Works on Paper

December 16 - February 3, 2019 | Third Floor

Tunji Adeniyi-Jones

Press Release

December 16, 2018 – February 3, 2019

Nicelle Beauchene Gallery is pleased to announce Works on Paper, a solo exhibition of new drawings by Tunji Adeniyi-Jones. Exhibited for the first time, each of the fifty-one ink pen on paper studies provide a glimpse into the artist’s painting process, as well as his overarching narrative of exploring the mythology of ancient West African Kingdoms—Yoruba kings, queens, and deities, both real and imagined.

Before Adeniyi-Jones begins to paint, he creates a small study or a series of studies in order to experiment with space, light, and color. Many of the environments he creates are seasonal—the same characters are shown repeatedly at different times of day and year, each work appearing with a different or slightly altered color mood. In the works, Adeniyi-Jones’s figures are androgynous and abstracted—their bodies are athletic and seem suspended in space. Each character is associated with tribal rituals, practices, and performance, which imbues each study with a rich history and context of the Yoruba diaspora.

Tunji Adeniyi-Jones (b. 1992, London, England) lives and works in New York. He received his BFA in Fine Art from Oxford University and his MFA in Painting and Printmaking from the Yale School of Art. Recent exhibitions include The Cabin, Los Angeles, CA, 2018; Hunter Harrision, London, UK, 2018; and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York, NY, 2017.

Third Floor is open by appointment only. For further information, please contact gallery@nicellebeauchene.com