Inside My Shell, 2018

Oil on canvas
Photo by Pratik Parulekar.

Teeming with swift, haphazard brushstrokes that smolder through further skeins of oil paint, Jadé Fadojutimi’s canvases typically appear drenched in rapturous hues, marks, and lines, spinning, swirling, and sprawling over the canvas. Her large, phenomenally colorful paintings are inspired by a broad array of source material, ranging from Japanese anime and Victorian furniture to plants, fashion, and video games. She is fascinated by the ways we adorn ourselves with clothing and accessories to construct a sense of self. The shapes of hair bows and patterns lifted from hosiery recur in her works. Some canvases, such as Inside My Shell, depict enigmatic landscapes that toe the line between figuration and abstraction in an attempt to create a form of reality that feels parallel to but separate from the real world. The composition recalls a lush and verdant tropical jungle, or perhaps an underwater kelp forest. Outlines of objects that resonate with the artist but often elude the viewer also feature surreptitiously in her art—here, the loose shape of a seashell seems to hover at the top of the picture plane.