THE FOURTH anniversary of Prince passing away was marked by an unveiling of an incredibly detailed photo-realist pencil portrait by artist Kelvin Okafor.

The portrait took an astonishing 600 hours, with 300 hours of research and 300 hours of drawing.

I felt it was enough to attempt to open up the eyes of Prince without any photographic reference at hand

Kelvin Okafor

The original reference photo featured Prince with his eyes closed, but artist Kelvin decided to draw him with his eyes open as a message to the world to stay awake and alert in these challenging times.

The award-winning artist’s work hangs in the Houses of Parliament and recent work includes portraits of Winnie Harlow, Naomi Campbell and John Lennon.  

Okafor said: “I connected so deeply on a spiritually level with Prince that I ended up doing something rather special.”

“With thousands of reference images and video footage studied for hundreds of hours over the past year, I felt it was enough to attempt to open up the eyes of Prince without any photographic reference at hand whilst drawing.

“There was an intangible presence I felt surrounding me, almost as if the spirit of Prince was right there with me – guiding me along the way.

“Originally my intentions were to strongly reference the late legendary photographer Herb Ritts photograph of Prince with his eyes closed. Half way through the portrait the pandemic hit and after a very vivid dream I had about Prince, I felt inspired to open up Prince’s eyes to highlight a state of alert presence.

“To be in the now and to be fully aware of our surroundings as a subconscious response to the current events facing on earth.

“With over 300 hours of pencil to paper and countless hours of the initial study and research, I feel the portrait has transformed my ability as an artist to a whole new level.” \

The portrait will go on sale from April 27, 2020.