About Axematic

Akin Okusami AKA Axematic is a self-taught artist who fuses digital tools with traditional techniques to usher forth his own Digital Renaissance. Raised by Nigerian parents in a pre-gentrified Hackney, the East London visualiser uses the stylus as his brush and the tablet screen as his canvas to render the world.

Axematic draws much inspiration from his childhood - a mosaic of memories encompassing dancehall and jungle raves ; stints spent in the rolling fields of Kent, where he stayed with foster parents; overseas adventures with his mother, who was a flight attendant; and time spent studying at boarding school, where he befriended the late Drum & Bass legend Skibadee. Small wonder Axematic's postmodern mash of cultures, styles and dynamic creative expression is catching the attention of art critics and tastemakers like VIngt Sept Magazine, who declared him as 'The new wave artist of 2022', when they profiled his art.

"I like to re-create classics with a modern interpretation where possible," says Axematic, who worked in Whitehall for nearly ten years and spent many-a-lunch break in the National Gallery appreciating the baroque styles of the old Italian and Dutch masters.

The primary focus of Axematic’s own work is portraiture – his chief subjects are family and friends from the black community, who have informed his life over the years. He brings a sense of the grandiose and the dramatic to their everyday acts of compassion, kindness and community. The series of canvases he has created over the years has led to the launch of his Unveiled series, which he is bringing to life with the help of journalist and event producer Fusion, as part of a BMT Culture Hub experience.

"I love to elevate my people," he explains. "I also like to provide social commentary, usually expressed through anthropomorphised animals. However, I have experimented with abstract and cubist portraits also, which has helped me express myself more artistically. With this exhibition I hope to bring you closer to my work, and shed a little light on me as a person."

Come and see the world through Axematic's lens...or should we say screen. The exhibition at Hoxton Cabin this April promises to shine a light on a humble and exciting emerging star in the art world.