Bringing Art To Life With Arinze

Some skills come quite naturally, they simply can’t be taught. For Arinze Stanley Egbe, he started drawing from an early age. He explains, “I started drawing as a kid with no form of training and decided to take up art as a full-time career in 2012 after coming across a couple of inspiring artists on social media.”

The Lagos born artist graduated from Imo State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering. His works in black and white hues are made with graphite and charcoal pencils on paper. While he is recognised for his ability to make his art look quite realistic, his exploration of interesting topics such as “innocence”, “insomnia” and “hyperrealism” captures distinctive elements through his art.

Guardian Life had a short chat with the artist, who talks about his process and future plans as an artist.

What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learnt as an artist?

Patience, practice and persistence. These three work simultaneously and have guided me throughout my career as an artist.

Tell us about your work and what you would like to accomplish?

I work in a genre of art called hyperrealism, which is considered an advancement of photorealism and drives at creating art that sparks a mood to viewers; a response that speaks some degree of disturbance to the mind of my viewers and also inspires future generation of talents.

Insonmia

What is your creative process like?

I spend time connecting and harmonising with my subject models for hours taking photographs and capturing their inner emotions in which I represent on paper through my pencils. This process sometimes takes over 250 to 300 hours.

What are the challenges you have as a creative?

Honestly, there aren’t many challenges to face when you’re doing what you love doing the most.

Innocence

Do you have inspirations or role models that you look up to?

I’ve been able to draw inspiration from a couple of inspiring foreign artists in the same genre of hyperrealism like Emmanuele Dascanio, Joel Rea and Kelvin Okafor.

Which of your works has been your favourite so far?

My favourite piece so far is my drawing Black Noise as it was my first hyperrealism/surrealistic piece and also the power behind the message.

Tell us about another artist you like to collaborate with in the future?

I have a couple of artists I would like to collaborate with in the future like Nigerian artist, Ayo Filade and Oscar Ukonu.

Losing Dreams

Tell us interesting facts about yourself, especially relating to your work?

I’ve got very few friends in my circle. I guess this has helped me a lot in focusing on my priorities.