Urunna Anyanwu

We open on an array of four drawings, each with its own story, emotion, reason for being here. A sensitive boy, a volatile teen, an intelligent adult, a melting pot of actions and emotions. But who is the true subject of the works, the man or the artist?

I've always been curious about my place and existence in the world. Spiritually and literally, I've always wondered things about myself, on why and how I am the way I am. These thoughts quickly became too much for me when they first appeared as a child. Why do bad things happen to me? What does it mean for me to be Black? Who am I? I soon took to drawing to soothe my mind and explore things about myself I couldn't understand. 

My mind and imagination houses a diverse and grand scape of characters and worlds, each one perfectly crafted and inspired by things, people, and ideas around me. They flood the forefront of my mind, not a day passing without me thinking about the lives that are carried out that only I understand. As I had more questions about myself, characters and worlds spawned in response. Each marking important moments of my life and upbringing, and they quickly changed from creative outlets to projections of myself. Locked safely in my head, they fueled my daily ventures of becoming a person.

Though the worlds are massive and expansive, within an innermost core lies Tyrique. Tyrique is far from the first, and farther from the last of the cast of characters within my head.  Starting originally as a crude rendition of a video game character on notebook paper, he has now made a large impact on my life. Through him, I have been able to explore myself in ways I am more reserved to do in real life. My blackness, masculinity, and otherness can be stretched and exaggerated, morphed, and manhandled. My life gets to be limitless in ways I wish it was when I draw and explore him.

Now, I want others to know him. See him. Love him. Feel emotions for him and his life in the same way that I do. This project is far from over, and what is displayed in the gallery could be multiplied tenfold with enough space and time. However, my brain works faster than my hand, which works longer than you can see. In these works, viewers get to understand him and I as the door to my mind and its worlds opens a little wider.