Tunji Adeniyi-Jones: That Which Binds Us

Coinciding with Tunji Adeniyi-Jones’ inaugural UK museum presentation ‘Astral Reflections’ at Charleston in Sussex, the works focus on expressive figuration and, as the artist states, ‘how the transformative nature of the Black experience is nourished by travel, movement and cultural hybridity’. Informed by his own Yoruba heritage, in his paintings Adeniyi-Jones fuses West African mythology and iconography with the seeming immutability of the Western art canon.

The diverse and disparate influences the artist draws upon include pioneering Nigerian artists such as Ben Enwonwu and Bruce Onobrakpeya, which ultimately reflect a desire to represent not just African subjects, but the human form freed from the specifics of time and place. Focusing on the human form as a timeless instrument for storytelling, his luminous paintings are populated by muscular bodies engaged in ritual dance-like movements or classical posturing. Both ‘The Youth’ and ‘The Virtues’ series, for example, present groups of figures in a dark and rich palette; combining shades of deep purple with indigo and flashes of hot pink, their quality of movement reminisces both African performance masquerade dress and Léon Bakst’s exuberant costume designs for Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes (1909–29).