Many of us can attest to drawing at the back of our notebooks when we were younger (most of us probably still do), but our stick men definitely can’t compare to how amazing this teenAGER’s art pieces are. Jeremy Bonfield is an 18 year old artist who recently started his venture, J.ART, which is an online based business geared towards drawing and selling quality portraits.

The 6

^th

 form Calabar High School student began drawing from the tender age of four, when he drew cartoon characters at the back of his notebooks. His talent developed throughout primary school, but it wasn’t until he entered the eighth grade that he realized his love for art.

“I was always the top student in art and I believe that this was what motivated me continue,” the talented student told teenAGE. “Creating takes me away into a world of my own, my own peace of mind. It’s something very difficult to describe using words, but it’s a great feeling – Transforming actual reality into abstract realism.”

Bonfield revealed that his friends from school, along with his family members, were the ones who pushed him to start his business. “I went into planning mode,” he recalled.

While this was great, Bonfield was still not fully inspired to go on with the idea. It was as if fate intervened and pushed artist Matthew McCarthy into Jeremy’s path. “He did a presentation at my school after which he came to the art room. He was really impressed with my work and encouraged me to push forward with the business,” he shared.

The TEEN’s biggest motivation is Arinze Stanley, a Nigerian Hyper Realistic Artist. Bonfield added that Stanley’s portraits looks almost exactly like a black and white photograph, and goes on to tell teenAGE of how difficult it is to tell the difference. “This is the level I aspire to reach someday.” Jeremy feels even more drawn to Stanley because of their similar backgrounds – that is drawing from a tender age and the fact that they are both from Christian homes.

Hoping to become an architect and a professional hyper-realistic artist in the future, Jeremy is working extremely hard as the days goes by. In addition to his ‘artsy’ side, he is also an athlete. He represents his school in basketball where he plays as the shooting guard on the under-19 team. He’s also involved in robotics and taekwondo. 

Here at teenAGE we love passion, talent and drive and Jeremy’s got it all!

Support Jeremy by checking him out on Instagram and Facebook @j.art876 or email him at jeremyvidseo@gmail.com.

–Isheba  Cornwall