Since graduating from the School of Art, Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, where he studied Fine Art, and Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu, where he majored in Graphic Design, Patrick Akpojotor has embraced his training and calling with dexterity and commitment.
Over the years, Patrick, who was born in Ile-Ife, Osun State and hails from Agbarha-Otor, Delta State, has displayed consistency in the mastery of his craft, while still open to learning.
Today, he has grown to become 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 one’s identity. He is also interested in the differences in human attitude, relating to the culture of the built environment that they inhabit.
Those who follow his career will attest to his creative ingenuity, which is evident across his works, which often merge visual elements of the built environment, geometry, human forms and imagined spaces to create abstract composition that interrogates human sense of perception, while challenging viewers to see things differently.
He has won several awards and 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 including; Bruce Onobrakpeya and the Harmattan Workshop Exhibition (2016), Art X Lagos art fair (2017), “IN-TER-ACTIONS” at Rele Art Gallery (2018), 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London in 2021, Art X Lagos 2022, among others.
With all the above going for him, excitedly, Patrick’s works are highly sought-after by collectors, gallerists and even corporates because of their originality, creative depth and visual appeal.
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Looking back, he is grateful to his training and especially exposure and mentorship by Bruce Onobrakpeya, foremost African visual art master, who he trained under as a studio assistant.
He went further to become a consultant to the Bruce Onobrakpeya Foundation (BOF) from 2003 to 2017.
The mentorship with Onobrakpeya, his kinsman, and at Agbarha-Otor, his hometown, saw him participating in several editions of the Harmattan Workshop series as a participant and later as a facilitator, especially in the leather craft session. Speaking on the quality of Patrick’s works, during the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London edition in 2022, Sandra Mbanefo Obiago, founder, SMO Contemporary Art, noted that his architectural renderings have an identity and memory, which come alive in the spaces he creates, reflecting the personality of their inhabitants.
“His portraits embody internal and external emotional architecture, which reflect the multi-layered pressures of life in a mega-city, which make a deep imprint on the psychology of communities and the spaces they inhabit,” Obiago confessed.
At the ‘Interconnections’ during the Art X Lagos 2022, Mofe Osubi, an art critic, expressed satisfaction with Patrick’s works, especially his experimental sculptures, which reveal how multiple components within architectural spaces shape one’s identity and mental well-being.
Truly, Patrick draws viewers of his works into a deep and fresh connection with what lies beneath the gaze, the pose, and layers of outer adornment, and exposes the core of the human experience in all its beauty and raw emotion.
Though an experimental artist, Patrick still makes efforts to learn more and up his skills, a quest that has seen him networking and exchanging more with fellow artists, collectors, gallerists and even the public.
Of course, the full-time studio artist since 2017, is open to visits, ideas and collaborations as his works are corporate places, galleries and private collectors.
Patrick is always satisfied anytime he is in his studio as it welcomes him with a beautiful view.
“I am thankful for the life I live, for my family, extended families and friends. I am grateful for the growth in my artistic career, and to all that have in any way contributed to it,” he said in appreciation.
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