In 1989 an event would transform Babatunde's life forever.
A cooking fire caused a propane tank to explode fully engulfing his Watts studio in flames. The heat was so intense it destroyed everything, including his art. Baba narrowly escaped with his life and without harm.
Three days later he learned from a neighbor that one piece had survived, a remnant of a collage he had been working on bearing an image of Jesus. Baba wept, feeling in his heart that it was Jesus who had saved his life.
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Baba’s faith had always inspired his art across the decades but that fire marked a sacred turning point in his journey. From that day until his death in 2012, Jesus became a dominant figures in Baba’s art. He often painted on broken, discarded and found materials as a symbol of new life and restoration. Baba’s new focus on sacred beauty merged with his lifelong desire to reveal the beauty of Black people. One of the most stunning examples of this is Messiah which Baba intentionally painted on the top of an old, discarded crate.
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This gallery has two series of Sacred Fine Art:​