Osifeso Ezekiel
Nigeria
Osifeso Ezekiel hails from Ogun State. He was born on the 15th of August 1992 in Ikeja, Lagos. His desire to practice art was discovered early on by his parents. He then went to the University of Lagos where he studied Visual Arts in the department of creative art (2010-2013). Having decided to go into practice full time, he did his internship at the Estúdios Universais de Arte.
His journey through various art institutions has positively affected his style, choice of medium and his philosophy of art. His works started out being somewhat fauvist and expressionist in their approach. This was due to influences from artists such as Edosa Oguigo and Sam Ebohon, whom he studied at a distance at the time. After the completion of his studies, just before his internship, Ezekiel's works took a different tone. He began to incorporate the prints from the Journal with a monochrome approach to his works, which was largely influenced by the limited materials he had at the time. These works became a series he called "Societal Scribbles". He has exhibited some at Mydrim Gallery (Affordable Art Show, 2016) and The Conversation (at Aso Rock, Abuja, 2016) by Relé Gallery.
However, when he started with his internship, he introduced his art to colours again, this time, he continued the fauvist/impressionist approach and as he continued to practice, he exhibited them at Rele gallery, Young Contemporary Exhibition in 2017. Subsequently, his painting morphed into impressionist-realism, using heavy colours and busy brushstrokes. Some of these works he exhibited at Mydrim gallery "Generations" (future master series), 2017-2019, Thought Pyramid's "Next of Kin" in 2018.
This painting experiment led him to a series he calls "the clown series". At this point in the artist's life, he actually wanted to return to deliberately satirical storytelling with his paintings. Using the characteristics of a typical clown, incorporating them into random people's faces. Ezekiel tells stories of current reality.
He is currently exploring the use of limited palette and semi-finished portraits to tell stories of Africa and young Africans. This series he calls "the unfinished business".
He currently lives and practices in Ibafo, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Events and Exhibitions
2018 - "Next of Kin", Thought Pyramid's
2017 - 2019 - "Generations" (Future master series), Mydrim Gallery's;
2017 - "Young Contemporary Exhibition", Rele Gallery;
2016 - "Affordable Art Show", Mydrim Gallery, Nigeria;
2016 - "The Conversation Exhibition", Relé Gallery, Aso Rock, Abuja;