Dennis Osakue

“I know most people create art for political reasons and while that is important, it’s not why I became an artist. I just want people to see my art and feel happy. I want people to see my art, and regardless of what is going on with them at that moment, be overcome with joy.” 

Born in 1968, Dennis Osakue is a contemporary artist whose portraits are dominant motifs of expression. The faces and the figurative demand unbridled attention to decode the changing contexts. Withdrawing them from the corners of histories, social and political phenomena and cultural remnants, the prominent texture in his expressions speaks of colonial as well as post-colonial angst and memory.

After his academic training, Osakue worked for an advertising agency as an illustrator photographer and video editor. Influenced by the tumult of the 1980s,  the cultural environment became one of the motivating factors in rendering a revised way of portrayal. Inspired by the street art graffiti, the movements of Germany, slowly incorporated into his practice.

Osakue interest in portraits goes back to his childhood when his father made hyperrealistic portraits. The sensitive thread of consuming the experiences during our formative years weaves our fabric of perception and thereby  helps in creating our own languages. In the Osakue case, his paintings were adopted and adapted to modern pop art. And he does not leave them as it is, instead he merges them with interesting and novel materials. The predominant feature of texture is the true language of Osakue. Gradually, his works have begun to fetch noted worth in international auctions and exhibitions.