Depth of creativity

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This article was published 02/11/2024 (309 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When you look at an Efe Ogboru piece, chances are you’ll be staring at a canvas with more than just paint on it.

The artist, currently in her final year of a fine arts degree at the U of M, incorporates beads, glitter, stones, chains and sometimes even hair to add texture to her paintings.

“It’s not human hair,” she swiftly says, anticipating the next question.

“I always have to explain that any time I talk about my paintings. It’s synthetic hair. Someone once confronted me; ‘did you take my hair and put it in your painting?’”

Fake hair or otherwise there is no denying Ogboru’s work merits closer inspection.

Her portraits are arresting. Multiple layers of reds, greens, blues and browns — there can be anything from seven to 15 layers of paint in one piece — add depth, the oils she prefers to work with swathed on not just with a brush, but a spatula, her fingers, anything in hand she can use to achieve the texture she’s after.

A blank, smooth background is not for her; canvases are sometimes prepped with coarse modelling paste, making them look like popcorn. This is as much for touch as it is for appearance — she wants you to feel her art, literally.

“None of my canvases are completely flat,” she says. “I like the feel of something on the canvas, I like to play around with texture. My paint strokes are not just visible, you can touch them. I want people to touch the paintings so they too can feel the layers.”

Her largest work to date, the 32-by-48-inch Obirin Alagbara (strong/powerful woman in the Yoruba language) currently in Toronto after being shown at a gallery there, has around 10 layers of paint, but she can’t say for certain. The work also contains textured paste, Ankara fabric, glitter, gold leaf, silver and gold crystals, gold beads and yes, synthetic hair.

“My art is an expression of how much I love being Black and my West African culture. I’ve been away from Nigeria for a long time and it’s a way for me to keep connected to my home country,” she explains.

Working late into the night — “I like to paint when everyone in the house is asleep” — she’s recently been forcing herself to take breaks after losing track of time once too often. Forgetting to eat, rest or shift positions has seen her resort to a timer, set to go off every two hours, to jolt her back to earth.

“It’s something I figured out I need to do after painting for 12 hours straight,” she admits. “I like taking my time. That’s why I mostly paint with oils. I don’t like working with acrylic because it dries too fast. Oil paints dry slowly and, while the paint does come out a bit dull, once I start building the layers I can see the colours coming out and the image I want coming through,” she shares.

She’s recently taught herself to sew via YouTube videos and has been making make tote bags which she posts on her Instagram @efeskeptar, alongside her latest works.

Ogboru’s art, while clearly a passion, is also a way for her to make a living from the things she creates. Not one to indulge in the “starving-artist” trope, she laughs at the assumption that art as a business somehow dilutes the sincerity of the work.

Her desire is to be able to live comfortably as an artist — a life she wants for other Black artists, too.

“Being creative is something you should share, even if it is for profit. We live in a capitalist society. You can’t just be creating art for yourself; you need a way to live,” she says.

“My dream is to own a gallery where other artists can show their work and turn their art into a career. I want to create more opportunities for Black artists. In Nigeria they look at art as a hobby, not a way to make a living. I want to show people that you can turn it into a career and still be able to express yourself through your art.”

av.kitching@freepress.mb.ca