I think that I can say that Bisi Fabunmu, Rufus, Twins Seven-Seven and myself, each discovered a new dimension in ourselves...Making a painting is really like going into a strange place, like an unknown territory and then you have nothing but your own integrity to guide you...The importance of the art workshop to us was that it gave us a sense of our own identity.
[5] He began studying at the Osogbo Art School, founded by Georgina and Ulli Beier, and was among the first generation of Osogbo Art students; at the school he took printmaking and painting workshops in addition to working as a stage actor and master Yoruba drummer.
[2] At his first exhibition in Edinburgh in 1967 his works were compared to those of Paul Klee and Amedeo Modigliani, though he was unfamiliar with European art.
[8] He was the musical director for and composed the score to the 1998 Royal Exchange Theatre production of the Wole Soyinka play Death and the King's Horseman.
[10] The institute trains students in visual and performing arts, including drum making, textile design and printmaking.
His style is considered Modernist,[10] with his oil paintings displaying a direct sense of design, and a juxtaposition of subtle muted colours with strong lines.
[2][7] Oyelami's themes are influenced by Yoruba culture,[6] and the subject matter of his landscapes and portraits are often derived from daily life and individuals.
[7] Oyelami's early oil paintings involved abstract representations of life in the city,[2] while by the 1980s his work had become more figurative, trending towards more generic themes.
[13] His works are also in the collections of the National Gallery of Modern Art in Lagos, the Studio Museum in Harlem, at the Lagos State House of Assembly, the private collection of Bola Ige, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, and the Staatlichen Kunsthalle in Berlin.