Exhibition
Sola Olulode
Burning, like the star that showed us to our love
30 September - 16 December 2023
Sola Olulode is a British Nigerian artist living and working in London. Presenting nuanced and tender visions of intimacy and community, Olulode's images are celebrations of Black identity, womanhood and non-binary people. Distinguished by their use of gestural brushwork, indigo dye, batik wax, oil bar, impasto and monochromatic schemes, the artist's compositions speak strongly of her Nigerian heritage while centring the representation and visibility of Black queer lived experiences.
Here, Olulode's unmistakable visual language - tender feelings and vivid colour - finds its latest incarnation: a yellow rush of romance. Following the artist's blue and green series, depicting relationships across communities as well as between couples, Burning focuses on the near-universal - and all-consuming - experience of falling in love.
In a sequence verging on storyboard, the artist returns to a couple as their romance blossoms: meeting, dancing late at night; wrapped around each other, blissful. The works vary in materiality and scale but Olulode's insistence on joy for her protagonists is unwavering. Blue fabric wall hangings underpin the sunny yellow of Olulode's canvases, offering an all-encompassing sense of sky and space. A recurring sun motif represents warmth, light and love.
Olulode paints Black queer women and non-binary people - demographics for whom pop-culture has historically offered little in the way of happy endings. Intent on illustrating success and pleasure for the marginalised communities with which she identifies, Olulode asks us settle in the gallery space and enjoy the love story unfolding on its walls.