Excitement As Art Lovers Assemble To Unveil Eghosa Omoruyi’s ‘Painterly’

By Okay Osuji

It was a day of joy and excitement  for budding artist, Eghosa Omoruyi as art enthusiasts, family, friends and associates gathered at the Hunters Eatery and Event Centre, Egbeda-Isheri  on June 19,2022 for the unveiling of ‘Painterly,’-a blend of Fine Arts and Photography exhibition put together by Mr. Eghosa.
The event attracted arts denizens and photography from all walks of life, including the artist’s father,Pastor Paul Osaigbovo Omoruyi and such important dignitaries as Rev. Fred Obetoh, General Overseer of Faith Cathedral International Ministry who declared the event open with a prayer session.
Fine Art being what it is-reflection of the realities of life, ‘Painterly‘ exhibition lived up to its billing and expectations of enthusiasts and collectors at the event.
The obviously elated Eghosa, a graduate of Mechanical Engineering from the Petroleum Training Institute, Delta State, took time to explain some of his unveiled art works and what they reflect with inscriptions.

Of particular interest was the ‘Ant-Man’, the portrait of a man saddled with huge load of ‘challenges’ on his head and two strong chains cascading from his shoulders, holding him down on both sides depicting the life journey of a man from birth to death.

The inscription read, “Ant-man-Born and given the world on my shoulders without asking if I’m strong enough to carry it. I’m called Man everyday just like the Ant, I’m burdened with carrying these weights even when I’m held back by the harsh weather of society, I can’t complain, maybe I’m Ant-Man.”
Similarly, Eghosa eulogized the women folk in another portrait as beautiful creatures with purity of heart.
The inscription read, “Like the Jelly, she beautifully emits her own light under the dark ocean. Plain hearted and transparent, she moves with purity of heart, flowing with whatever nature throws at her but in all her grace, she is fragile and pure.”

Recalling his foray into the world of Fine Arts and Photography, the Mechanical Engineering graduate said, “My journey into Arts actually started in 2018 with Photo manipulation, then I had no camera but I was doing it with my laptop and getting it online. But before now, I used to borrow my friend’s camera or use my phone to do what I like to do which is fine art photography.
“Fine art photography is not seen as a big or recognised genre of photography and then, people focused on events but I was like, I want to do what I love doing which is Fine Art and in 2020, I was able to get recognition on Instagram and my followers and admirers grew in leaps and bounds

Since then, people always commend my works and some online institutions and even now, my work is on exhibition in the USA. Actually, I am a graduate of Mechanical Engineering from Petroleum Training Institute in Delta State.”

Speaking on his inspiration, Eghosa Omoruyi said, “When I was a kid, my dad had a screen camera which I loved to play with and at some point, it got damaged by me. Later, I started checking on some works of those old masters paintings and noticed that they were creative in the things they did and as a mechanical engineer, you have to be creative also. From there, I started developing interest in creativity and whatever comes into my mind I jotted down and then tried to create it on my laptop.
“Most times, when I see something, I will,  like let me see how I can merge it to create a different style and most times, I work with friends who are stylists too, I tell them see what I have in mind, I want to portray it, I sketch it and we create  it together.
On how he got the name, ‘Painterly,’ he has this to say, “Before I got the theme, Painterly, it actually took some time. I got the title in the church after praying to God that my exhibition was coming and I needed a name for it. The word just came to my mind and when I checked the meaning in the dictionary it actually fitted into what I wanted. And I was like, Eureka! I just got the idea of what I wanted.”
The mechanical engineer-turned artist, expressed gratitude to his father, Pastor Paul Osaigbovo Omoruyi for giving him the support to express his creativity in the world of Fine Arts and Photography which he loves to do.

Unfortunately, most young people like Eghosa have had their ingenuity distorted by their conservative parents which inadvertently has affected their career development.
In a chat with journalists at the event, Pastor Omoruyi admitted that he=always allow his children to choose their career path while encouraging them.
In his word, “He read mechanical Engineering, I’m a man who will not tell my children what to do, I look at you and when you want to do anything, the only question I ask is do you have a flair for it, if you tell me yes ,then  I say prove it. And if I see that you have the flair for it, I have no option, I will back you up.
“At the moment, I’m having a running battle with his younger sister, she is in 500 levels at Babcock University, studying law, she will be 20years in December, she is telling me now that she will not practice law that she wants to be a journalist and I said no, that was not our agreement. She told me that when she was three years old, she hinted that she would be a lawyer and I asked her to work it out, write JAMB, go to the university and I will back her up.

“I do not discriminate when it comes to the career choice of my children. I do not choose any vocation or career for them. By God’s grace, I will be 70 years old in March next year and I should be able to back them up in whatever they chose to do. My major interest in them is to make them happy in whatever they are doing because their happiness is also my happiness.
“But I always tell him to remember his first love but if God says this is where he is going to build his career, so be it. An engineer is always an engineer, his tools are still there. When he told me he wanted to do this exhibition, I told him to go ahead. This is his first exhibition and I know after this, there will be more exhibitions, either locally or internationally where many art lovers and people will see and appreciate his works.
On his impression about Fine Arts and Artists, he said, “When you talk about arts and artistes, the perception before now are that of people who wear dreadlocks, smoke marijuana, a man who drinks a lot. But such perception is changing now. Before we have the sculptures and the galleries but today, things are changing and these young ones are changing the face of arts.
“An engineer is going into arts unlike before when an artist was looked at as a a misfit. It is not so now. You see, the Africans actually have what is called arts starting from wood work, like where we come from; our artifacts are still in the United Kingdom and all over the world which we are still battling to bring back which tells you that art making is part of our culture”.
Painterly exhibition was quite unique and can be described as creativity in an uncommon fashion