British-Nigerian Jadé Fadojutimi is taking London by storm one sublime brushstroke after another. 27-year old Jadé was formally trained as a painter and to her credit, has a BA from the Slade, and an MA at the Royal College of Art where she graduated in 2017. Only three years later, Jadé has exhibited at PEER, […]
5 years ago
British-Nigerian Jadé Fadojutimi is taking London by storm one sublime brushstroke after another. 27-year old Jadé was formally trained as a painter and to her credit, has a BA from the Slade, and an MA at the Royal College of Art where she graduated in 2017. Only three years later, Jadé has exhibited at PEER, – and, soon at the Liverpool Biennale, ICA Miami and Japan. Recognized for her unique signature and her brilliant use of abstract metaphors, young Fadojutimi has established herself in the international art scene as one of the potential greats.
Jade like a lot of other young millennials developed a strong interest in Japanese anime during her teenage years. Finessing all the fond memories of her childhood with a deep sense of self-awareness and a polished, distinct painter’s technique, Jade’s poetic artwork has made her one to look out for in art circles. Jade made her first institutional appearance at the PEER with six canvases and compelling writing and was termed a “rare find” by Caroline Douglas, the Director in her review of the exhibition.
All of Fadojutimi’s sophisticated paintings have since been acquired by Tate and ICA Miami loaned to Dallas Museum of Art, and will showcase in two continents by 2021.
“I have always found solace in solitude. However, this silence, with its blunt forgotten footwork, who used to do little more than make the floors creak, had become clumsy, slightly overbearing and perhaps clingy. The stillness that used to grace me in the middle of the night had become a constant beside me during the day. The quiet had changed. It was rippling through the currents of others in their neighboring cabins alongside me, trying not to breathe too deeply, as though a breath too deep would rip an unbearable hole into the pool of thought.
I constantly wonder what will tear us apart, and I also wonder what will bring us together. I’m uncertain whether I notice what it truly means to breathe in a world filled with so many “what ifs”. The silence that now stands beside me day by day might be missed if she were to leave and that is starting to redefine solitude. Time has never felt so still.”
The pandemic lockdown which Jade describes as “laughable in the darkest way possible”, forced her into a shell. From that shell, Jade has reemerged with treasure. Not being able to work from her studio, as usual, Jadé decided to take it positively and started working from home.
“I’ve never had so much time to reflect up until recently. It’s wonderful to not even paint because you can forget how important that is… how important it can be to spend time with yourself in a different way.”,
Jadé Fadojutimi Jesture, 2020 oil and oil stick on canvas 180.2 x 200 cm, 71 x 78 3/4 in (PH0079)
With her latest exhibition titled ‘Jesture’, to “encompass a lot of the absurdity we have all been experiencing”, she explores political and social complexities with dramatism and color. Above all, through ‘Jesture’, Jadé’s “gesture” to the world right now is as she states: “I just love to share my world with people. I hope that people can find room in the work to breathe.” The exhibition is scheduled to show at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery in London from 16 September 2020 – 31 October 2020.
