Hillary Emetuche: Hyperrealism with Heart and Purpose

Hillary Emetuche’s online portfolio  reveals two categories of his art: photography and drawings, each with samples. On a webpage, a close-up graphite drawing of a young woman with braided hair stands out. Emphasis falls on her intricate facial features: expressive eyes with a seemingly glossy feel; a meticulously crafted nose with contours and slight shadows; soft, naturally full lips; and a skin betraying details like fine lines and pores. The lady’s simplicity and innocence bounces off a monochromatic gray-scale palette. An attribute of this particular artwork is a pencil positioned vertically against the chin, the lower part of the face. The presence of the pencil is justifiable: it is the tool used to create the lady’s image, its hard tip posed as an irony of the delicateness of the skin, a testament to the vision of Emetuche.

The identity of the lady is Ezinne, Emetuche’s sister, the drawing triggered by the need to, as the creative exactly puts it, “capture her kindness”. It was also the artist’s first subject from a camera his father gifted him after his university education. To accomplish this drawing, he studied multiple shots and selected a reference image  that best reflected the lady’s essence.

The guiding philosophy of Emetuche’s artworks is hyperrealism. It is his outlet for self-expression, giving him a sense of fulfillment, something meaningful to hold onto. Every drawing and photography in his digital catalogue embodies this sentiment. With each stroke of the charcoal or graphite pen, he aims for a life-like presentation of his subjects, usually humans, ensuring to magnify distinct features that anyone can relate to. Accompanying the intentionality of his craft is a benign sense of flexibility and a potential for adaptability.

Hyperrealism, an artistic movement, emanated from photorealism, a style that was prevalent in the 1960s and focused on life-like painting and drawing replicas of photographs. Initially, photorealism was interchangeable with hyperrealism. With time, however, hyperrealism became a distinct but multifaceted artistic philosophy where artists aim to produce aesthetically pleasing artworks, approaching the craft with great detail and intensity. Unlike photorealism that relies heavily on pictures, hyperrealism uses pictures as a stepping stone, mere reference for a more detailed, surreal, synthetic rendition of the subject. The hyperrealistic artist may be compared to a perfectionist who is driven to create art that feels unprecedented, elevating his craft beyond basic expectations. Artists of this kind pay keen attention to elements such as texture, lighting, silhouette, and subject matter, combining them in the right proportion for well-defined results.

Emetuche’s hyperrealistic drawings are like high-resolution photographs, striking and mentally admissible, yet they also pose a conflict to viewers’ perceptions about what is real and what isn’t. His drawings generally spotlight human figures and objects that are of personal interest and symbolic significance, drawing on moral and social themes. With each piece, it feels as though the artist aims to quietly teach values and dispel vices. Drawings of Harry Kane and Lionel Messi in his oeuvre announce the artist’s passion for the personalities of footballers, not necessarily the game itself. While both stars are primarily known for their excellent résumé as forwards operating at the highest levels of modern football, they demonstrate great character off the pitch and serve as an inspiration to the current generation of young dream chasers and hopefuls.

Another piece of art  features a gun held in a baby’s hand, which symbolizes the unprofessionalism and immaturity of individuals wielding weapons. It lampoons the 2020 EndSARS protest and massacre, a fateful incident during which security forces opened fire on unarmed protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos. In Emetuche’s satirical painting, the gun mouth has a tap, which represents control, highlighting how the trigger, not the gun itself, causes harm. The gun image is exaggerated in form, blurring the line between reality and fantasy, but also leaving behind a message on the politics of coercion.

Emetuche grew up with parents that wanted him to forge a career in saturated, popular fields like Medicine and Law, a contradiction of his innate passion for the arts. He ended up pursuing a university degree in Engineering while spoon-feeding his creative instincts. His encounters with Nigerian hyperrealist authorities like Kevin Okafor, Arinze Stanley and Ken Nwadiogbu influenced his career trajectory, prompting him to practice and aim for perfection with charcoal and graphite through lots of YouTube tutorials. As he developed, he found himself also drawn to photography and public speaking—completing what may be called an artistic hattrick. Now, he is at a stage where he uses art to trigger individual creativity and drive social changes.

“Finding my voice has been a journey of growth through imitation and improvement,” Emetuche says, about maintaining his unique voice within the framework of hyperrealism. “What sets my work apart is its focus on community and impact. I share my art through live demonstration and exhibitions, inspiring creativity and connecting with diverse talents like musicians and other artists.”

In the crucible of hyperrealism, Emetuche’s relentless pursuit of perfection mirrors a courtroom drama, where only unassailable evidence crowns the victor. Yet, he’s discovered that perfectionism is a double-edged sword: its demands once left him unfulfilled, chasing flawless mirages. Now, he wields imperfection as his boldest stroke, placing raw, unpolished humanity at the heart of his art. Mistakes become masterpieces, and in their truth lies his triumph, a testament to the beauty of the flawed, forever etched in the canvas of existence.