Hyperrealistic Portraits Rendered in Charcoal by Nigerian artist Arinze Stanley.
“My art is born out of the zeal for perfection both in skill, expression and devotion to create positive changes in the world.
I draw inspiration from life experiences and basically everything that sparks a feeling of necessity, I find myself spending countless hours working on an artwork to stimulate deep and strong emotions in order to connect more intimately with my viewers
Most times it’s almost like I lose control of my pencils and the art flows through me to the paper.
I work with my Principle of the Three P’s namely Patience, Practice and Persistence. These have guided me over the years towards perfecting my craft.”
Arinze Stanley Egbengwu (b. 1993) in Lagos, Nigeria and graduated from Imo state University with a B.Eng in Agricultural engineering.
Starting at an early age of 6, Arinze had always been enthusiastic about drawing realistic portraits on paper. Being exposed to his family’s paper buisness, Arinze grew to love paper and pencils as his toys at a very tender age. Over the years He gradually taught himself how to master both Pencils and Paper in harmony as a medium to express himself through what he calls his three P’s namely Patience, Practice and Persistence. These have guided him throughout his journey as an artist.
Working in a genre of art known as Hyper-realism, Arinze drives at creating art that triggers a degree of emotional connection between his viewers and his subjects. Also using his works as a medium for social and political activism, highlighting pressing matters both in his community and worldwide, matters including Modern slavery , feminism and others.
Awards he has won include the ‘World’s best Self-portrait’ in American art awards 2017 and a Cultural achievement award in Junior Chambers International in 2018 .
Arinze’s debut group show held at the Omenka Gallery Lagos, Nigeria in 2016 and his debut international exhibition at Scope art show during Miami Art week 2017.
Stanley recently exhibited work at Omenka Gallery and you can see more of his works (and pieces in progress) on Facebook and Instagram.