Victor Nzegwu- About
To some, art amounts to nothing but an image on a canvas — to Victor Nzegwu, it’s a way to express his interpretation of life and challenge the natural definition of beauty.
Nzegwu, a graduate of the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), obtained a degree in industrial design in 2019, but has been outputting his art and creative ideas for far longer.
Self-taught as a child, he began his artistry drawing characters from shows and comics until high school, where he learned to draw realistic graphite portraits — using friends and taking requests for entertainment.
Now, as an adult, Nzegwu takes art seriously as a career and has ventured into painting and creating his own unique form.
“In college, opportunities started coming up… I saw the different ways you can go with art and that’s how I found my major. I didn’t want to be an art teacher, I just wanted to create art,” he said.
Alongside his time at school, paving the way for industrial design to be his main artform, Nzegwu has been based in both New Jersey and New York. For the last year, the 25-year-old has actively worked on his art in New York, where he shadows internationally-exhibited contemporary artist Harif Guzman.
“The most important thing I learned from shadowing Harif is that great work comes from you just being yourself and being truly original in the way you interpret the world. That helped me open my mind a little bit more.”
Nzegwu’s style is also inspired by artists like photographer Nick Knight and visual artist George Condo, who often instill multiple deep meanings into their works.
“Nick Knight is a photographer and filmmaker, but I like to call him an image-maker because of the way he’s able to transform his images. He’s elaborate and has so many layers to his work. That’s also what I strive to do.”
To Nzegwu, you’re not just supposed to see the character, but come to know why they are the way they are.
“With my art, I try to connect to the deeper side of your subconscious. With that, there’s naturally a dark element — sometimes religion. It’s also romantic and dramatic. It’s intimate, the inner you.”
Nzegwu demonstrates this sort of intimacy in his favorite work “There are Trolls in Your Garden”. According to Nzegwu, it is intended as a way to look at your subconscious mind.
“I paint them in a darker tone almost as if they are in a shadow with a brighter background. This is supposed to really represent the deeper side of you that is more of a mystery. I also paint them with sort of mocking and playful expression that kind of teases you that they are there to stay — just like how your subconscious isn’t something you can get rid of either.”
Nzegwu further explains that he often uses the colors pink and orange as a backdrop because they seem to be calming and innocent colors, deeming them a place of peace for him.