Monica Ikegwu’s work is structured upon the portraiture and depiction of African Americans. She displays figures rendered in the three dimension while accompanied with two dimensional design elements. Her work brings to focus issues and subtleties that she notices in the black community as well as her personal life. Living in Baltimore and the way

that she experiences it plays a big role in the ideas that she develops for the work. Taking feelings and aspects from her surroundings, she presents them in a way that is not only captivating but also unconventional. The figures presented in her work are often times her

siblings and family from whom she draws most of her inspiration from as she watches them progress through life. Over the years I have always focused on painting people in a way that allows their true selves to be seen. What I have come to notice is that personality comes through more when surrounded by those you feel comfortable with. This show is a continued focus on people, but with an emphasis on the relationships between two entities and how they influence one another. This focus on two has more to do with the idea of connection. I could go on with three, four, and even a hundred, but for me I believe a one to one connection is the strongest. The idea of “two” is explored in several ways that go past just by having two figures together on a canvas. Within the thirteen works, I am looking at gestures between two people, the relationship of two people when divided, and even observing the interaction between the viewer and a singular figure. The people that surround us affect and determine who we will become. In order to grasp the full picture of a person, it is necessary to examine their attitudes when they are in communion with others they care about.