Introduction
Three Nigerian artists make up this collector’s list, each at different stages in their artist journey: from studio to fair, from fair to gallery representation, from local recognition to international institutions.
One has an artwork on its way to London for a shortlisted prize. Another is building a production studio that treats African storytelling as a technology problem as much as an artistic one. One draws entirely in charcoal, then adds colour to exactly one object per piece, and only when that object carries cultural weight.
These artists explores different art technique to express art: hyperrealism, cross-disciplinary practice, animation-adjacent fine art, but the through-line holds: each is translating something specific and personal into a visual language collectors haven’t quite seen rendered this way before.
Chidiadi Alpho-Okwaraejesu
Based in: Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Medium: Charcoal, pastel, coloured pencil (acrylic in development)
Technique: Hyperrealistic portraiture
Price: Price on request
Why Watch in 2026
Alpho-Okwaraejesu has spent 2026 moving from Nigerian fairs to international institutions in a single year. His work showed at the +234 Art Fair in Lagos, then reached audiences through virtual exhibitions with The Alchemical Art in Melbourne and No. 35 Gallery in London. He was shortlisted for the Saatchi Art Rising Stars feature and placed as a finalist in the Be Still Media Prompt Competition.
His strongest credential is the most recent: a shortlist for the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Drawing Prize, with an artwork now on its way to London for the exhibition. The organization behind the prize has a history of excellence in portraiture dating back to 1891, and a shortlisting places his work alongside artists from across the globe.
His work has also appeared in five international publications this year: Explore Art Magazine, Suboart Magazine, RAWGUE Magazine, Numxn of Story, and Full House Literary Magazine.
He is also a medical student at the University of Port Harcourt, studying Medicine and Surgery alongside a full studio practice.
Practice
Alpho-Okwaraejesu renders the human figure entirely in charcoal, then reserves colour exclusively for objects that carry cultural weight, an Okpu Agụ cap, a gele, cowrie beads. For Alpho-Okwaraejesu nothing is coloured for visual effect. If it’s in colour then it means something.
The process starts with his journal, where he catalogues ideas for coherence over time. Once an idea sticks, he sketches several poses and compositions, then chooses a person from his own life, he works only with ideas he has a real relationship with, which keeps him personally invested in what the piece is actually saying. He shoots hundreds of reference photographs before selecting the ones he’ll work from, then builds the work in layers of charcoal before the coloured elements. A single work can take a few weeks to a few months, depending on scale.
He expanded his practice to include acrylics this year, and his debut piece in the medium sold shortly after completion.
The Work
Okpu Agụ, named for the traditional Igbo cap worn by titled men, examines the cost of masculinity in a culture that rarely makes room for vulnerability from the men who lead a household.
Artist Statement
“To create art is to push a piece of your soul into the never-ending stream of human experience, and trust that someone else will recognise themselves in what you’ve made.”
For Collectors
- A recognisable voice and artistic signature: hyperrealist charcoal work with colour used as a deliberate cultural marker.
- Global and Institutional recognition already in place, a Royal Society of Portrait Painters shortlisting is a proof of artistic journey.
- An artist still early in gallery representation, with international exhibition history already established
Emmanuel Olalekan Akintunde
Based in: Abuja, Nigeria
Medium: Charcoal, pencil, pastel, oil, acrylic
Technique: Multidisciplinary drawing and painting
Price: Price on request
Why Watch in 2026
Emmanuel was selected as one of the top 100 artist in Life in My City Art Foundation LIMCAF2026. Theme: Open Letter, an exhibition built around the theme “Open Letter”, a significant jump in his exhibition journey compared to previous years, Alongside that, his brand, Tbeny Art Ltd, has moved from an idea to a physical studio: documentation already in place, foundation laid, and roughly 80 percent of the first five-year phase already achieved.
Emmanuel now explores commission work across drawing, painting, textile and video editing, and into community education, including a summer art camp he ran earlier this year.
Practice
Emmanuel works across charcoal, pencil, pastel, oil and acrylic, and describes that his Yoruba heritage shapes the idea behind his artwork “in a subtle but meaningful way” but not every of his artwork is centred on Yoruba culture directly, the ideology and traditional thought behind the culture shapes his work.
He researches specific Ifa concepts before translating them into visual form like If a Odu, Obarameji, and the philosophical ideas behind them. While using that research to generate symbols and stories rather than illustrating the tradition directly.
Music plays an unusual role in Emmanuel artwork process. His recent series, titled At Peace began with a single lyrics from Teniola’s song titled “MALAIKA“, a phrase he’d heard many times without any deep thought, until it struck him differently on one particular day: “I’m at peace with God, and I’m at peace with myself.” That line became the starting point for the entire series.
Emmanuel working method moves between two phases: when he has a complete idea, he goes straight to the canvas; when it still needs development, he produces three to five preliminary sketches and works with the best. An artwork typically takes one to two weeks, though more ambitious work has taken him up to two months.
The Work
Sri explores reverence for the creator, incorporating elements drawn from Yoruba Ifa tradition and the Odu Ifa.
Dear God… Can You Hear Me? and Rooted in Peace are two published books of his work, extending the practice beyond single pieces into collected bodies of work.
Artist Statement
“There’s an emotional story behind every one of my pieces. I want collectors to connect not just with the appearance of the work, but with the emotion, the story and the idea embedded within it.”
For Collectors
- A practice built on research, not just aesthetic, borrowing traditional Yoruba concepts.
- An established, growing profile (Tbeny Art Ltd) with documented development, not just a body of individual works
- Published bodies of work (two books) alongside gallery-facing pieces, giving collectors more than one entry point into the practice
Victor Okon
Based in: Lagos, Nigeria (originally from Mbo, Akwa Ibom State)
Medium: Oil, acrylic, charcoal, graphite; animation and digital illustration
Technique: Hyperrealism, cross-disciplinary practice
Price: Price on request
His breakthrough moment came with his first international commission, a portrait for a client in the United Kingdom, and also his first time working in oil on canvas. It was the moment that validated years of self-directed study.
Practice
Okon works with oil and acrylic, charcoal and graphite, and digital tools built for animation and character design. The idea across all of it is hyperrealism, capturing the fine detail of human expression and identity, whether the final piece stays on canvas or on a screen.
He describes his mother as his central inspiration: her determination to keep the family fed against long odds shaped the way he sees resilience, and that theme, quiet, everyday heroism rather than dramatised struggle are depicted in his work. His stated ambition is a multidisciplinary production studio built to take African stories to a global stage, moving from standalone paintings into animation, short film and interactive digital installation over the next three to five years.
Artist Statement
“Art is a bridge between the invisible realms of possibility, where life and reality co-exist. Whenever I paint, I say to myself: keep painting until it starts breathing.”
For Collectors
- Early-stage collecting opportunity; his first major international commission is recent, and his practice is still building its exhibition record
- A stated long-term direction (animation, cinematic short film, digital installation) that gives collectors a reason to track the trajectory, not just his current works.
- Work grounded in specific personal experience (his mother’s resilience) rather than general cultural reference
Why Watch?
Chidiadi Alpho-Okwaraejesu spends weeks selecting reference photographs before a single charcoal stroke. Emmanuel Nde studies specific traditional Yoruba concepts before starting his creation process. Victor Okon spent years teaching himself oil painting before his first international commission arrived. None of them started from instinct alone, each built a technique first, and the technique is now their artistic voice.
That’s the shared pattern: not just a shared medium or a shared theme, but a shared insistence on doing the groundwork before the work exists.
Collecting Across This Season
These three artist explores different medium and techniques:
Hyperrealist portraiture (Alpho-Okwaraejesu): charcoal figures, colour reserved for works that has cultural weight, a technique built around restraint.
Multidisciplinary drawing and painting (Nde): his work explores traditional media and a growing independent brand, with published books alongside individual works.
Cross-disciplinary fine art and digital practice (Okon): classical hyperrealism on canvas, developing in parallel with animation and character design.
A collector building toward variety this quarter isn’t choosing between styles so much as choosing between three different techniques, one built on symbolic precision, one on research and lived experience, one on a fine art practice expanding into new formats entirely.
How to Purchase
Browse individual galleries: Each artist’s available work, with full details on medium and dimensions, is on ArtNativ.
Commission enquiries: All three artists are open to commission discussions. Reach out through their individual profile pages.
Curator consultation: Our team is available for guidance based on what you’re building toward as a collector. No charge for the consultation.
About the Series
ArtNativ’s Artists to Watch series looks for one thing above all: artists whose method is doing something specific enough to be worth naming. We’re not tracking who’s loudest, we’re tracking who’s building something that holds up under a closer look.
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