Painting · Portraiture · Digital Art · Works on Paper · Collage
Nia Okafor
London, United Kingdom
“Presence is a compositional force.”
Biography
Nia Okafor's portraits combine confident drawing with abrupt changes of scale. A face may be carefully observed while clothing and setting dissolve into broad, physical color.
Artist statement
I am interested in self-possession. The people I imagine do not explain themselves to the viewer; they simply occupy the picture fully.
In the studio
Okafor alternates charcoal studies with direct oil painting. She frequently scrapes back shoulders and backgrounds, leaving the face as the calmest part of the surface. Pixel-based editions let her explore how scale and distance reorganize a portrait-like field.
