Baker Artist Portfolios

Monica Ikegwu (b.1998, Baltimore, MD) is a figurative painter recognized for her captivating and unconventional use of color, texture, and composition. Ikegwu earned her BFA in painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art and her MFA in painting at the New York Academy of Art. She is represented by Galerie Myrtis, Baltimore, MD and Band of Vices, Los Angeles, CA. Through her portraiture paintings, she aims to give people a platform to display themselves in the way that they truly are without any limitations.

Ikegwu has been the subject of several solo exhibitions at Band of Vices, and has been featured in group exhibitions at the Venice Biennale, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and most recently, her work was apart of The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century exhibition held at the Baltimore museum of Art. She has been named as a Bennett Art Prize finalist, is a recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation grant, and has been awarded as a first place winner in the AXA Art prize.

Her work has been acquired by the Muskegon Museum of Art, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Columbus Museum, and the Petrucci Family Foundation.