Richard Essel

I am a versatile visual artist born and raised in Ghana and learned to draw at the age of ten(10) from intimate friends. After dabbling into Visual Art at

"Prempeh College", Ghana, I studied Art Education at the

University of Education, Winneba Ghana, and about graduate with a bachelor's degree with a specialty in painting and sculpture.

I fell in love with Art when I was a student and had an Idea of giving myself a brand or a simple statement that will describe me as an Artist.

As it is known; pencil is an instrument for writing or drawing, consisting of a thin stick of graphite or a similar substance enclosed in a long thin piece of wood or fixed in a cylindrical case; here, in any branch of Art, a pencil cannot be left out because it helps generates magical thinking when beginning a work of Art. So knowing the features and functions of a pencil and myself looking slim, I decided to name myself "Essel isa_pencil" because I want to be as powerful as a pencil.

While finishing my undergraduate degree, I rediscovered my love for carpentry, drawing, painting, sculpture, and graphic design and from there I began getting art materials to create my artworks. Exhibiting my creative skills on support started from my bedroom, where I had a little studio.

My day-to-day work focuses on how to use my skills acquired in Art to solve artistic problems.