Untitled | Prosper Aluu

Prosper Aluu

A painted portrait of a Black figure from the bust up in a shirt composed of newspapers splattered with neon color in blue, green, yellow, and red. The subject's face is turned at a three-quarter perspective, gazing at the viewer.
 

Born and raised in Nigeria, Prosper Aluu grew up drawing comics and characters which enabled him to understand the human figure and expressions properly, after which he became a full time studio artist in 2017. Prosper studied at the Federal University of Technology Owerri, where he learned Building technology with an architectural background on designing. He also acquired expertise in graphic design, illustration, 3D modelling, video editing and animation. In 2018, he had his first official art exhibition where he won the Peace Poster award for his painting on Peace at the ANBUKRAFT. He has participated in several exhibitions and competitions since then, including several solo exhibitions. His stylized figures show the use of the artistic devices of elongation and exaggeration and his unique style of painting the iconic afro hairstyle. These are his ways of celebrating and negotiating African identity. Prosper plays with the size, forms, and presentation of the head of the figures in his paintings as a visual pun to challenge what he considers a one-sided narrative about the size of the head in traditional African art. By using Nigerian newspapers in his works, he tells stories of the past by preserving stories of the present.

 
Hannah Hirano