Osinachi

Prince Jacon Osinachi Igwe (born in 1991), commonly known as Osinachi, is a Nigerian visual and digital artist. Described as "Africa's foremost crypto artist," he often uses Microsoft Word as his medium. Osinachi was the first African artist to have his work digitally auctioned as an NFT by Christie's in Europe.

Early life Growing up, Osinachi occasionally wrote poems and short stories before discovering his artistic voice while practicing on his computer's Microsoft Word.

He briefly worked in the Civil Service before committing fully to arts career.

Education Osinachi gained admission in University of Nigeria Nsukka to study library and information science.

Career Osinachi entered the crypto art scene in 2017. In 2020, he held his debut solo show, Osinachi: Existence as Protest, at the Kate Vass Galerie in Zürich, Switzerland.

Osinachi partnered with the Mohamed Amin Foundation to release NFTs for a catalog featuring 2.5 million photographs and over 5,000 hours of video content. The project launched $Afrofuture, an Ethereum-based social currency.

In 2021, 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair and Christie's collaborated on an online auction of Osinachi's NFT series Different Shades of Water, making it the first NFT by a contemporary African artist to be offered by Christie's in Europe. The series was inspired by David Hockney's Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) (1972), and the works were exhibited at Somerset House in London.

Work and reception

Osinachi's work has been described as "engagingly political, drawing from conversations on political matters, gender, tradition and race." Writing about the art market in 2020, curator Jason Bailey called Osinachi "the best of what the coming generation of artists has to offer."

Osinachi: 'The other Pool Day' In 2023, Osinachi's, The Other Pool Day an accompanying print of the Non-fungible token bearing the Nigerian artist signature was published by Taschen a German art-book publishing company as a book titled On NFTs: Art Edition No1-100 documenting profiles of 101 key artists in the NFT space, 10 academic essays on arts and the first of its kind survey in the arts contemporary medium. The print was available for purchase at $2,500 in crypto.

Abitt: The Second Renaissance is Coming

In 2023 Toledo Museum of Arts, Ohio announced that it will host the inaugural digital artist -in-residence as part of a strategy to integrate digital arts. Osinachi will be named as digital artist-in-residence affording him with an opportunity to explore stained glass and other physical materials. After eight months in Ohio, he completed Abitt: The Second Renaissance is Coming a characteristically vibrant portrait of a figure outside in a city with highway signs opposite a street art mural which was auctioned by Christie's.

Collaborations with Afrobeats A record label, Mavin Records collaborated with Osinachi in 2021 going on to merge and mint animated digital arts with Afrobeats music produced by record label executive, Don Jazzy.

Artistic style and themes Osinachi creates digital artworks primarily using Microsoft Word, a medium he has described as both unconventional and accessible. His use of word-processing software instead of traditional graphic design tools has drawn attention within contemporary digital art discourse and has become a defining feature of his practice.

His works frequently explore themes of identity, race, gender, sexuality, and human relationships, often reflecting on social expectations and lived experiences within African societies. Critics have noted that his figures are often depicted in intimate domestic or social settings, using digital composition to examine visibility, vulnerability, and belonging.

Osinachi's artistic practice has also been associated with the growth of blockchain-based art markets in Africa, where his adoption of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) helped broaden international visibility for African digital artists.

Exhibitions

Solo 2020: OSINACHI: Existence as Protest at Kate Vas Galerie, Zurich 2025: Iconoclast, Kate Vas Galerie, Digital Art Mile, Art Basel Week, Basel, Switzerland

Group

2019: Daydreaming, Artoja, Lagos, Nigeria 2021: Reloading...., Art x Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria 2021: Different Shades of Water at Somerset House with Christie's and 1-54, London 2023: Postcard, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA 2023: Breadcrumbs: Arts in the Age of NFTism, Nagel Draxler Galerie, Berlin 2023: Block Party: Encountering NFTs in the Middle East at Art Dubai 2023: The Next Wave: Miami Edit, Christie's, Faena Forum, Miami, USA 2023: How High the Moon, Elsewhere (The NFT Gallery), New York, USA 2023: A Digital Transcendence: The Intersection of Art and Tech; SuperRare, O×17 Gallery, New York 2023: Peer-to-Peer, Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, USA 2023: Africa Here, MakersPlace, SCOPE Art Show, Miami, USA 2023: Web to Verse, Modal Gallery, the School of Digital Arts, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, England 2024: SuperRare × CoCollectors, LUME Studios, New York, USA 2024: Untitled Art Fair, Kate Vas Galerie, Miami, USA 2025: MASCULINITY, Quantum Galerie, Berlin 2025: Neo-Techne: Art in the Age of the Machine, Museum of Art and Light, Manhattan, USA

Collections

Museum of Art and Light, Manhattan, USA Museum of Modern Arts (MoMA) Post-Card Project, New York Museum of Crypto Arts (MoCA) Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York Batsoupyum Artnome

Art Residency 2023: Digital Artist-in-Residence at Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio 2025: Artist-in-Residence at Rockefeller Belliago, Lake Como Italy

Recognition Osinachi was named one of the 100 most influential Africans of 2022 by New Africa for "breaking Africa's crypto boundaries". He was a finalist for the 2019 Bridgeman Studio Award.

Personal life Osinachi is Igbo. His studio is based in Lagos.

Influences When asked in an interview about artists that have influenced his process and style of work, Osinachi mentioned Nigeria visual artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby, American trio Tschabalala Self, Devan Shimoyama, Kehinde Wiley.

Publications