About
Jesutofunmi is a Lagos-based painter working in oil and acrylic. His portraits center a young figure in boxing gloves, geared up and braced for a fight, often with no opponent and no crowd in sight. Across the figure and the air around him he carves concentric rings into the surface, ripples spreading out from a single point, so that silence itself becomes something you can see. His work sits with solitude, belonging, and the quiet effort of holding yourself together when you feel unseen. His recent series, "Pin Drop," follows a lone fighter through a fight nobody arrives to watch. His art has been shown at exhibitions including Athens Open Art, Coal City Art Exhibition, and October Rain Exhibition, among others.
- Based in
- Lagos, Nigeria
- Painting since
- 2016
- Contact
- jesutofunmiogidan@gmail.com
Statement
I paint one figure in boxing gloves, geared up and braced for a fight. Most of the time there is no opponent and no crowd. The fight is his own.
I carve rings into the paint, the kind a single drop makes in still water. They spread across the figure and the space around him. I use them to make silence something you can see. The work is about solitude, and about holding yourself together when you feel unseen.
I am from Lagos. I look to West African traditions, especially the ones tied to the Niger River, for what people reach for when times are hard. I am not trying to keep the past on display. I want to ask where we find strength now.
CV
Selected exhibitions
In Form & Feature - Face and Limb
Windsor Gallery · Group Show
Education
BTech Marine Science
Federal University of Technology Akure
Contact
For paintings, commissions, or exhibitions, write to me. I answer.