We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gbenga Ayeni a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Gbenga, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

Although I have been creative from a very young age, I didn’t think of making it a professional career until my final year in high school.

I love comic books, animation and video games. My friends a that time exposed me to a lot of them. From there I was interested in creating mine.

I was gradually becoming more aware of my story telling ability and met a couple of people who opened my mind to the possibilities of a professional artist path.

I also discovered several materials like books about making animation and game designs.

That was the first time I knew that I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Gbenga Ayeni, l ame a multidisciplinary artist with over a decade of experience. I’ve worked in the advertising, fashion, education, broadcast and entertainment industry. Currently I’m the CEO and creative director of Exwon.Art .

My foray into the creative industry is motivated by the passion for storytelling and effective communication. From a very young age, I’ve been a creative child drawing on any and everything I can find. As I grow older I learned the skill and knowledge required to transform my creative talents into a professional career.

I learned illustrations, painting, sculpture, textile and fashion design, graphic design, animation, motion graphics and digital communication. I bring a combination of all these skills to any and every given project that I am tasked with.

After working with several big brands and companies around the world, I decided to set up Exwon.Art were we can create projects that will promote positive culture and traditions while educating and entertaining the community at large.

Exwon.art is a brand that identify, appreciate and promote the royalty of the African culture, traditions and it’s people.

Exwon.art is a an creative collective that fosters a positive creative community. Committed to the empowerment of youths and creatives, we use arts and arts education to diversify narratives. Our vision is to innovate with stories as hinges, connecting creatives to an authentic framework. Our mission is to work with community to create spaces that promote healing through arts, in order cultivate connection around identities.

Mission:

To provide the educational and cultural link among Artists and all communities to inspire unlimited creativity.

Vision:

To serve as a bastion for cross-cultural appreciation, artistic empowerment and accessibility to the arts by fostering racial and ideological inclusivity among Houston’s local art community

Core Values:

Education – Make arts education more accessible to children and adults

Entrepreneurial – Assist artists in sustaining themselves through the provision of arts related services, training, employment and other support mechanisms

Community Development – Engage the talents and creative abilities of artists to solve economic, cultural and social challenges in the natural and built environment in which we live, work and serve

Exhibition – Promote the production of original work by living artists, young and old

Empowerment – Provide Technical and financial resources to support the educational, entrepreneurial, exhibition and community development goals.

At Exwon.Art we create and sell Afro-inspired Art such as canvas paintings, comic book, picture/ story books, merchandise, NFT, animation and movies. We also collaborate with clients for different projects.

Exwon is the catalyst which provides the inspirational and educational sources for artists and citizens so that they can use their talents and creative abilities to solve economic, cultural and social challenges in the natural and built environments in which we live, work and serve.

We are most proud of the positive feedback we have been receiving from clients, customers and collaborators. It quite satisfying to know that the products and services we provide are actually meeting the needs of people and solving their problems.

Anyone looking forward to working with us should anticipate an exceptional experience as we go above and beyond to make sure every project is effectively executed and the project mission is accomplished.

: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Answer to this question continues to evolve as time goes by. Creative storytelling has always been my driving force. I am fascinated by how a story idea can impact the world and influence mindset, culture, traditions and spark a movement.

Telling stories is one of the most powerful means that leaders have to influence, teach, and inspire. What makes storytelling so effective for learning? For starters, storytelling forges connections among people, and between people and ideas. Stories convey the culture, history, and values that unite people.

Storytelling and listening is a two-way process. There’s some evidence from neuroscience, which suggests that when I’m telling you a story and you’re listening to my story, our brain patterns begin to mirror one another. We are connecting, and the empathy is on not just an emotional but a physical level.

As the most effective conduits for ideas, narratives have the unique power to help us determine what’s going on, what lies ahead, and what needs to be done. Defined in the simplest possible terms, a narrative is a story about something.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

I see NFT as a complementary vehicle to the already established system of experience and circulation.

NFT is a powerful tool that can be used to reach a different audience through uniquely designed projects with the aim of solving a particular problem.

With the right mindset and intentions NFT can open up new opportunities for storytelling and revenue growth for brands and individuals.

It’s not really about NFT itself but the people behind the projects, Their true aims and objectives. How capable they are to achieve the goal of creating the project.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.exwon.art/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exwon.art/
• Facebook: Facebook.com/Exwonart
• Twitter: @ExwonA

Image Credits
Exwon.Art