feature: nigerian painter oresegun olumide amazes with spectacular hyper-realistic oil paintings

Sometimes the internet does great things. Introducing us to painter Oresegun Olumide is one of the. The Lagos-born artist has been painting since childhood and studied fine art at the Yaba College of Technology, where he graduated with distinctions. His show-stopping hyper-realistic paintings draw inspiration from his community and reflect the lives of the people around him in his native Nigeria—water playing a prominent role in many of his renderings. The use of an element like water creates a hard-to-achieve translucent effect, making the paintings appear that much more realistic. Olumide told CNN that his thematic usage of liquid serves as homage to a popular adage in the Yoruba language, “water has no enemy.” That same unifying and kind message vibrates throughout his portraits. It can take Olumide anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to complete a painting, depending on the size and intricacy of the details. Check out a few of his pieces down below and follow Olumide on Instagram to see what else he’s been up to.

www.instagram.com/oluhyperclassical

*Erin White is an Atlanta-based writer and AFROPUNK’s editorial and social media assistant. You can follow her on Tumblr or friend her on Facebook. Have a pitch or an inquiry? Shoot her an email at erin@afropunk.com.