From native clay to acrylic art

By GABRIEL YOHANG
It is a tale of emerging from the banks of the mighty Sepik River to one of PNG’s street art brands – Nanias Maira Arts.
Nanias’ first artwork of clay and traditional pigments was sold to tourists for K5 back in 2000 on the Sepik banks.
His strong association with his culture has inspired and motivated him to paint some of the most unique Sepik art. His choice of colour with dots and lines with deep spirit themes has been his trademarks.
He came to the city self-taught without much expectation but pure passion to contribute to PNG contemporary art. Being a street artist he must survive and mingle around to find his space. He moved into acrylic painting and canvas since then. He found his way around from humble beginnings and is now creating waves.
Most his works and designs have made it to the fashion industry.
I was intrigued by his switch of colours in a particular painting of the bird of paradise. This is something new and we look forward to this great talent contributing value to PNG art.
Keep following Nanias Maura arts in 2019 on his Facebook page.