Oscar Ukonu is a Nigerian artist that paints seemingly real-life pictures with just a ballpoint pen. Since he made his debut about five years ago; he has introduced a twist in the world of arts both in Africa and the rest of the world.
“I first started drawing with rapidograph ink pens during my time in Architecture school, which was my first encounter using ink-based drawing tools. I made few doodles with rapidographs before settling with the ballpoint pen. The ballpoint pen has allowed me more flexibility and control than any other medium I tried my hands on.
I’ve been drawing all my life, but only became more conscious of my talent as a means of expression in 2015. It was at that point I started taking the medium seriously; which eventually led to the evolution of my style and techniques to what my art is today.
I find the ballpoint pen very expressive when working with various pen application techniques such as hatching; crosshatching and scribbling, which helped develop my core hyperrealistic rendering skills and that has further defined my work to what it is today. Ballpoint pen on paper is an unforgiving medium, in the sense that ink strokes cannot be erased once drawn. To control this, I have to draw in layers, working from light to dark tones. Other times, ballpoint pen nibs when used for a long time produce ink blobs that can smear on an ongoing piece of work. To avoid this, I will always wipe the pen nib with a piece of paper at intervals.”
Oscar Ukonu
In a move to push the ballpoint painting further into a global concept in the world of art, Oscar Ukonu further explained to eyegambia;
“Ballpoint pen on paper is a contemporary medium, and not yet as well represented in the art world as oil and pencils. However, recently, it’s a well-collected medium by museums and by individual collections. Ballpoint pen is not yet a generally popularized medium in the Nigerian art scene yet; but the acceptance of the medium at a global level is growing very fast. More museums now display ballpoint pen works as part of their permanent collection; with the medium also getting more attention from galleries and art collectors.”
Fortunately, He has collaborated with some brands in the past and also worked on; the UNICEF EVERY CHILD IN SCHOOL project in 2018 which yielded maximum results.