DOI: https://doi.org/10.36344/ccijhss.2025.v11i10.002

Pages: 211-229

Any form of art patronage starts with an artist creative activity in art studio space. Hence, an appropriate form of painting practice by artists is expedient for a sustainable economic viability of artistic practice. The study, therefore examine the influence painting support, media, subject matter and style on the art market in Nigeria. The rationale is to address low patronage of paintings among Nigerian artists and promote their active participation in the global art market. Paintings sold at the Arthouse affordable art auctions over a period of five years (2016 - 2020) were purposely selected. Out of the 268 paintings sold, 54 which constitute (20%) were randomly selected for analysis. Semi-structured interviews was conducted and structured questionnaire administered to 180 inter-connected stakeholders in the art market. The study established the importance of quality materials, continuous artistic aptitude and relevant networking stakeholders by the artists. The findings revealed that figurative paintings (58.7%) were the most preferred subject matter. Expressionistic paintings (WMS=2.6) were the most patronised and oil colour (WMS=2.6) were considered as the highly purchased medium in the art market. The study concludes that artists are the main marketer of their paintings; physical evidence of their creative processes.