Sharon Obuobi is an art writer, entrepreneur and curator with a passion for African art, business and technology. She currently works at Founder, CEO of Oarbt and Curator-at-large for Artnet’s Africa Present initiative.
Born into a family of artists, Sharon pursued the arts working with international galleries and institutions including Creative Time NYC, Studio Museum in Harlem, Art Twenty One, Alison Milne Gallery, the Dak’Art Biennale, and Invisible Borders. From there in 2016, she joined Sotheby’s as a founding member of the new Modern & Contemporary African Art Business department in London, where she spent two years brokering key business partnerships and channels for art consignments from West Africa which led to 25 new world record sales prices for artists.
Sharon believes that the increasing attention on art from Africa over the years has been the result of a number of factors, including changes in buying habits of art collectors, the growth in exhibition of artists from Africa in museums and galleries, and the emergence of new art fairs and auctions specifically promoting contemporary African art.
As an entrepreneur, she continues to work with African artists, galleries and institutions to increase exposure of this field within the art market ecosystem. Sharon is the founder of the podcast “In Studio with Sharon Obuobi’’ which is a series containing stories of artists, fellow curators and influencers, and each episode is designed to inspire a conversation challenging new perspectives and ways to look at the world through art. The podcast has featured interviews with guests including Lina Iris Viktor, Ibrahim Mahama, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Serge Attukwei Clottey, Nengi Omuku, Simon Njami, Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga, Victor Ehikhamenor and Phoebe Boswell. IN STUDIO ran an 8 week special on LagosTalks radio station in 2018.
Sharon also manages Oarbt which is a SaaS technology platform for building and integrating 3D immersive experiences anywhere on the web. She has been featured on CNN, Arise TV, the Financial Times, Virgin Magazine, NKA Journal, IRAAA Journal, Konbini, and i Paper.
Projects
Projects credited in
- Computer vision AI Product Generator API for e-commerceThe Oarbt AI Product Generator API uses computer vision and data science to scan reference images and automatically match the closest products in your inventory which customers can purchase to achieve the design inspiration at home. Powered by the most advanced cloud computing tools from AWS and Google Cloud with proprietaryy data management tools for accuracy, this API is a cutting edge solution to increase sales conversions and help customers shorten the discovery process.
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Education
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Bachelor of CommerceQueen’s University, Canada
- Kingston, ON, Canada