‘My style is born out of errors’

Ball point artist, Oscar Ukonu has been creating amazing images using a biro. He talks about his art, motivation and being self-taught You draw with a pen. What’s the story behind this? Visual Art is something that’s beyond a medium we use in expressing ourselves and shouldn’t be boxed. Before I fully established the ballpoint […]

Ball point artist, Oscar Ukonu has been creating amazing images using a biro. He talks about his art, motivation and being self-taught

You draw with a pen. What’s the story behind this?

Visual Art is something that’s beyond a medium we use in expressing ourselves and shouldn’t be boxed. Before I fully established the ballpoint pen as my choice tool, I tried my hands on other unconventional materials like the eye pencil and even charred coal when I was searching for a medium that will give me the peace and flexibility I seek in order to fully express myself. 

What was it like before you found your niche? 

I always felt something wasn’t complete; not in the finishing or appearance, but in the confidence that comes with your art when it’s in line with your voice. Every creative can connect with this. 

How do you handle errors you make? 

My style of ballpoint pen rendering is one born out of errors. When I started-off, I was being too careful in order to avoid stray pen strokes because of the unforgiving nature of the pen medium. But at a point, I noticed the style as one that’s rigid, that doesn’t allow enough room for creativity. So I decided to let my style evolve. I stopped being more careful with my strokes, but instead, started letting the errors have their glorious place in my works. 

You are described as self-taught. Does that mean you never had a teacher or mentor? How did you learn? 

Art comes to everyone naturally. Art is life, and it’s happening right now, right here. As artists, we only become more conscious of our art and don’t learn it. 

I didn’t necessarily need an art teacher. All I did was become conscious, stay conscious and practice that consciousness.

You have drawn portraits of former president Goodluck Jonathan, Chinua Achebe, Banky W., Rihanna and several others. Do you have specific reasons why you choose certain subjects? 

Most of those works done in 2015 are part of a series. Other works in this collection include Professor Wole Soyinka, Nelson Mandela, Morgan Freeman, Barrack Obama and a host of others. Generally, I like to work in series, and as part of my creative direction to building it, I select my subjects based on their relevance to the issue I try to address. For example, looking at my on-going series called ‘Dialogue, in which I try to address the issue of cyber influence and how it affects the evolution of our personal identities, one will notice I use children as subjects in portraying this influence. 

How much patronage do you actually get for your work presently? 

It’s a great thing that the art industry in Nigeria is a big family and one with a great support network for the artists practicing here. Two months ago, I completed my first exhibition, a group exhibition at the Omenka Gallery in Ikoyi, Lagos, where I showed some works from my ‘Dialogue’ series. The positive way in which it was received showed a lot of promise. 

The internet has become a place artists use to their advantage in terms of showcasing their works. How has this impacted on your work? 

The internet has helped my art a great deal, not only in showcasing my style of art to a wider global audience, but also in terms of networking and in shaping my art discourse in tune with global contemporary issues. 

What is the pattern you habitually use when drawing? 

My art style is a practice in patience and endurance, and I spend up to two hundred to three hundred hours working on a single piece, depending on the details I want to achieve for each. Normally, before inking an art piece, I take out about two days to one week to study my reference photo in other to really connect with my subjects, a ritual that helps direct my drawing process. Most times I spend around five to seven hours a day working on my art, sometimes spreading each day’s work across ten sessions. 

What kind of art do you look forward to making that you’re yet to experience? 

Very horrible art. I want to create horrible art and still get away with it. 

You must have made work you consider your worst ever. Which is it and what actually happened? 

I have made a mess of a couple of works, but I don’t consider them to be worse than the others. Like I said earlier, I like to see the errors enjoy their own glorious places in my works. 

Do you look forward to doing an artwork of President Muhammadu Buhari? 

I already have a yet-to-be completed drawing of the President in my personal collection.

When you aren’t drawing, what do you do? 

Reading is a form of art I also enjoy, so when I’m not drawing, I usually pick up a book.