Jadé Fadojutimi - 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale London Thursday, October 12, 2023 | Phillips
  • In a bold testament to Fadojutimi’s principle that her work should serve as vessels for reflection, Bark stands as an early example of the artist’s vibrant “emotional landscapes.”i Much of Fadojutimi’s process is concerned with regarding painting as an act of self-inquisition. The canvas is likened to a reflective surface that allows the artist to consider her own being and the context of her existence. Bark is a highly charged composition that teeters between figurative and abstract, grasping the viewer with its undeniable grace and personality.

    While at a glance, the palette is largely dominated by heady washes of pink and purple, the composition is the result of a considered layering of colour that demands a considered gaze. Moments of figurative expression emerge from their nebulous cradles, hinting at landscapes and leafy studies. It is as though Fadojutimi conjures an emotion that is at ease in the fog of a half-remembered day. Whether positive or negative, the inviting colours in fact only aid the work in its ambiguity. What is therefore rendered, is a work that is self-assured within its profoundly personal origin, characterised by a composition that is activated through the pathos of the artist.

    “[my works] question the existence of feelings and reactions to daily experiences. They question our perceptions and perspectives whilst manifesting struggles. They recognise a lack of self caused by automatically thinking that my identity is already defined, and also a frustration that paint can accept these characteristics better than myself.”
    —Jadé Fadojutimi

    Acquired by the current owner directly from the artist in 2017, there can be little doubt that Bark is synonymous with the burgeoning success Fadojutimi has found in a rapidly scaling career. Fadojutimi’s recent works have come to favour more intricately abstract compositions, yet the painterly style and strength of vision exhibited in Bark has remained palpable throughout. As her oeuvre has developed, the artist’s ability to imbue her works with a truly original vibrancy remains consistent. So much so, the current owner commissioned a sister work, Beneath the Petticoat, which stands in conversation with Bark and is a highlight of the 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Auction. It is rare that such clarity of expression across a blossoming career, can be tracked in terms as definitive as this.

    The complimentary exchange between the two works in palette and composition, testifies to the artist’s ability to recall a former state of being through an introspective practice. As the works were hung by the owner together, their relationship to one another remained active. Beneath the Petticoat certainly demonstrates Fadojutimi’s adoption of a spiralling depth that purveys in her more recent compositions, yet the arching forms as seen in Bark are transferred. In tandem with a developed yet familiar palette, Beneath the Petticoat acts as a refined conclusion to the sense evoked in Bark. As each work bookends Fadojutimi’s progress, the emotional state of the artist that is invested in Bark radiates sentimentality and connects the viewer with Fadojutimi’s professional and personal growth.

     

     

     

    i Jadé Fadojutimi quoted in the Bio page on her website, https://jadefadojutimi.com/about/.

    • Provenance

      Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner

    • Artist Biography

      Jadé Fadojutimi

      Jadé Fadojutimi is a British contemporary artist who lives and works in London. A recent graduate of the Royal College of Art, Fadojutimi has seen a precipitous ascent to success: she is the youngest artist represented in the collection of the Tate, London, and has upcoming exhibitions planned for the Hepworth Wakefield and the Liverpool Biennial. Fadojutimi’s work is immersive and all-encompassing, featuring tightly woven lattices of ecstatic pigment and electric line. The raw but bubbly energy of her paintings reflects aspects of the artist’s own interiority, as she treats each canvas as an opportunity to explore undiscovered or under-interrogated aspects of her individuality. Fadojutimi believes that color and personality mingle and encourage one another; the matrices of line and color resemble the psychedelic spindles of neural networks, actualizing the artist’s investigative efforts as visual translations of the artist’s explorations of identity and fluidity.

      Fadojutimi brings a frenetic energy to painting, as many of her works are completed in late-night bursts of creativity; what may start the night as a blank canvas often emerges in the morning as a finished work. Describing her practice in environmental terms, Fadojutimi strives to incorporate the ineffable associations of memory absorbed from the warm moments and special objects of life; taken against the societal backdrop of their creation, Fadojutimi’s paintings shine out as optimistic beacons for dark times.

       
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PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE UK COLLECTION

110

Bark

signed, titled and dated '"Bark" Aug 2016 Jadé Fadojutimi Jadé Fadojutimi' on the reverse
oil and acrylic on canvas
101.8 x 76.9 cm (40 1/8 x 30 1/4 in.)
Painted in August 2016.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
£70,000 - 100,000 

Sold for £69,850

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20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale

London Auction 12 October 2023