TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF
My name is Israel Derrick Apeti, popular known on social media as Enilart. I’m 26 year old and I’m an artist. I grew up in Accra Ghana. Kasoa to be precise. Had my basic, secondary and tertiary education in Mary Star of the Sea International School, Pope John Secondary School and Minor Seminary and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and technology (with a bachelor degree in Communication Design) respectively.
HOW DID YOU DISCOVER YOUR CRAFT
My love for art started to grow around the age of six. I would draw cartoons and sketch images from a children’s bible. And even my uncle sleeping on the couch. I always found myself doodling the least chance I got, both on school and at home. This inspired my mom to by me a set of water colors which I happily used to paint many artworks. One of which was the picture of Abraham and Isaac when the former was about to sacrifice the latter. So unlike many kids who also liked to doodle, I didn’t let my passion for art die. That’s what I’ve nurtured till now.
WHAT INSPIRED YOUR STYLE OF ART
I happen to follow a lot of Nigerian artists on social media. Talk of Arinze, Ayogu Kingsley, Oscar Ukonu, Babajide Olatunji, Kelvin Okafor and quite recently Devon Rhodriguez. (The NYC artist who draws people on the subway). All these artists have shaped my art one way or the other because on my quest to get better at my skill I watched them a lot. In fact I still do. Also, because of the sheer interest I have in the human face and anatomy, I find myself drawing/painting people a lot.
WHAT ARE YOUR CHALLENGES AS A CREATIVE
These days everyone is a content creator so it only makes sense if you join the cruise as an artist to get people to see what you’ve created. The challenge is not only with creating a beautiful art but also putting it in a beautiful social media content and being consistent with it. That can be very stressful on your creativity. You only need to plan well and keep your head in the game.
WHAT WAS A MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE AS AN ARTIST
One time, a bus conductor rejected my drawing due to a misunderstanding with the driver. He didn’t understand why I wanted to give the conductor a free drawing. Apparently he thought I wanted to exchange it for my transport fare. They ended up throwing me out of the bus. This is one experience I can never forget.
WHICH ASPECT IS DEMANDING; STARTING OR FINISHING A PROJECT
It takes a lot of “vhim” to start a project but that’s all it takes to start. The challenge is maintaining that vhim throughout the process of doing to work right to the finish. Along the line you even lose interest to continue. So I would say finishing is the hardest and most demanding.
HOW DO YOU FEEL YOUR SOCIETY AFFECTS YOUR INDUSTRY
My interest is in people and what they may be going through; the reason I love drawing faces….because the answers could be there. Since people make up a society, the influence is for sure. And it is your experiences from your immediate environment that dictate how your art would look like. However, with social media now you get influenced from any part of the world. And since almost everyone is on social media, your art has the chance to reach a lot of people if it resonates with them. So society somehow has a say in what happens to your art. Not entirely though.
DO YOU FEEL THERE’S A GOOD SUPPORT ATMOSPHERE IN THE ART INDUSTRY
You know, it’s Africa and Africans didn’t really believe in art. They saw it as something you do just for fun and not a career, even though some still do. The support is good now because they’re beginning to understand that it’s not always the white collar jobs that can make you money. We can only hope that the support gets better from here.
MOST REWARDING PART OF BEING AN ARTIST
First of all, seeing what you’ve created and admiring it. Secondly, if it resonates with someone so much. Sometimes they even resonate with it more than you. That feels really good.
ONE THING YOU HOPE TO IMPROVE ON IN YOUR INDUSTRY
In my opinion, one thing that could be improved in the art industry is the accessibility of art education. Many aspiring artists may not have access to proper training or resources. Making art education more affordable and inclusive would be awesome!
