Patrick Akpoghotor: Emerging from the dark

Patrick Akpojotor in Ile-Ife, hails from Agbarha-Otor, Delta state. He studied fine art at the School of Art, Federal Polytechnic, Auchi and Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu, where he majored in Graphic Design. He also had his training with Dr. Bruce Onobrakpeya as a studio assistant and consultant to the Bruce Onobrakpeya Foundation (BOF) from 2003 to 2017. He has won several awards/prizes including the Olusegun Obasanjo 2013, "OFF THE BIN PROJECT" 2013 and the first Art X prize in 2016. He has participated in several group exhibitions with the most recent being "IN-TER-ACTIONS" at Rele Art Gallery (2018) as well as, Art X Lagos art fair (2017) and Bruce Onobrakpeya and the Harmattan Workshop Exhibition (2016). He has also taken part in several editions of the Harmattan Workshop as a participant in painting sessions and facilitator of the leather craft session. He has been a full time studio artist since 2017.

Patrick is a multidisciplinary artist working across painting, drawing, printmaking, installation art and sculpture. His work is influenced by his fascination with the built space and architecture and their ability to shape ones identity. He is interested in the differences in human attitude, relating to the culture of the built environment that they inhabit. His work merges together visual elements of the built environment, geometry, human forms and imagined spaces to create abstract composition that interrogates our sense of perception which challenges us to see differently.