Samuel Onche

Storytelling is central to Sam Onche’s work. Now based in the Chicago area, his story started in Nigeria, where he grew up in a household that valued family and art. He has fond memories of drawing with siblings and friends, developing a competitive edge that applied to sports. Basketball brought him to the U.S. and led him to Colby College. He pursued oil painting there and continues to use this medium as well as digital drawing to share stories through Black art.

Onche’s vibrant oil paintings, mostly portraits, employ careful colorful abstraction. He uses Ankara fabric in the backgrounds of his portraits, a nod to his heritage and sourced from his sister’s fashion design company. Onche uses color generously and symbolically, painting his rich cultural experiences into each portrait. His process includes a constant playlist of afrobeat and hip hop while he paints, along with countless other inspirations he draws from the world around him that contribute to his propensity for storytelling.

He sees art as his way to give back to the community that inspires him. Beyond original paintings, Onche’s work includes illustrations for album covers, books, posters, and prints. HG Literary Agency represents Onche for illustrations and cov...

Colby college

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022 Artem Popup Gallery, Evanston, IL
2022 “Expectations” Aplomb Creative Salon
2023 T. Mari Art Gallery, Chicago, IL
2024 “Black in Color” Noyes Cultural Arts Center,Evanston, IL
2024 “Homecoming”, Lewiston Auburn Arts, Lewiston, ME

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022 An Ode to Blackness, Indianapolis, IN
2022 Colby College Senior Exhibition, Waterville, ME
2022 The Great State of Illustration
2022 Group Exhibition Fourtunehouse, Chicago, IL
2023 Chicago Fine Art Salon, Chicago, IL
2023 Evanston Art Center BIPOC Art Show, Evanston, IL
2023 Evanston Art Center NAACP Show
2023 All American Trash Art Show, Chicago, IL
2024 “No Place Like Home” Group Show, Evanston, IL
2024 “How We See Things” Group Show, Chicago, IL
2024 Laughlin Gallery Group Show, Highland Park, IL
2024 Fleetwood Jourdain Theatre “Colored Girls”