David Obi (b.1980) is a Nigerian, Norwegian contemporary Artist. He has always loved art and craft,
growing up as a kid. He question feelings and emotions on people’s face and their life try to reflect
them on his work.
David paintings are informed by his multicultural upbringing in the Nigerian city of Lagos, where he
studied art at the Yaba College of Art and Technology, and the experiences following his move first to
Sweden and then to Norway, and the UK. David work in different varieties of medium to create his
paintings. From watercolour, oil, acrylic ,ink and gouache. His work are often abstract, figures, portrait,
landscapes conveying huge layers of bright and strong colours with a lot of details and meaning.
Capturing the complexities of people’s emotions and inner nature are among his favourites topics.
My portraits synthesise the many social media images, photographs, and daily life characters that
inspire the artist’s practice, all of which are connected to the African modern diaspora and to the
political and social context in which we live. When creating this series, the artist relied on traditional
painting and drawing techniques which he has experimented with for years.
My approach is methodical yet it leaves room for intuition. Each work begins with a sketch and then
the artist prepares the canvas with a light wash off one shade of colour. Here, the gestural application
of thick overlapping layers of colour begins and is centred mainly on the character’s faces whose rich
textures contrast with the much more delicate brushstrokes applied to other sections of the canvas.
My style of distinctive distorted depiction of the human face threads in my work approach together as
it materialises trauma or what happens when we are beyond ourselves.
Grew up in a multicultural environment in one of Africans most populous city in Lagos, Nigeria. David
moved to Sweden in 2011, in a small town called Karlskoga. And later moved to live in Gothenburg.
There he was inspired and fascinated by the architectural structure and beauty of the entire city,
Gothenburg.
Currently living in Oslo, Norway, UK and America where hes having his new studio.