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Thursday 10 March 2016

The Artistic Genius - Olumide Oresegun’s ‘Perfect’ Paintings


If, over the last few days, you haven’t bumped into the name ‘Oresegun Olumide’, you are clearly a member of either of two groups: those who are not avid users of the Internet/social media, or those who are indifferent to the aesthetic power of the arts.
Perhaps you have, and you have turned the other way, you may want to have a rethink: Oresegun is breaking the Internet with the latest release of samples from his ever-growing collection of paintings.

It’s so great to see positive Nigerian stories being celebrated on the world stage.

Take for instance Oresegun Olumide, the Nigerian painter who went viral on Instagram when word started to spread about his true to life paintings and before you can say Picasso! CNN picked up the story and featured the 35 year old artist who is a graduate of Yaba College of Technology.
CNN wrote on their website,
Water droplets slide down the faces of children as they stare directly at what you could easily believe is a camera. In fact, they are all paintings by Lagos-born Nigerian artist Oresegun Olumide. The hyperrealism created in the oil paintings makes his work seem so real that it is hard to believe they aren’t. With over 18.7k followers and counting on Instagram, his work is gaining momentum online and fast.
Water is a recurring theme in his art because according to a popular adage in his native Yoruba language, “water has no enemy,” Olumide told CNN. The use of water gives a translucent effect and, he says, is “why it’s difficult for many people to do.” Olumide pushes himself to create art that his community hasn’t seen before and that is challenging for him.
He became interested in art at the age of four and started professionally creating art in 2005, Olumide said. The 35-year-old majored in Fine Art at the Yaba College of Technology , Lagos, graduating with a distinction. Drawing inspiration from his community, he is creating pieces that reflect the lives of those around him. His work, he says, is “a gradual process,” taking around two to three weeks to create individual pieces. He added that: “And depending on the intricacy I want to achieve, it can take a couple of months.”….. or decades…..
Actually he now has over 2ik followers on Instagram. Nigeria is bursting with Talent! I hope this guy has an exhibition soon and is able to start making some real money from his art
From celebrating the virtue of womanhood to highlighting the naked innocence of children or projecting the doggedness of the average Nigerian hustler, Oresegun’s paintings address an array of contemporary themes – and they tug at even the most scientific of minds with an emotional, artistic intensity that the subject must consider himself incapable of exhibiting.
For the current set of paintings, Oresegun is receiving plaudits from both friends and strangers. So the question has been asked, rightly so, by one of his latest admirers: where has he been all along? A peek at some of his works…
Oresegun 1
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Oresegun 6
Oresegun 7

“Olumide, people are looking for you. I mean foreigners,” a fan wrote on Oresegun’s Facebook wall.
“His name is Oresegun Olumide and he drew these … Do we need to go further looking for foreign artists? We have them here!” wrote another.
It was Chika Onyenezi, another fan, who had some of the kindest words for the artist, writing: “This artist is not just talented, he is a genius, a magician. Importantly, his art is alive.”
It is absolutely normal to gush about these works; what is abnormal is how long it has taken us to discover Oresegun. At 35, the Yaba College of Technology (YabaTech) graduate can count himself a late bloomer, but it is looking increasing likely that his rise to prominence over the coming months will be meteoric.
Perhaps feeling he hadn’t had the recognition he deserved, Oresegun wrote on Twitter in October 2013: “Why can’t someone hear that I am knocking.”
Not anymore. Henceforth, he will be heard when he knocks – not just by someone but by everyone, by the entire world. There is a new star on the horizon, and his name is… Olumide Oresegun!
Oresegun 8
Oresegun 9

 
Oresegun 10Oresegun 11

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