Recently updated on May 27th, 2020 at 03:46 pm
Arinze Stanley, a hyper-realistic artist has emerged winner of the World’s Best Self Portrait category at the 2017 American Art Awards.
Arinze Stanley came out on top ahead of USA’s Mano Sotelo, Sweden’s Susanne Persson, Taiwan’s Lynn Chen and more.
Arinze Stanley is popular for using only charcoal and graphite pencils to create portraits so realistic you’ll have a hard time believing they are not actually photographs.
He graduated from the Imo State University with a degree in Agricultural Engineering, but Arinze had found an undying love in the art, from the age of six.
He says his art is “born out of an undying zeal for perfection both in skill and expression”.
“Well, hyperrealism, in my understanding, is an exaggeration of realism. This is a movement of art that involves drawing or painting in a manner that looks like a photograph, with an ability to pass a message or tell a story and exert some amount of emotion/feelings to the viewers.
Every single piece of art I create gives me a sense of accomplishment… I think this is common with all, because each new piece reflects growth both in my mental and physical abilities.
Not for a single day throughout my years of practice did I consider financial success as a motivating factor for me. I just wanted to do what comes naturally to me. Definitely, art has paid off a lot.
I won’t consider myself successful just yet, because everyday I draw is a journey for me. I see my art as a competition between me and myself.
So hopefully I’ll just keep practicing as I always do to get better at what I do.“
