The Beauty in Us: Graphite and Charcoal

Artist Statement

I generally draw from the things going on around me and my environment, society, and circumstances to see if an idea, emotion, or critique can be communicated using bodies, symbols, and titles. People are amazing and I use different amazing souls as inspiration when creating a drawing. Our need to effectively communicate with each other is essential. If we cannot communicate, we cannot actually relate and bond. Furthermore, I draw in the genre of contemporary hyperrealism.

Along with my interest in communication, I use my work as a means to communicate with people and tell stories. One prevalent image in my work is the self-portrait, “1975,” inspired by the late Fela Kuti—the great legend who sang the song titled “Water No Get Enemy.” Kuti sings, “If you want to bathe your child, you go use water; if you want to cook, you go use water; water calms a hot head.” The drawing talks about the significance of water in the life of a human being; water is life and there’s no one who can do without it.

My drawing style is called hyperrealism, and hyperrealism is creating drawings, sculptures, and paintings that looks photorealistic and capture emotion. Hyperrealism isn’t just drawing from photographs but drawing something that passes a message of physical and emotional presence to the audience in a realistic way. In my work, drawing the female figure is for the purpose of communicating a feeling or an idea—it is not passive, it is not an object: it is an agent of expression.