Art in Nigeria has come a long way. From being looked down upon, the Nigerian artist has come to be viewed as someone with great worth and value. In this interview, Ken Nwadiogbu shares not just his experience as a Nigerian artist, but also, his journey so far.

TM: Let’s meet you

Ken: I am Ken Nwadiogbu, from Anambra state. I am a rare visual artist. My works are way different from what you see on a normal day. I call myself a 3-D hyper realist. The idea is to create a three dimensional illusion on a two dimensional surface or space. So what I do is, on a paper, which is a two dimensional surface, I create depth on it and then it starts looking so real. I am also a student of the University Of Lagos, studying civil engineering, and I am in my final year.

TM: Why the switch from Civil engineering to Visual art?

Ken: Art has always been my passion, but passion and Nigerian parents cannot be in a sentence. Also, the society as it was 10 years ago, did not favour the artist, but now it is improving. You have a better society now in the art world unlike before. But in those days, an artist was someone on the road side who sold his work for about five thousand Naira or ten thousand Naira, but a civil engineer with Julius Berger and the rest, there was a huge gap.

TM: When did your journey into art begin?

Ken: I used to draw some works in secondary school, and my friend would take these works and sell them for ten Naira. Then, during my diploma days, I met a guy and saw his works, prior to then I was always drawing on my books or my notebooks, and I kept drawing everywhere. I was reading one night, and I saw this guy who was drawing the then Vice Chancellor and he was very good and then I said to myself that I had to do that. So I started to engage the guy and then he said to me “Dude go and read.“So I went online, started searching for works, artists and reading up a lot. I did not have any formal training; hence, most of my drawings are birthed by my experiences.

http://tushmagazine.com.ng/art-speaks-diverse-tongues-ken-nwadiogbu/