again. The collector’s community will tell others not to buy.”

The global gap is the opportunity. Africa and South America hold only four per cent of global art production. “There is a big space for you as an artist,” Ohiomokhare said. “You just have to find those key points.”

SIX PILLARS OF STUDIO EXCELLENCE
Art consultant and critic Dr. Ekpo Udoma laid down the blueprint: mission, style, research, time, documentation, consistency.

“If you don’t have a goal, anywhere is good enough, and you cannot excel,” Udoma said. He recalled a Lagos artist who painted “because I studied art” — and nothing more.

Style is not accident, he argued. Michelangelo, Picasso, Onabolu, Okeke, Onobrakpeya — all were researchers first. And artists must speak. “If you cannot talk about your work, you cannot sell value.” Sign it. Title it. Archive it.

COLLECTING IS STRATEGY, NOT LUCK
Q Gallery founder Madam Juliana Edewor demystified collecting. Hers began as a teenager cutting magazine images for her wall. “I didn’t know I was collecting. It was emotional attachment.”

Today, she says, collect with intent. Passion, investment, or both — but know which. “Educate yourself. Collect what you like, but take your investment seriously. If you don’t have the eye, get a curator.” Start small. Set budgets. Talk to artists directly.

THE BANK HAS RECEIPTS: N20 TRILLION REASONS
Representing EcoBank MD Bolaji Lawal, Head of SMEs Omoboye Odu put numbers to culture: “Art is not just cultural expression. It is a powerful economic engine. The creative economy contributed over N20 trillion to Nigeria’s GDP last year.”

But banks are not NGOs. “We will sponsor when the ROI makes sense. You need to structure yourself so we see why we have to fund it.” Poor cash flow tracking locks artists out. New platforms, she said, will help creatives access markets and financial advice.

REINVEST OR DIE
Elizabeth Chioma Ekpetorson, founder of Eleez Art Studios, brought discipline to the room. “I told myself it would be a shame if this investment doesn’t make returns. So I reinvested everything — materials, books, travel.”

Travel matters. “Interaction with different environments influences creative output.” And daily self-audit: “I look at my work and ask if I’m getting better.”

VALUE DOES NOT FIND YOU. YOU TARGET IT
Mr. Sam Ovraiti, Director of Harmattan Workshop at Bruce Onobrakpeya Foundation, closed with market law: “If your artwork is beautiful but has no value to anyone, there is no need for the person to collect. We are in a world of exchange of values.”

Don’t dump work in every gallery. Don’t show just anyone. “You must identify your target audience.” Early in his career, Ovraiti aimed at corporate buyers and engineered direct access to decision-makers.

THE LIGHTRAY! BOTTOM LINE
Consensus from all speakers: The future belongs to the artist who merges craft with commerce, vision with spreadsheets, studio hours with strategy.

Passion starts the fire. Business keeps the lights on.

As Ovraiti put it: “Don’t take your work to just any gallery. Value perception, audience targeting, market strategy — that is the difference between exhibition and extinction.”