Arinze Stanley (26)

Arinze Stanley Egbengwu was born in Lagos, Nigeria and graduated from Imo State University with a B.Eng. in Agricultural engineering.

Starting at an early age of 6, Arinze had always been enthusiastic about drawing realistic portraits on paper. Being exposed to his family’s paper business, Arinze grew to love paper and pencils as his toys at a very tender age.

Working in a genre of art known as Hyper-realism, He drives at creating art that triggers a degree of emotional connection between his viewers and his subjects. Art then became a tool of social and political activism with which he highlighted pressing matters such as Modern Slavery, feminism and others both within and outside his community.

He won a Cultural achievement award in Junior Chambers International in 2018. In 2019, he was featured on BBC for his hyperrealism work. His most recent solo show (2018) at the Jonathan Levine Gallery sold pieces for $15,000. Stanley’s work has also recently featured on the BBC Arts & Culture page.

Ken Nwadiogbu (25)

Ken Nwadiogbu, popularly known as KenArt, is a Nigerian born multidisciplinary artist and contemporealist – a fusion that is primarily centered around Hyper-Realism and Contemporary art. Nwadiogbu was born in Lagos, Nigeria and holds a B.Sc. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Lagos.

Nwadiogbu has been featured in lots of local and international group exhibitions and fairs, he has been nominated in highly prestigious national award shows, been televised and publicized on different broadcast, radio, print and online platforms as well as inspiring and encouraging young creatives through public speaking appearances. He founded the fast-growing creative companies; Artland Contemporary Limited and KINGS Management. He co-founded Artists Connect NG, the largest Nigerian artist gathering that takes place at Lekki Leisure Lake, in Lagos, Nigeria.

Between 2018 and 2019, he has had several exhibitions, including EMPOWERMENT Exhibition (2018), held at Black and White Building, Rivington Street, London, Moniker Art Fair (2018) held at Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse, Brooklyn, NYC, Art X Lagos (2018) held at Civic Centre, Lagos, Nigeria, LAX-SFO (2019)- a group exhibition held at Heron Arts, San Francisco, California, LAX-MSY (2019)- A group exhibition held at Red Truck Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana. He is set to exhibit at the 2019 edition of Art X Lagos.

Dipo Doherty (28)

Dipo Doherty, is a self-taught artist who earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Virginia.

His artistic career began at the age of 21. He has attempted to approach his scientific inquiry of the world around him through artistic expression. He is a Nigerian Post-war & Contemporary painter.

Dipo Doherty’s work has been offered at auction multiple times. One of the foremost young artists practicing in Nigeria today, he is an Arthouse Foundation Fellow. He has held past solo exhibitions in Red Door Gallery and Nike Art Gallery and participated in various group exhibitions in the United States and Lagos. His grants, recognitions, awards and residencies include: 2018 Community Mural Project (Social Media Week, Nigeria), 2019 Schnitzer Art Prize (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA).

Olarinde Olayemi Ayanfeoluwa (22)

Olarinde Olayemi Ayanfeoluwa is a visual artist but with a major interest in scribble art. Her influences are Erick Centeno, a scribble artist based in Genoa Italy, Vince low from Kuala Lumpur and Uche Uzorka because of how he’s been able to create scribbles in abstract forms.

In making scribble art, she uses different kinds of a medium such as a micron pen, paint, digital pen, sheet and sometimes foreign medium like collages, raffia palm etc.

Scribbling is an art technique that allows relaxed and dynamic lines that changes as the drawing progresses. She has been able to combine different styles to create a new one. She has introduced mixed media through photo collages where she fixes surreal collages from already existing works into her scribble.

Ayanfeoluwa has worked on more than 100 scribbled pieces in the past two years. A piece takes 10 minutes to five months to complete and sells for at least $140 (€124). Her art has caught the attention of the world has been featured on CNN Africa, Konbini to mention a few.

Olabanke Subair (28)

Olabanke Subair has always had an unflinching interest in the Arts and media space as a whole, despite her foray into content development/management and digital marketing for 6 years. However, her love for the Arts and revamping “trash” into valuable and functional items led her to set up Cyrus45 Factory in 2017, an eco-interior company focused on up/recycling solid waste in artsy and ultra-modern products. With Cyrus45 Factory, her goal is to creatively contribute to the reduction of environmental pollution and hazards in Nigeria caused by non-biodegradable waste (particularly tyre and glass bottle waste) by providing a sustainable disposal system via innovative upcycling and recycling. She is driven by a desire to facilitate a greener future for the next generation which is why her company proudly supports Goal 11 (sustainable cities and communities), Goal 12 (Responsible consumption and production), and Goal 13 (climate action) of the SDGs.

In 2018, Olabanke was privileged to be invited to the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to speak about her work at Cyrus45. She has also been featured on BBC World, Financial times UK, Guardian and several other media outlets. Cyrus45 bagged the 2018 Ace Award for the Best Eco-friendly product.