Patrick Chukwuka Onyejiaka (born 17 March 2000), professionally known as Patrick Chuka or ArtistChuka, is a Nigerian artist who primarily works with

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...

and ballpoint pen. He also paints with oil,

pastel A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...

and

acrylic Acrylic may refer to: Chemicals and materials * Acrylic acid, the simplest acrylic compound * Acrylate polymer, a group of polymers (plastics) noted for transparency and elasticity * Acrylic resin, a group of related thermoplastic or thermosett ...

, largely focusing his art on

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

and some aspect of

hyperrealism Jean Baudrillard ( , , ; 27 July 1929 – 6 March 2007) was a French sociologist, philosopher and poet with interest in cultural studies. He is best known for his analyses of media, contemporary culture, and technological communication, as w ...

Early life and education

Chuka was born in

Victoria Island Victoria Island ( ikt, Kitlineq, italic=yes) is a large island in the Arctic Archipelago that straddles the boundary between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the List of islands by area, eighth-largest island in the world, ...

, Lagos State in a family of four, where he is the first child. He is from Abba, Nwangele,

Imo State Imo State ( ig, Ȯra Imo) is a States of Nigeria, state in the South East (Nigeria), South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by Anambra State, Rivers State to the west and south, and Abia State to the east. It takes its n ...

, Nigeria. Due to family crises while growing up, his family relocated a lot, forcing him to change from one secondary school to another. From 2010 to 2011, he went to

Federal Government College, Odogbolu Federal Government College Odogbolu is a federal owned secondary school located in Odogbolu town in Ogun State. The school was founded in January 1973 as one of the unity schools by the federal government. It has facilities for both day and bo ...

, Ogun State, Nigeria for his secondary school education, he moved to Top Highflyer College,

Isolo Isolo (also known as Isumbi) is a traditional mancala game played by the Sukuma people in northern Tanzania. The rules of the game come in three variants, respectively for women, boys and men. Equipment The board used to play Isolo (also known as ...

, Lagos State, from 2012 to 2014, before moving again to Weenoble International School,

Ejigbo Ejigbo is a prominent city in Yoruba Land and the headquarters of Ejigbo Local Government Area, one of the oldest local government areas of Osun State in Nigeria. Ejigbo is strategically placed in the middle of the region, as north-east of Iwo ...

, Lagos State, where he finally finished in 2015. He started making art at 15, immediately after graduating from secondary school. Chuka later moved to the United States with his family in 2018. He is currently a student of Berkeley City College, Berkeley, California, USA, where he is studying Biology.

Style and philosophy

Chuka works primarily with

and ballpoint pen. He paints with oil,

and also

sculpt Sculpt may be: *a verb meaning 'to sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and de ...

. He has drawn attention to trending topics such as feminism, marriage rights for minorites, LGBTQ rights and gender equality with his art. In 2018, he explained why he gets angry when reading the Bible. He criticized

Solomon Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...

for asking God for Wisdom.

Features

On 16 January 2018, Chuka had a drawing of his included in Brittle Paper in "14: An Anthology of Queer Art, Vol. 2: The Inward Gaze." On October 30, Patrick was featured on '' BBC''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chuka, Patrick 2000 births Living people Artists from Lagos Nigerian artists 21st-century Nigerian artists Ballpoint pen art