essence of expression 02: sani sani
essence of expression 02: sani sani
"It's your boy Sani, insanity. Contemporary visual artist and Creative Director"
“My name means 'the knowledgeable one' in Arabic. And it means 'the wise one' in Hindu. Also, my name is Sani Sani, so it's twice.”
"It's your boy Sani, insanity. Contemporary visual artist and Creative Director"
“My name means 'the knowledgeable one' in Arabic. And it means 'the wise one' in Hindu. Also, my name is Sani Sani, so it's twice.”
Stepping into Sani’s south-east London studio is entering a lab that’s overflowing with ideas.
Sani dabbled in fashion, music, and poetry before ultimately embracing art.
His artistry feeds into every facet of his charatcer. Even while studying nautical engineering at university, he recognised the underlying artistry within the science, viewing it as a form of calculated art.
“So even the difference between my science and my art is not that far apart.”
Stepping into Sani’s south-east London studio is entering a lab that’s overflowing with ideas.
Sani dabbled in fashion, music, and poetry before ultimately embracing art.
His artistry feeds into every facet of his charatcer. Even while studying nautical engineering at university, he recognised the underlying artistry within the science, viewing it as a form of calculated art.
“So even the difference between my science and my art is not that far apart.”
Stepping into Sani’s south-east London studio is entering a lab that’s overflowing with ideas.
Sani dabbled in fashion, music, and poetry before ultimately embracing art.
His artistry feeds into every facet of his charatcer. Even while studying nautical engineering at university, he recognised the underlying artistry within the science, viewing it as a form of calculated art.
“So even the difference between my science and my art is not that far apart.”.
“Choosing to use newspaper as my centrepiece of my artwork, amongst all the other things, is the idea that
newspaper is accessible."
“Choosing to use newspaper as my centrepiece of my artwork, amongst all the other things,is the idea that newspaper is accessible. I want many people to be able to have access to it, or even think, ‘oh shit, I could do that too.’”
"I want many people to be able to have access to [my art], or even think: ‘Oh shit, I could do that too.’”
"I want many people to be able to have access to [my art], or even think: ‘Oh shit, I could do that too.’”
"Most of the time I don't know what I'm going to create when I start painting."
"I never paint from a model, I tend to just go with the flow. I go to canvas, a lot of very short, intuitive-like moves kind of create the painting. So I'm now blue, in green or this feels orange".
"And I keep on building like that until I start forming an image.”
He dabbled in fashion, music, and poetry before ultimately embracing art.
Even while studying nautical engineering at university, he recognised the underlying artistry within the science, viewing it as a form of calculated art.
“So even the difference between the science and my art is not that far apart.”
“Choosing to use newspaper as my centrepiece of my artwork, amongst all the other things,is the idea that newspaper is accessible. I want many people to be able to have access to it, or even think, ‘oh shit, I could do that too.’”
Sani speaks passionately, his words accompanied by a focussed gaze and a flurry of hand movements, the chaise lounge beneath him wobbling in sync.
“I think my purpose for life is to teach."
"For me, I don't necessarily think of it teaching, I think of it more like informing, creating dialogue, sharing, highlighting. I'm the one guy that brings the torch light and points to information."
This commitment to teaching extends beyond words, it's clearly deeply ingrained in Sani.
“I’ve got a school in Nigeria… Me and my Mum bought the land [and] built this thing. So we’ve got a whole school.”
“I’ve got a school in Nigeria… Me and my Mum bought the lands [and] built this thing. So we’ve got a whole school.”
“The decision to leave my hair and just let it grow, in itself also shows something."
Sani speaks passionately, his words accompanied by a focussed gaze and a flurry of hand movements, the chaise lounge beneath him wobbling in sync.
“I think my purpose for life is to teach."
"For me, I don't necessarily think of it teaching, I think of it more like informing, creating dialogue, sharing, highlighting. I'm the one guy that brings the torch light and points to information."
This commitment to teaching extends beyond words, it's clearly deeply ingrained in Sani.
“I’ve got a school in Nigeria… Me and my Mum bought the land [and] built this thing. So we’ve got a whole school.”
“The decision to leave my hair and just let it grow, in itself also shows something."
"The kind of active ‘Oh, I'm not going to get a corporate job now that I'm deciding to keep this hair, because you guys are just not gonna accept me."
"Essentially, my hair has become part of my clothes.”
“The decision to leave my hair and just let it grow, in itself also shows something."
"The kind of active ‘Oh, I'm not going to get a corporate job now that I'm deciding to keep this hair, because you guys are just not gonna accept me."
"Essentially, my hair has become part of my clothes.”
"Essentially, my hair has become part of my clothes.”
“I wear a lot of combat like khaki…Funny enough in Nigeria, you can't just run around with stuff like this. The military would take it personal, because for them that's their uniform and you can't wear it."
"So maybe subconsciously, when I wasn't there anymore, it became part of my uniform, if that makes sense.”
“I have all these fire kicks I gotta flex, you hear me? Someone's got to do it.”
“When you think of like, every single thing about me"
"I think they’re all intertwined."
"And they cross paths.”
Sani is firm in his belief that creative output transcends mere creations: “The way I see art is who you are more than what you do.”
“[I am] the biggest kid you can think of and the nicest guy as well…"
"and I'm like none of the things I just told you. I'm like all of them and none of them at the same time.”
Author, Euan Harness
“I have all these fire kicks I gotta flex, you hear me? Someone got to do it.”
“I have all these fire kicks I gotta flex, you hear me? Someone's got to do it.”
“I wear a lot of combat like khaki… Funny enough in Nigeria, you can't just run around with stuff like this."
"The military would take it personal, because for them that's their uniform and you can't wear it."
"So maybe subconsciously when I wasn't there anymore, it became part of my uniform if that, makes sense.”
“I have all these fire kicks I gotta flex, you hear me? Someone got to do it.”
“When you think of like, every single thing about me... I think they’re all intertwined. And they cross paths.”
Sani is firm in his belief that his creative output transcends mere actions or creations: “The way I see art is who you are more than what you do.”
“[I am] the biggest kid you can think of and the nicest guy as well…
… and I'm like none of the things I just told you. I'm like all of them and none of them at the same time.”
Author, Euan Harness
… and I'm like none of the things I just told you. I'm like all of them and none of them at the same time.”
