Osinachi (digital artist)

Prince Jacon Osinachi Igwe (born in 1991 in Aba, Nigeria), commonly known as Osinachi, is a Nigerian visual and digital artist.^[1][2][3] Described as "Africa's foremost crypto artist,"^[4] he often uses Microsoft Word as his medium.^[5] Osinachi was the first African artist to have his work digitally auctioned as an NFT by Christie's in Europe.^[6]

Nigerian digital artist Osinachi.

Career

Osinachi entered the crypto art scene in 2017.^[7][8] In 2020, he held his debut solo show, Osinachi: Existence as Protest, at the Kate Vass Galerie in Zürich, Switzerland.^[2] In 2021, Osinachi garnered attention for selling $75,000 worth of NFTs in 10 days.^[9]

Osinachi partnered with the Mohamed Amin Foundation to release NFTs for a catalog featuring 2.5 million photographs and over 5,000 hours of video content. The project launched $Afrofuture, an Ethereum-based social currency.^[10]

In 2021, 1-54 and Christie's collaborated in an online auction of Osinachi's series Different Shades of Water, making him the first African NFT artist to be featured. The series was inspired by David Hockney's 1972 painting Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures). The artworks were displayed at Somerset House.

On January 30, 2024, his artwork Take the Stares, previously owned by Three Arrows Capital, was auctioned at Sotheby's and sold for $20,320.^[11]

Work and reception

Osinachi's work has been described as "engagingly political, drawing from conversations on political matters, gender, tradition and race."^[12] Writing about the art market in 2020, curator Jason Bailey called Osinachi "the best of what the coming generation of artists has to offer."^[13]

Exhibitions

• Osinachi: Existence as Protest at Kate Vasse Galerie, Zurich
• Different Shades of Water at Somerset House with Christie's and 1-54, London