Who is an artist? What is art? If you put out these questions the replies you would get will come from varying perspectives, as it should be. From my own comprehension an artist is someone who creates, and art is any work that connects to someone. Making connections between people and creating ideas that spread are the makings of an artist.
Many thanks to the Internet, because of it I have come across different types of artists of various art forms and the experience has been euphoric.
Since the industrial age is still has its claws in our society, it's quite gutsy for one to take up creating art that is pure, undiluted and unsupervised, or riffed with beaureacracy. knowing that whenever they ship out any work the risk of failure, rejection is always there.
Being an artist is a great struggle as you’ve to wake up everyday against a resistance not to create, a resistance that questions if your commitment is worth it, if your work would ever get a following or even be acknowledged. But you’ve to come to the realization that you can’t be attached to the outcome of your work, of course you have to want to get better at your craft but you can’t take the reactions to the products of your craft personal.
When a mention of an artist is made, the notion that an average person gets is a painter holding a brush over a canvas; a person welding a pencil with a blank sheet in front of them or a man with his rasp overlooking his sculptures. I must admit that is a slightly misinformed notion, I believe everyone is an artist, even though some people’s artistry powers lie dormant, it is a choice thing.
It’s not easy doing art, it takes great commitment like everything else that is worthwhile but it also takes a courage. A lot of people can be artist creating what they love or want to, but for the most part fear keeps them reined in from doing so. The fear of failing, of nor being able to predict the outcome of such an endeavor.
I’m sure there are more artists that got the sauce and I can’t wait to cnnect with their works, but I can’t help but drool over these ones. In no particular order, here is a list of the artists that have recently inspired me with their works and the connections those works have made:
Niyi okeowo
An eclectic storyteller, Niyi Okeowo is an engaging expressionist. portraying his views with strong emotions which connects to the viewer. He takes inspiration from his everyday encounters. Niyi is focus is on branding and photography. Niyi’s work always has me blown out of the waters.
Ani Brendan
Anietie’s use of colours are truly inspiring, a digital artist whose interests varies across other creative mediums such as photography, sculpture, and painting. He runs a creative company that develops euphoric visual content for brands across different industries. I can only salivate as I await more works from Ani.
Ire aderinokun
Ire is an amazing Web crafter with a unique execution style, her technical articles are always insightful. She has degrees in psychology and law with a fair amount of experience in those fields which definitely gives her extra leverage in her design journey. You can find Ire and her works at ireaderinokun.com
Ijeoma Umebinyuo
A brilliant writer of prose and poems, her words have the ability to speak to your naked self. As poetic as ijeoma is, she is also as blunt. I always look forward to seeing her tweets as they have the power to sear through the mind.
Prosper otemuyiwa
I feel like prosper aka unicodeveloper might have sango ancestry as he‘s always bringing the fire along with him. A full stack software engineer and writer whose a firm believer in open source and grooming the next generation of software engineers who will change the world. He is adept at technical writing and breaking down complex concepts so they can be asily understood. He refers himself as a developer evangelist, constantly and passionately inspiring developers across Africa to be world class!
Dennis Osadebe
Dennis Osadebe NEO viual style emcompases one word “ecstatic”, a budding Nigerian artist carving his own niche in the African art scene one piece at a time. Deniss’s works has been exhibited in contemporary art galleries.He uses intense colours to create modern, bright, expressive and provocative pieces of art on a wide variety of engaging canvasses.Unity & togetherness are themes deniss explores. Dennis Osadebe x Orange culture and For the Love of Cars are my favorite projects of Dennis Osadebe’s works
BAROQUE AGE.
I came across this group of creatives some time ago and I was most especially blown away by their enthusiasm, as it's really contagious. Baroque age is a move in advance purposed to pushing a new age across different mediums, creativity and innovations across africa. Baroque age spews out different forms of great content consistently, I expect baroque age’s group of millenials,innovators and generation Z and all its collective conciousness to be at the frontiers of change that will be sweeping africa soon.
Hopefully one day my work can connect to people, inspire them, make them want to be better at their craft and themselves. Even Though my work isn't where I want it to be, I know I can strive to make it better each day.
Art is what it means to be human. Making connections with people, positively innovating, caring about the process and the outcome, these are the works of art and the artist.
P. S If anyone’s work has inspired you in any way please feel free to drop a link to reach them or their work. Thank You.
