August 7–September 11, 2021
Installation Views
Works
Steve Turner is pleased to present MythMaking, a solo exhibition by London-based Richard Ayodeji Ikhide featuring paintings that are inspired by his Nigerian heritage and his desire to record the images of his subconscious. He conflates memory, family history and cultural iconography to create images that have a figurative core but are completed with colorful abstract gestures and patterns. According to Ikhide, the works in MythMaking represent his desire to make coherent his inner psychic reality, and as that is a murky and mystical endeavor, the works inevitably are comprised of abstract gestures and marks.
Richard Ayodeji Ikhide creates paintings and drawings inspired by his Nigerian heritage as well as his interest in other civilizations and mythologies. The works have a figurative core, but they are completed with colorful abstract gestures and patterns. According to Ikhide, “Many cultural histories converge in my work. During the course of my life, I have absorbed a lot of information, and when I make work, I intuitively respond to it and my life experiences. In doing so, I aim to bring together past, present and future as well as multiple geographies and cultures.”
Born 1991, Lagos, Nigeria
Lives and works in London
Education
2017
Postgraduate Diploma, Royal Drawing School, London
2014
BA, Central Saint Martins, London
2011
Foundation Diploma, Central Saint Martins, London
Solo Exhibitions
2021
MythMaking, Steve Turner, Los Angeles
Cosmic Memory, Steve Turner, Los Angeles
Future Past, V.O Curations, London
2019
Osmosis, Zabludowicz Collection, London
Group Exhibitions
2020
No Horizon, No Edge to Liquid, Zabludowicz Collection, London
2018
Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018, John Moores University, Liverpool; South London Gallery, London
2017
Best of Drawing Year 2018, Christies, London
2015
Obscurity, Somewhereto, London
Residencies and Awards
2021
V.O Curations Residency, London
2018
Clothworkers’ Award 1st Prize, The Clothworkers’ Company and Central Saint Martins, London
Bibliography
2021
“Richard Ayodeji Ikhide on education, icons and visual identity,” The Face, July 8
2020
Lily & George. “Isolation Interviews: Richard Ayodeji Ikhide,” Brooke Bennington, Issue 17
Maher, Daniel Milroy. “Swim 03 – Changing Mediums,” Swim Magazine
2019
Luckraft, Paul. “Richard Ayodeji Ikhide interviewed by curator Paul Luckraft,” Zabludowicz Collection, May 1