Miu Miu M/Marbles
The Miu Miu M/Marbles Stool is available for purchase exclusively at the Miu Miu Miami Design District boutique and miumiu.com.
Stay informed on our latest news!
Head of State: “Home As Corpus”
Home As Corpus serves as a platform not only for showcasing Taofeek Abijako's artistic vision but also for celebrating the talents of artists who have long inspired him. Joining Abijako's compelling work are Cameron Granger, Nola Ayoola, Oluwatobiloba Ajayi, Isabel Okoro, and Lewinale Havette, each contributing their unique perspectives.
Abijako passionately conveys, "This is more than just my own creations; it's an opportunity to spotlight artists I deeply admire. These artists share a common diasporic heritage, and Diallo and I initiated this dialogue months ago. Our aim was to expand upon the narrative of Head of State."
This collection forms a poignant trilogy alongside Abijako's previous collections, Homecoming and Memories of Home. While those collections offered glimpses into Abijako's Nigerian culture, Home As Corpus invites us on a profoundly personal journey, delving into his family connections and the intricacies of his craft. Abijako acknowledges the allure of the runway as a powerful medium for presenting designs, but this time, he aspires to encourage viewers to pause, delve deeper, and immerse themselves in the brand's essence, encompassing not only clothing but an entire artistic endeavor and a series of collaborations.
Diallo Simon-Ponte, assistant to Director at Gagosian and Abijako's collaborator, curated the entire exhibition in partnership with Nike. Their successful collaboration has cemented their desire to transform these exhibitions into an annual tradition.
Abijako reflects, "This exhibition is a culmination of our shared conversations, experiences, and mutual admiration for artists. It's a tangible expression of how 'home' transcends physicality, remaining an integral part of one's identity, forever imprinted in our hearts."
In the heart of the gallery, three distinct yet harmonious red dresses hung gracefully on wooden planks, suspended by crimson strings thoughtfully crafted by Abijako himself. His intention goes beyond mere dress displays; he aims to convey these garments as complete sculptures, each imbued with the essence of Nigerian notes and cherished memories.
Abijako eloquently elaborates, "In Nigeria, self-entrepreneurship is a pervasive form of employment. You'll find individuals under market umbrellas, seeking shade and sustenance. Those umbrellas symbolize something profound ... so, how can I encapsulate that in a work of art? Many of these pieces are direct architectural references from my homeland. Home As Corpus signifies that home resides within you, and thus, the sculpture itself embodies the essence of a dwelling, with this piece residing within it. That's the genesis of this entire concept."
Back in July, Abijako joined forces with Nike to introduce the inaugural 4v4 Co-Ed Futbol Tournament. He designed distinct team uniforms in a spectrum of colors, including red, green, white, orange, gray, black, blue, and yellow. Continuing this partnership, Home As Corpus marked the unveiling of Head of State's inaugural Nike Air Force One. This striking shoe boasts black leather with azure laces and meticulous detailing in the form of cowry shells. This design draws inspiration from Abijako's father's courageous journey from Lagos, Nigeria, to Spain — a voyage across deserts and sea, driven by vivid dreams of a better life. In his shoes, quite literally, his father concealed money in the soles, along with cowry shells, which once served as a currency exchange in West Africa before the advent of paper money.
Home As Corpus warmly welcomes the public until September 15, inviting all to partake in this exploration of culture, art, and heritage.
On Mysticism, Mythology and Syncretism: Elliot and Erick Jiménez
What pushed you to pursue photography as opposed to other fields?
We’ve been interested in photography since a young age, we took a photography course in high school and never looked back— we got our start in fashion photography, which we still work in. Although both the art world and fashion have their differences, they share many parallels with each other, particularly for photography. It always felt natural to us and this medium has allowed us to participate in both worlds fluidly.
How has your Cuban-American heritage influenced your work?
It’s had a significant influence, particularly for our art practice. There is this mystery behind Cuban culture and religion, given its complicated history, that people who aren’t Caribbean may not necessarily be aware of. It’s culturally diverse and there’s a duality that’s steeped deep in the narrative of the island that sort of became our point of reference. Being twins, Cuban-American and raised in a biracial family— there’s a binary there, which has always been present in our everyday lives. Our work reflects all of that.
You cite a theological upbringing that explores the element of mysticism of gods in mythology, Yoruba and Catholic syncretic elements. How have you weaved such influences in your photographic practice?
Cuba’s religious influences are unique to the island— it once belonged to Spain who colonized it, decimated its native people and took enslaved Africans for labor. Between the influx of the Yoruba people from West Africa and the Spaniards, a syncretic belief system was born. One that essentially merged two unlikely theologies into one, referred to as Lucumí. It’s a spirituality embedded in the DNA of Cuba and passed down orally over centuries. Working from our own cultural background, these deities and folklore stories became the center of our work, visualizing our own interpretations of them.
There’s a lot of historical references that permeate your work: how do you contextualize them in your broader practice?
Being first generation Americans, we were exposed to many things our family was not. One of them is the discovery of art through traveling. We’ve always been interested in art history and the way in which it relates to us. We recontextualize and even reappropriate art historical paintings that have been canonical for centuries, but historically have excluded other narratives. We’ve taken the symbolism within these works that may have meant something different to the artists who created them during their time period and translated what they could mean in our culture today. For example, take the Grande Odalisque (1814) by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, which lives in the Louvre. A representation of a venus, holding peacock feathers in one hand. Oshun, who is syncretized with the patron saint of Cuba, became our odalisque; covered in crystals and surrounded by hues of yellows, a color that has always represented this deity. The peacock feathers are also a symbol indicative of Oshun. Seen as a venus of sorts herself, it only became natural that she represented this iconic painting for us.
How did you edit the curation of works for the exhibit at PHOTOFAIRS?
This was actually done by our gallerist, Anthony Spinello, who always does a great job at curating the work in conversation with each other. This exhibition will showcase works from our first exhibition with Spinello Projects as well as new works created for Photofairs NY.
What is the key message you’ve discovered - can be past or contemporary - when capturing your subjects?
That everyone brings something new to each portrait. Doesn’t matter how much planning we can do, there’s always a collaborative effort that takes place which can spontaneously change things in an exciting way we may not have expected. The end result always being exactly what it was meant to be, even if it isn’t exactly how we pictured it.
There’s a sense of anonymity that comes through the gaze of your subjects - who are they, Exactly?
This part of our images presents both a thrilling challenge and an invigorating opportunity. We aim to create photographs that possess an enigmatic essence while still being relatable to any of us. Within their concealed identities, there exists a universal sense of empowerment. The ability to grasp the essence of an image isn't contingent on identifying the subject. Coming from a background in fashion photography, where significance often hinges on the subject's prominence and recognizability, this opportunity offered an interesting avenue for us, from what we were used to doing. Though the work is still photography and featuring actual individuals (friends, models, and family members), portraying anonymity in a creative manner presents its challenges within this medium. The shadow figures we depict maintain a powerful presence, irrespective of their identities—whether shrouded in blue body paint, obscured countenances, or clad in full-body suits with only their eyes exposed. This artistic choice reflects the historical existence of Lucumí living in the shadows and its contemporary tendency to remain concealed for certain individuals, partly due to the stigma within religious circles.
As symbolism is quite a potent undercurrent within your work, what’s the most challenging aspect you encounter when approaching your subjects and, also, while defining a theme?
Our process typically begins with an initial idea that gradually evolves into a coherent theme. We delve into the story that inspires us and contemplate how best to visually convey it. Symbolism naturally finds its place in our work as our images often carry deeper connotations. It goes beyond merely interpreting deities or folklore; it also involves linking art historical references and weaving our own personal narrative into the visuals. A significant challenge we initially encountered was ensuring that our subjects grasped our artistic intentions. They don't necessarily need to be familiar with Lucumí or our specific story, but they should comprehend the visual aesthetic we're striving to achieve. When we first started working on this, it was difficult to explain because we had not done it before. However, now that the work exists, we have previous references we can share with our subjects, so they better understand. More so, we remind our subjects that the images go beyond what they look like, because recognizing individuals in these images is usually unlikely. Within portraiture or figurative photography, the subjects tend to focus on what it is they look like but the central emphasis lies on the broader theme and the final image— a sentiment usually grasped upon seeing the finished outcome.
What’s coming up for you?
We are part of a museum show early next year around Caribbean surrealism, which we’re looking forward to! This will take place at The Modern in Dallas, Texas and will encompass Caribbean artists spanning the 1940s to today. We also debut our first public art project which will go up this fall, a monumental site-specific two panel billboard installation of a reclining Venus. The project, which was produced by Fringe Projects, will be on the historic Moore Building at LVMH & DACRA’s Miami Design District.
Recommended articles
On the Rebellious Streak of Abstraction: Alexander James
ALEXANDER wears FULL LOOK LOUIS VUITTON
High-minded rebelliousness, then, with a pleasingly-raw bent, as James’ oeuvre epitomizes paintings that are preoccupied with their own structural qualities at the expense of being conventionally abstract: Combining moments of history, past and present, in an eclectic color gamut on towering canvases, his subjects seem to stiffly hold their shape, paying little heed to the features that render them into real beings. “When I work on certain types of textures, like portraiture, even though the identification isn’t always clear I look at [painting] as a very tangible process,” he says. If for no other reason than to admire, his pieces reflect a respect for the ancient form in the context of the modern day, weaving into stories that are technical and personal in equal measure. But let's not overlook his rational ethos. “[My approach] feels quite sculptural, because the layers move so much; so, it’s about having this idea of not looking at a painting as a smooth transition, but like an evolving story,” he grins.
The effect of his approach acted as an artisanal foil to the development of his core influences, which are far from striving to achieve creative statements, but more about the unwavering power of heritage. Works such as Keep It In The Family (2021) show noticeable efforts on both counts. “I find heritage and memory interesting,” he freely admits, citing his sister — who holds a degree in Psychology — as her reference point when it came to subjects matters related to the mind. “I find that through memories I can create and connect with people, which led me to discover aspects that connect my great grandfather and my grandparents,” he says. Such vision marks art that complements the frisky strokes of his paintings with a poignant element that’s always open to interpretation. “I started writing my memories down on sporadic terms, creating these fanatical events that never happened,” he says. Relative to these dainty declarations, the artist makes a 360-degree turn towards the uncanny.
ALEXANDER wears FULL LOOK DIOR
Sometimes I find myself almost dreaming, and through abstraction I urge to portray such cases in my work.
ALEXANDER wears FULL LOOK BURBERRY
“Sometimes I find myself almost dreaming, and through abstraction I urge to portray such cases in my work,” he says. “A lot of paintings are fixated with color, surrounding these unknown orbits that track down a situation or a direction that looks at family, memory and my past experience.” On artistic evolution, the familiar question for James has been how to think more broadly on the ample layering of his pieces: it’s taken the artist time to reach a higher expression of his identity. “It’s all about trial and error!” he exclaims, explaining his frustrations when the aftermath is no easy feat and takes longer than expected. But as time goes on, his paintings have been getting more distinctive. “I’ve always been interested in the realm of figuration and blending it into something that’s more literal,” he says. “I guess the more abstract aspects of art allowed me to find a middle balance that I’ve been trying to search for so long. I never wanted to pigeonhole myself into one or the other, there’s no right or wrong, I’ve been working on that for a long time, so it's always evolving and it has to be natural.” Beyond the recurrent motif of memory — where James simultaneous pushes and pulls elements, taking them away and creating a paradox that aligns with the ancient practice of Damnatio Memoriae, a Latin phrase meaning ‘condemnation of memory’, practiced across ancient civilisations of Greece, Egypt and Mesopotamia that entailed a destruction of images — a poetic union of history and technique resulted into his fascination with sculpture.
“When I was younger, I used to go a lot to the British museum to look at large mythical sculptures,” he says. “As a kid, I loved things larger than life, especially the lighter sculptures I found in an area of the British museum that dated back to 500 or 550 B.C. I was enthralled by the missing parts, and how such erosion happens naturally with time, but what was also fascinating was how even then stories were based between time and travel, able to create a narrative on their own terms.” The vibrant, the sculptural and the deliberately abstract are weighed and shaped with such flourish and dexterity that it’s hard to resist their charm. “I’m always at the intersection between the realist and the abstract,” he says, blithely. “It gets to a point where it feels like a puzzle of dreams put together.” Among his recent works, a poignant attitude counterintuitively coexists with a throbbing vision, channeling a certain raw allure: such was the case in point in his new solo exhibit, Tuck Shop For The Wicked, on view at Marlborough London from September 23rd, 2023 till November 16th. And just when you thought that James had exhausted every possible traditional, experimental technique, he found another anchor to lean on. “The candies that were sold at his great grandfather’s ‘Tuck Shop’ inspired my latest body of work,” said James.
The exhibition explores notions of time passing, continuing to expand his painterly techniques by disrupting an easy consumption or reading of his images, “by using both a heavily layered—or additive process—as well as the removing of paint—or subtractive process—which diffuses compositional clarity,” state the notes. Honing on the medley of real and imagined experiences, the canvases flit between conscious and unconscious, captured by James’ portrayal of his enigmatic great-grandfather, Henry Kaminsky, which shines a light on one pivotal component that informs his visual language: family lineage. “[Family lineage] is important because I never met my ancestors, but I’ve heard about them through an enriching set of stories,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed hearing about my great grandfather, as he was a wonderful storyteller, and I think from those early memories I wanted to leave a mark on such a pivotal part of my story.” Working over eight new canvases — and drawing on material fragments such as letters, photographs and memorabilia, James marked the grandfather’s painting using layers of kinetic mark-making, warm hues and brushstrokes that scraped away into sheer abstraction.
ALEXANDER wears FULL LOOK LOUIS VUITTON
Conversely, the remaining paintings capture a somber, transcendent edge, as if created through a mist that gradually lifts as figures become clear, slowly pushing them towards sheer abstraction. Expressionists will invariably stock them, but upon closer inspection, which unfolds the complex language of memory revealed through a vein of distortion, there’s a modern resonance that expresses, in turns, a continual flow in James’ practice. Be it the highly conceptual portraiture or a natural appeal that marks his subjects, there’s a sense of escapism that imbues his vision, which makes me wonder: is abstraction the key medium that is able to give a sense of elevation to the mind? On the whole, there’s an especially calming aspect to the familiar practice of James. It might seem uninspiring to some; to others, there’s comfort in knowing that past memories aren’t locked in the past and can shape a hopeful future.
