Meet the Nigerian artist who attempted world record in painting, colouring marathons

Odesola attempted to set two new Guinness World Records concurrently, targeting 36 hours for the longest colouring marathon and 120 hours for the longest painting marathon in February 2024.

The Nigerian, a ceramics major at the university could not achieve his target of 120 hours for the painting marathon. He was 10 hours shy of his target, managing 110 hours in his official attempt.

However, Odesola managed to achieve the 36-hour target for the colouring marathon and his 110 hours for the painting marathon is more than the current Guinness World Record of 100 hours by Nigerian, Chancellor Ahaghotu in October 2023.

The Nigerian painter in an interview with GSW indicated that he could not achieve his target due to health reasons.

“I prepared… But after some time, I noticed that my body was not, I was feeling exhausted already. Because usually, I do have rest time. Like, they give me five-minute breaks every one hour. So, I can compile the rest time. So, if three hours work, then 15 minutes rest. Two hours work, then 10 minutes rest. So, I did six hours stretch, then a 30-minute break,” Odesola told GSW.

“I started seeing some things that are not, you know when you deprive yourself of sleep for a longer time, it's normal. Because I've read about it before I started. Like, what are the side effects of not sleeping for a long time. Like, I read about it, like, hallucinating. So, it started happening to me. I was seeing like, I was in a trance. I was seeing something else. But the object I was drawing started moving. Both of my eyes, like, the object were moving,” he added.

The Nigerian when asked how he would feel if his records were broken before official confirmation arrived, he said “Whether it lasts a few weeks or a few months. I think what matters is I broke the record and my name is in the book of Guinness World Records or something. The thing is that even before you break any record, you have to apply and before Guinness World Record accepts your application, it takes like 12 to 13 weeks.”

Odesola also added that he was motivated to take on this challenge after witnessing fellow Nigerian Hilda Baci break the Guinness World Record for the longest cooking marathon in 2023.

“I did not know I can actually break Guinness World Record until I started seeing some World Record Breaker in Nigeria. if I had known, maybe I would have been the first to do that. So that also serve as the motivating factor for me. I was like, wow, so someone can actually break Guinness World Record in Nigeria… It's because of this person. So that's why I chose to do it on my own field,” Odesola said.

Following Baci’s record in 2023, there has been an ‘epidemic’ of Guinness World Record attempts that have taken place in Africa.

The Nigerian chef’s record for the longest cooking marathon was officially dethroned by a chef in Ireland. Since then there have been many attempts at the cooking marathon record in Africa.

Watch the full interview below.