No padi for jungle; My brothers pay for their costumes —Tony Okoye

To say that the Okoye family is a blessed and gifted one is truth-telling. Much has been written in the papers and aired on radio and television about Nigeria's ruling R & B singing twins- Peter and Paul stage-named, P-Square.

A lot of P-Square loyalists also know that their brother, Jude Okoye, is behind their
fascinating, colourful and creative music videos. In fact, Jude is one of the most highly rated music video producers Nigeria has at present.

Now, we unveil to you another of the P-Square brothers, Anthony Chukwuma Okoye, an artist. Soft-spoken yet very expressive, Tony, a very gifted first-class graduate of Creative Arts from the University of Maiduguri, whose first painting was the portrait of the Lord Jesus, speaks on his three dimensional painting (3D painting) and how his singing brothers' (P-Square) fame has helped and, at the same time, challenged his profession. His works definitely speak volumes, as does his clientele base. Enjoy the excerpts.

Apart from being brother to P-Square, please introduce yourself?

My name is Anthony Okoye. I love painting. I'm from a family of ten- mother and father inclusive. I'm the fifth born and from Anambra State. I was born and brought up in Jos where I did my primary and secondary schooling.

Then, for my university, I went to the North to study creative Arts, where I graduated with a First Class because I already had arts in me. I was born an artist.

Why did you choose to study arts for a degree?

Let's just say I've been drawing all my life. It's some-thing I have passion for, so when I got the opportunity to go to school to study, I decided to study what I am good at instead of exploring something else.

Many other art-inclined people, especially actors and singers, believe that there is no point going to school to study what you already have in you. How come you think differently?

Talents differ. Many people now know that going to school is very important but the thing about music is that, once there is a talent and delivery, your fans do not care if you are a graduate or not.

And acting too is almost about expression. But for painting, even if you have the talent, I mean you are a creative human being alright, there a lot of other things that should come with it. By that, I mean the business side to painting. If you are not well enlightened and you call yourself an artiste, people will price you cheap because, to sell works like these, you need to convince people to buy.

Human beings can see a work and say, 'I love this work'. But then, when they see the owner of the work and he is asked to define his work and he can't express himself, they are turned off. Also, in going to school, you meet people. So it's very important to be educated.

Was first class a conscious target?

I went into school with the aim of making a good result. That was the important thing for me to do then. But, my lecturers probably felt 'this guy is just an asset' as they called me then. So, maybe I just did my best. It was a good piece of cake for me because I only majored on my strength.

Let's take it from the beginning. How did your passion for arts grow?

While growing up, I used to like comic books like Super man, Iron man, Spider man, Ice man and the likes.

So, usually, I'd attempt to replicate the drawings in my own drawing book. Then, I discovered that, along the line, I started writing my own stories, creating my own comic book in my own way. Later, I started going into molding. We had this beach in Jos where I'd go to get clay. I remember wanting to mould human statues and my challenge would be how to join the head to the neck.

Many times I tried, but the next morning I would discover that the head had dried and fallen off and then I would start crying because I was so small and didn't understand that it's skeletal support that makes the head stand on the neck. Then I went into painting immediately I finished secondary school.

Though my dad was pushing me towards studying Political Science for no particular reason, I still attempted a Diploma in the University of Jos before moving on.

How did you convince your dad about your intentions? Continued    Source: Lolade Sowoolu