Obieze Osuagwu
Obieze Osuagwu (b. 1982), Obi was born in 1982 in Enugu Nigeria to Prof and Mrs Osuagwu, As a child he lived and studied within the prestigious University of Nigeria Nsukka campus which bred the likes of Chinua Achebe, Ngozi Chimamanda Adiche and El Anatsui to name but a few.
The fourth of five children he displayed his exceptional talent at a tender age and won numerous art awards. As a young child Obi picked up most of his art skills by going down to volunteer and help out within the University arts departments after school where he observed the students paint and sculpture. He visited the arts department on an average of ten times a week and would sometimes clock up to 80 hours a week watching, observing and helping out students with their art works. His self imposed apprenticeship lasted for 12 years from the age of 8 until he gained admission to study arts at the age of 20. In the five years he studied at the Academy, he came under the influence of the contemporary and sculpture artist El Anatsui. Obi experimented with sculpture in the early years of his studies before deciding to specialize as a painter. His works has appeared in several major exhibitions in Africa.
His inspiration comes from his search for the true meaning of art, his love of nature and human expression. He is widely regarded to be one of the acknowledged leaders of realism in Africa. He constantly battles to break free from the confinement of abstracts.
He has done a number of one man and group exhibitions in Ghana, all over Nigeria, London, Ivory Coast and is due to exhibit in Tokyo, New York and London in 2009/2010.
His most exiting and famous collection to date is the children of the world collection, he has done a number of private and public exhibition with this collection. When completed the children of the world collection would comprise of 40 original oil on canvas paintings, he is due to complete this task in 2011. This collection depicts the cultural, simplicity and carefree lives of the future generation. Majority of his collections comes from his travel tours where he either paints live models or takes pictures and paints in his studio. He is currently doing an extensive tour for one of his collections in Morocco.
For more information:
tel: (07932) 588290
linda.osuagwu@infonetsystems.co.uk |
