Mike Ogaga Owairu hails from the Delta State of Nigeria. He was born and lived in until his late twenty’s in Benin City in Edo State, Nigeria which historically was the capital of the ancient Benin kingdom and is known for its rich culture and fine art including famous bronze pieces, terracotta and sculptures carved from ivory.
During his time there, Mike was naturally influenced and greatly inspired by the artistic culture and ambience that existed in Benin. He gained a fundamental understanding of form and developed his own creative sense of artistic expression.
He went onto study fine arts, at both lower and higher levels and in 1990, he graduated from the school of art and design, Auchi Polytechnic in Edo State Nigeria as a professional sculptor.
Since then, he has worked independently as well as collaborating with other artists and architects and has actively participated in several groups, and has exhibited his work in exhibitions in his native Nigeria. Many of his works now reside in private collections both in Nigeria and abroad. Mike was also commissioned to work on state projects in Nigeria; the best example being the first Nigeria women’s hall of fame, at the National Center for Women's Development in Abuja, Nigeria.
As a versatile artist, Mike is also a skilled illustrator and has worked with national print media publications, including the respected weekly Nigerian current affairs magazine, Newswatch. Working for such print publications as an illustrator allowed Mike to develop his artistic skills while at the same time practicing as a sculptor.
In 2000, Mike came to Ireland and is now living in County Kildare. The dramatic changes in his life and his experience of living and working in Ireland have been influenced his work.
As an artist he experiments with various materials such as corrosive steel and his exploration of its potential to create hieratic continuity of movement in space has resulted in his most recent collection "Conforming in Diversiform" which depicts the body of his figurative expression as a repertoire for diversiform, with dynamism in abstraction