Ekundayo was born in Hawaii in 1983. When he was still just a little boy, his parents split up and his father smuggled him out of the state. For years, his mother searched in vain for him. When Ekundayo was 11, his father passed away from lung cancer, leaving the young boy to live with his sister in California. He fell into a dark phase; getting involved in fights, stealing and running with a bad crowd. It was at 13 that Ekundayo discovered art and his life began to change. His first artistic influence was a graffiti notebook by his uncle; a notebook that the youngster pored over eagerly, copying out every sketch he saw there, before turning his hand to creating his own art.
A few years later, he was returned to his mother in Hawaii where he finished his schooling. He then moved back to California, living with his sister and brother-in-law, both of whom encouraged him to attend art school, which he duly did. After several years of study, Ekundayo decided to make his own way in the worlds of street art and fine art. He now creates art in many different media, on many different surfaces. He has completed dozens of street art installations, from small art works on fences to large-scale paintings that span several storeys.
Ekundayo’s style is a combination of classic graffiti perspective warping and technical fine art theories. He uses ink, acrylic, gouche, watercolor and carving techniques to create his fine art – somehow recreating the spray can effects of graffiti art without actually using a spray can to paint with. But the most interesting part of Ekundayo’s art is his modus operandi; his desire to turn his dark past into vibrant murals that express all the joys and pains of life. He’s using art as a tool to effect emotional healing in his life. As Thinkspace so aptly puts it; “Ekundayo’s work expresses the struggle of life and how those struggles and burdens can either inspire us to change in a constructive way or weigh us down by our own inability to change.” Ekundayo’s art changes as he changes, but it also seems to be having an effect on the artist himself. This is one artist with a truly deep relationship with himself that he expresses through his art.
You can catch up to Ekundayo through his website or his Facebook profile.
Hawaiian street artist Ekundayo combine fine art and graffiti techniques in this wall mural of a man and a horse. The horse is burdened by several small wooden houses. This might be a symbol of the artist’s feeling that he is burdened by his own turbulent past. [source]
Another wooden house is featured in this graffiti mural by street artist Ekundayo. This wooden house has a disturbed face staring out of the window, as though trapped in the home, or perhaps, trapped in the past. This would fit in perfectly with Ekundayo’s pervasive theme of turning his own dark past into vibrant art works. [source]
Street artist Ekundayo wows the public with this brightly colored wall mural called “Gifts”. The character is made up of graffiti squiggles that lend a truly contemporary effect to the painting. [source]
Once again Ekundayo features a wooden house in this graffiti styled street art mural. The luminous colors of the characters stand in stark contrast to the more drab colors used for the house and its haunted occupant. This may be a symbol that the artist feels his present life, and his future, are brighter than his past. This character bears the house, a symbol of the artist’s past, easily and almost happily. This piece might reflect the artist coming to terms with the traumatic events that he experienced in his childhood. [source]
Street artist Ekundayo works on one of his poignant wooden houses for this wall mural. Unlike many street artists, Ekundayo doesn’t only use spray paint for his murals – much of his painterly style comes from using paint brushes in his street art works. [source]
A winged blue figure forgives a red character in this beautiful street art mural by Ekundayo. The artist’s symbolic wooden houses once again appear in this painting, as a burden to the red figure on the right. This painting feels very much like a visual rendition of the artist in the present, forgiving the past for the difficulties that he experienced there. [source]
