Valerie Etitinwo

Nigerian-Swiss artist Valerie Etitinwo creates abstract figurative paintings which celebrate the beauty of ugliness and awkwardness. Raised with dichotomous cultures, Etitinwo found art as a coping mechanism to interpret the world around her.

Etitinwo’s artworks transcend each of her surrounding cultures to create work that is universally relatable through the celebration of imperfections. She creates her work with the conviction to push her creativity and expression to a level of intriguing “ugliness.” With each artwork she fights the temptation of “cuteness” to go beyond what is expected.

“I like creating art that catches the eyes not because of how pretty it is but because of how imperfect it looks. I’m really not a perfectionist. I’m quite the opposite. I’m an “imperfectionist”. I like how disorganized some of my pieces are. I like using bold colors and awkward shapes to represent humans. I would say my favorite artistic movement is cubism. But my artwork is definitely not cubism. I just have an appreciation for it’s absurd shapes, especially in portraits. I like painting faces like masks. “