On the occasion of Obi Agwam's solo show, Sweet Lies from Lonley Stars, on view now at Harkawik Gallery, NYC, we look at the artist's work in today's A Portfolio.
Obi is a Nigerian New York based fine artist. Obi Agwam creates visual summaries from his own journal entries. The goal for the artworks is to create space for people to be more expressive with their own emotions while showing new ways to represent and depict his own experience. The visual language used to engage these portraits are references to his love for animation. The characters exist in a world that pays homage to animation 's extensive, and dark history.
Animation, its ability to take traumatic and heavy events and turn it into something digestible is one the main objectives of Obis work. Many of the design choices come from Obi’s experience as both a cartoonist and illustrator. His animation background paired with his extensive knowledge on the history of painting and iconography creates the unique environments the portraits inhabit.
