5 Nov 2010

Artist 41: Karo Akpokiere








Its Karo Akpokiere! A warm welcome to a rising star all the way from Lagos, Nigeria. Bold, vital and strong there is a great lyrical quality to the work, and the viewer is instantly drawn into the complex vibrant world of street art, textiles, traditional art and the melting pot of creativity that makes this artist stand out from the crowd. There is never a hint of cliche, and no favours asked or given, his work is strong on its own. Clever and slick he shows not only a great sense of style but he is cool and his smart use of tones and colours show he is a true talent capable of using a very powerful cultural background with intelligence and skill setting him apart. Hard worker with a bright future catch him here!!

Who are you: 
Hello, I am Karo Akpokiere. I am an artist and designer currently based in lagos, Nigeria.

What do you do:
I draw and design for self-initiated projects and commissioned work and I am constantly on the look out for surfaces to get my drawings on, as a way to make them visible and accessible. I started a daily drawing blog last year at www.theseekproject.wordpress.com where I post the drawings I create on the daily.

How did you start:
Though I have always drawn, my start came in 1998 because it was then I heard words that gave me a deep sense of value for the talent I have been given, words that also made me realize that I could build a career of off the talent . It was this realization, that moved me to take art and design courses at The Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, Nigeria where I got two diplomas, one in General Art and the other in Graphic Design. After school in 2006, I worked for a while in Advertising and Brand marketing and only left the 9-5 scene in 2008 to focus on building my The Seek Project and charting other paths to focus my creative abilities.

A Personal statement about you or your work:
I am deeply interested in how the drawings I create can be applied to different media as a way to make them accessible and visible. My work is indicative of my desire to combine different 'cultural' elements in other to create art that is universally appealing and reflective of my interests in textile motifs, the graffiti aesthetic, t-shirt graphics, sneakers, advertising, character design and geometry.

1 comment:

  1. These are great! Pretty interesting graphics going on.

    ReplyDelete