EP 017: TUNJI ADENIYI-JONES

Today I’m talking with the artist Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, whose paintings address the ancient history of West Africa and its associated mythology. Born and raised in England to Nigerian parents, Tunji studied art at Oxford University before moving to the United States to pursue his MFA at Yale, an experience that he describes as a culture shock and which had an immediate and profound effect on his work. It was in the US that he was first exposed to painters like Bob Thompson, Barkley Hendricks, and Kerry James Marshall, whose influence you can feel in his work right alongside British painters like Lucian Freud and David Hockney. We spend a lot of time talking about the differences between British and American painting, especially when it comes to representations of the black body. His recent solo show ‘Flash of the Spirit’ at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery takes its name from Robert Farris Thompson’s landmark 1984 book examining the influence of West African aesthetics on the modern diaspora. Seeing the eight works in the show all together is to see the development of Tunji’s language as a painter. His large scale works are inhabited by cast of richly colored, androgynous figures suspended against lush, compressed backgrounds, the forms echoing from one canvas to another. I’ll be looking forward to his upcoming solo show ‘A Place to Belong’ which will be at Hunter Harrison in London.

I photographed Tunji in his Brooklyn studio surrounded by a new body of work. You can see the portrait at www.williamjesslaird.com/imageculture or on Instagram @william.jess.laird or @image.culture

I’d like to thank Tunji Adeniyi-Jones as well as the team at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery. This show is produced by Sarah Levine and our music is by Jack and Eliza. Thanks for listening.

http://www.tunjiadeniyi-jones.com/

https://nicellebeauchene.com/artists/tunji-adeniyi-jones/