Chosen by art - the story of a Nigerian painter and author who embraces life in Romania

15 years ago, Kingsley Nwabia chose art - or, as he likes to say, was chosen by art. More than 200 paintings and a book after, he finds himself in Romania, where he settled in 2005. One hot summer afternoon, Romania Insider has talked to Kingsley- a natural born story teller too- in his Bucharest apartment, surrounded by an ad-hoc exhibition of his paintings. By Corina Saceanu For years, Kingsley Nwabia's father wanted him to became a doctor. He was on his way to this goal – he was studying microbiology at the university in Lagos, Nigeria. It was towards the end of his university years that he discovered, in an area of the campus fate had brought him to, the painting atelier. Things aligned for Kingsley rather interesting. To impress a girl, he said he was a painter and asked if he could paint her portrait. But he was not a painter – at least not yet. The second day he discovered, by accident, the painting class and hung around for the next two and a half years, trying to borrow the secrets of the trade. He still graduated from microbiology, but chose to follow arts instead, although he has never officially studied arts. This did not come easy on his father. He used to be a bank manager before retiring, and his son's choice of art was not what he had been hoping for. 15 years have gone by since Kingsley started painting. At the beginning, he used to make bracelets and sell them to buy colors for his paintings. He calls himself a self-taught artist.