Ablaze with brilliant colour, the paintings of London-born, New York-based Tunji Adeniyi-Jones explores the relationship between figure and ground, while also addressing the history of the Black experience. Often beginning with studies in ink pen or watercolour on paper, he builds his canvases through repetition, colour and form, invoking the ritualised repetition integral to ceremonial processes. He draws inspiration from a wide range of sources, including his Yoruba heritage and West African mythology, as well as his travels and multi-cultural upbringing.
For his first exhibition at White Cube, Adeniyi-Jones presents bold, new paintings that focus on expressive figuration. ‘The figures in my work are expressions of my identity and there is something very rewarding about using the body as a vehicle for storytelling,’ he says.
You’ll be confronted by muscular bodies engaged in ritual dance-like movements or classical posturing every which way you look. They are strong and dynamic and flow freely across the canvas, creating a sense of pulsating energy through the picture plane. Not to be missed are Poetic Feet I, II and III, executed in a rich palette of pinks, reds and oranges; and Five Virtues, a new monochrome sugar-lift aquatint depicting five figures dancing and gesturing, each a personification of a moral attribute. No doubt these works will fly!
