EXHIBITIONS
Jadé Fadojutimi “Connecting in Silence”
Dates: Mar 16 – Apr 27, 2024
Location: Taka Ishii Gallery Kyoto
Opening reception: Saturday, Mar 16, 16:30 – 18:30
Taka Ishii Gallery Kyoto is pleased to present “Connecting in Silence,” a solo exhibition of Jadé Fadojutimi from March 16 to April 27. Her second solo presentation at Taka Ishii Gallery, this show will feature her latest paintings and small-scale drawings.
Fadojutimi’s paintings are characterized by rich and striking color schemes that fill the canvas with dynamic gestures. Sweeping strokes of thick oil paints are applied on top of one another to create a dynamic fusion of colors and shapes, while at times they are scraped and scratched to reveal hidden layers beneath them. On top of these surfaces that are often still wet, rapid and intricate lines of oil pastels are added to charge energy and emotion. Fadojutimi’s pictorial language invites a variety of interpretations from botanical motifs to vast landscapes; they create a delicate balance between abstraction and representation. Citing fashion, anime, and soundtracks as sources of inspiration, they are incorporated onto the canvas to create her unique emotional landscapes that reflect her own identity, experience, and memory.
Fadojutimi’s sketchbook is where another important aspect of her artistic practice takes place. In her drawings, translucent markers flow over subtle marks of colored pencils, while intense hues of bold pastels create vibrating compositions. The difference in scale between paintings and drawings allows the artist to incorporate elements of each other. This abstract mark-making, as well as her writings, are Fadojutimi’s diaristic notes to keep a record of her thoughts in each moment of creation. The titles of her work give a glimpse of her connection to words within her practice, and they serve as a key to letting the viewers engage with her work.
Though she could not travel during the pandemic, Fadojutimi visits Japan every year and Kyoto has been a particularly special place for her. She participated in an exchange program while pursuing her master’s degree at the Royal College of Art and studied for four months at Kyoto City University of Arts in 2016. The city’s historical environment that coexists with nature not only provided the artist the visual inspiration but also prompted meditative conversations within herself on her identity and how to create a sense of belonging. This exhibition is an accumulation of the multifaceted relationships the artist has nurtured with the city, and the traditional machiya architecture, with its uniquely cultivated history, environs and echoes as a response to Fadojutimi’s vision.
Jadé Fadojutimi was born in London, UK in 1993 and continues to live and work there. She studied painting at the Slade School of Fine Art, London and received an MA degree at the Royal College of Art, London. Fadojutimi’s exhibitions include WHAT Museum, Tokyo (2022 & 2023); the Hepworth Wakefield (2022); ICA Miami (2021) and Columbus Museum of Art (2021). She participated in the 59th edition of the Venice Biennale, 2022 and the Liverpool Biennial in 2021, UK. Fadojutimi’s works belong to public collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Baltimore Museum of Art; the Hepworth Wakefield; ICA Miami; Tate, London; and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, among others.
