Advisory Spotlight: Jadé Fadojutimi’s Unexplained Emotions
Running between 11 September and 24 October 2020, Jadé Fadojutimi's second solo exhibition with Pippy Houldsworth Gallery in London, Jesture, will respond to the disruptions of the rhythm of daily life during lockdown.
Jadé Fadojutimi, Jesture (2020). Oil and oil stick on canvas. 180.2 x 200 cm. Courtesy Pippy Houldsworth Gallery.
Energetic, vibrant, and compositionally complex; Fadojutimi's works are ostensibly abstract, although figurative elements are occasionally unearthed amidst a flurry of gesture. Her range of colour and brushstrokes combine to reveal memories from natural phenomena, whilst also visualising elements from her subconscious.
Fadojutimi often works at night in a bout of creativity, as reflected in the title of her 2017 painting, Heliophobia, referring to a 'phobia of the sun'. The dark greys interspersed with flickering orange and white light conjure up the glowing atmosphere of her night studio, whilst some finer dark lines of paint seem to penetrate our sensory nervous system in an altogether more psychological manner.
Per Kirkeby and Varda Caivano come to mind stylistically, but the dynamism is perhaps more akin to de Kooning and more recently, Cecily Brown.
Fadojutimi has been very open about her struggle to find her own identity in painting and how she uses her medium to express 'unexplained emotions'. This self-awareness and quest for honesty has helped her carve out a distinct visual language, enabling her to make remarkably assured paintings at an exceptionally young age.—[O]
