Jess Castellote

Jess CASTELLOTE has been working in Nigeria since 1984. He holds a master’s degree in architecture and a doctoral degree in Art History. Since 2019, he has been the Director of the Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art (YSMA) of the Pan-Atlantic University, in Lagos. He is a founding member of the Foundation for Contemporary and Modern Visual Arts, as well as the Society for Art Collection. He also served on the Advisory Board of Art X Lagos. He has made significant contributions to the field of Nigerian Art, having authored, co-authored, or edited six books on the subject. He combines his professional work with an intense involvement in several not-for-profit organizations dedicated to advancing development and educational initiatives within the country.
In 2004, he organized the exhibition “Without Borders” featuring works by Kainebi Osahenye, Wole Lagunju, Ben Osaghae and Rom Isichei. Since then, he has organized six other exhibitions and eleven “private viewings” of works by emerging Nigerian artists.

He is also the Director of the Foundation for Contemporary and Modern Visual Arts (FCMVA) and he acts as an independent art advisor to private and corporate bodies. Since 2008, he maintains a widely accessed blog on contemporary art in Nigeria: “A view from my corner”. In 2012, he edited and published the book Contemporary Nigerian Art in Lagos Private Collections and in 2014, he co-authored the art monograph “Osaghae -Visual Chronicles of a Society in Flux”.