Patrick Chuka
Patrick Chuka
Patrick Chuka is an artist of Nigerian origin currently residing in Dallas, US. With a career spanning over ten years, he has devoted himself to delving into the intricacies of human connections and personal growth through his artwork.
At the heart of his creative expression lies a deep bond with his loved ones and those who hold a special place in his life. Patrick skillfully captures their essence in his intricately detailed portraits, infusing each piece with narratives that celebrate the qualities he holds dear.
Presently, Patrick draws inspiration from the versatile ballpoint pen, particularly the shade of blue. This chosen medium embodies a sense of calmness and tranquility, symbolizing the optimism that lies within the cherished relationships he nurtures. In the future, he aspires to explore more nuanced art forms that can showcase his expertise with different mediums.
Outside of his artistic endeavors, Patrick is also an accomplished author, having self-published the book “The Human Project” in 2022. Additionally, he takes great pleasure in embracing the role of a cheerful “catdad” and showcasing his culinary skills through baking. This culinary artistry provides him with an additional outlet to express his passions and bring joy to those around him.
Patrick is genuinely excited to share his artistic journey with others and warmly invites them to embark on an exhilarating exploration of relationships, self-discovery, and the profound beauty of the human experience.
Artrepreneur: What inspired you to become a visual artist, and how has that inspiration evolved over time?
Patrick Chuka: As I grow as an individual, this questions comes up a lot and at every stage of my growth I always have a different answer. I used to believe that seeing other artist creating on social media was what sparked my interest in becoming an artist as I am one of those that grew up in the age of social media. However, I have arrived at the understanding that making art is all I’ve ever done throughout my life through cooking, building, writing or drawing. My earliest memory of myself making a art was in Kindergarten. I remember drawing a cup with a red crayon on a mini booklet mimicking the teacher as she drew on the black board with a white chalk. Later on, I began to draw body parts in my class notebook, right as I was being taught about human biology. I found myself reading a lot of comic books growing up as well and letting the bright colors inspire me.
Currently, my inspiration is “Life”. The beauty of the physical world, with all its complexity and simplicity at the same time. I feel like I could never run out of ideas when I let my experiences, surrounding’s and connection’s inspire me to create.
ATP: How do you approach the challenge of translating abstract or complex concepts into visual form?
PC: I approach translating abstract or complex concepts into visual form in two ways. The first way is to let emotions guide me. What emotions am I trying to evoke? Happiness, Confusion, or Sadness. Finding psychological pieces to complement the design choices helps bring complex concepts to life in a tangible way and of course being open to iterations when going down this route helps as well.
I find that when you can hold on to an end goal in mind in form of emotions, it aids the creative process as you aren’t stuck on simply the end result and what it is going to look like opposed to what the art work feels like. Do note, the art piece will be open to interpretation by the public so ultimately the only person’s feelings that should be used as a yardstick would be the artist’s.
The second way I approach complex concepts would be to develop systems and frameworks that are repeatable for each art work. I do this through the use of Notion where I am able to track and record every step of the process and simply repeat those same steps in a different artwork to help assure consistency with each result as it relates to quality and finesse.
ATP: Can you discuss a time when you encountered a creative block or struggled with your artistic process and how you overcame it?
PC: I believe every artist has frequent run in’s with creative blocks. For a long time, I didn’t believe it was a real thing and I always assumed people that shared their experiences with creative blocks were simply procrastinating and the remedy would simply be not to procrastinate. However, as I have grown and matured on my artistic journey, I have come to find out that creative block is a real phenomenon and deeply humbling when experienced.
Like I shared earlier, I am all about systems and tracking things in my art process, so creative blocks became something I obsessed over for a while and worked hard to fully understand. The first thing I do is to change my perspective on it, I began to see it as a good thing- as a call back to self. I use that opportunity to check in with myself on a deeper level and fulfil my own emotional needs. In those moments, self care are an absolute priority and doing activities that bring me childlike joy is essential. I see it as a moment to reflect and catch up with the world because a lot of times, being an artist can be isolating. I am able to track when they happen and what triggered the blocks and they mostly stem from my emotional health. So to help prevent creative blocks, I’ve infused emotionally fulfilling activities into my daily routine, loosened up my schedules and taking frequent breaks along the day to avoid burnout or exhaustion.
In essence getting familiar with your emotional and internal world is the way to go.
Patrick Chuka, “K’am gosi gi (Let me show you)” 2023
ATP: How do you handle criticism or feedback on your artwork?
PC: I do not take criticism very well, unfortunately, but I welcome them. I believe it helps me develop a thicker skin and helps refine my artistic process because it shows me what needs improvement and I’m big on continuous improvement in every aspect of my life. Critics are a natural part of the art eco-system and I do hope to do great things in the future so I consider it wise to familiarize myself with criticism, how it works and how to receive it. It is an essential part of every artists career.
ATP: How has your artistic style or approach evolved over time, and what factors have contributed to that evolution?
PC: The evolution of my artistic style centers around what’s sustainable for me. I moved to the United states from Nigeria at the age of 17 completely on my own and during that time my art served as an escape from the harsh emotions that comes with relocating to a different country. I wasn’t making any money, therefore buying expensive art materials was not an option for me. Prior to relocating, I had already been making art with ballpoint pens so I continued on with that choice. It was cost effective and throughout my career, I have never spent any money purchasing a pen used for my work, I always seemed to get them for free.
Since then, I have grown a lot as an artist and I am now able to afford more expensive materials and mediums that I hope to explore and naturally that will morph into its own style over time.
Patrick Chuka, “NDIDI” 2023
ATP: Are there any specific features or resources on artrepreneur.com that have been particularly valuable in advancing your artistic goals?
PC: Artrepreneur has been a fantastic platform to help showcase my work and connecting me with other likeminded individuals. Community is a huge part of why I do what I do and this platform is actively helping me grow a community.
ATP: Have you found the platform to be effective in connecting you with opportunities, promoting your work, or expanding your network within the art community?
PC: As an artist, I have found Artrepreneur.com to be incredibly effective in connecting me with opportunities, promoting my work, and expanding my network within the art community. These platforms have provided me with a global reach, allowing me to showcase my artwork to a vast audience that I wouldn’t have access to otherwise. It is invaluable to my artistic growth.
To view more of Patrick’s work please visit his Artrepreneur profile.