{"title":"The Contemporary Take: Black Vanguard Auction","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJune 9th - June 18th, 2026\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"dube-with-his-passport","title":"Dube With His Passport","description":"\u003cp\u003eLEONARD IHEAGWAM (SOLDIER) (B. 2000)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eDube With His Passport\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned and dated 'LEONARD IHEAGWAM 26' (on the reverse)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eoil on canvas\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e60 x 47 15\/16 inches (152.4 x 121.9 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2026.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, London\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 2000 in Lagos, Nigeria, Leonard Iheagwam, known professionally as Soldier, is a contemporary painter whose figurative works examine themes of migration, aspiration, identity, and the emotional realities of contemporary African youth. Soldier has built a practice that moves fluidly between painting, sculpture, and design, with collaborations spanning Louis Vuitton, Nike, Salomon, and Hublot. His debut solo exhibition, When the Saints Go Marching, presented at Incubator Arts in London in 2024, announced the full ambition of his painterly vision to a wider audience. Soldier’s paintings are distinguished by their quiet intensity, careful attention to gesture and expression, and an ability to transform ordinary scenes into broader reflections on movement, belonging, and self-definition.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2026,\u003ci\u003e Dube With His Passport\u003c\/i\u003e presents a portrait suspended between intimacy and symbolism. The figure holds an ECOWAS passport — the document issued to citizens of West Africa's sixteen member states, theoretically guaranteeing free movement across the region, yet in practice one of the world's most restricted travel documents beyond its own borders. In Soldier's hands, this object becomes a charged emblem: of a generation promised mobility and denied it, of the profound disparity between what a document represents and what it actually affords its holder. Iheagwam approaches the subject with notable restraint, allowing posture, expression, and atmosphere to carry the emotional weight of the composition rather than relying on overt narrative devices.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe painting reflects the artist's broader interest in moments of psychological transition — states in which identity feels fluid, unresolved, or newly forming. Through layered passages of oil paint and a carefully controlled palette, Iheagwam creates a surface that feels simultaneously immediate and contemplative. The figure's presence is rendered with dignity and emotional specificity, resisting reduction into stereotype or symbol even as the work engages larger themes surrounding migration and contemporary Black experience. \u003ci\u003eIn Dube With His Passport\u003c\/i\u003e, the portrait becomes both deeply personal and quietly universal, capturing a moment poised between departure, aspiration, and self-invention.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSoldier is among the most exciting painters to emerge from a generation shaped equally by Lagos and London, by skate culture and Old Master painting, by streetwear and the history of art. His works reflect a growing movement within contemporary African painting toward intimate, psychologically complex representations of everyday experience, situating personal narrative within broader social and global conversations.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501920203001,"sku":"JP0626007","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0626007_1.jpg?v=1784038932"},{"product_id":"outcome-for-participation","title":"Outcome for participation","description":"\u003cp\u003eSERGE ATTUKWEI CLOTTEY (B. 1985)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eOutcome for participation\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003epastel and charcoal on paper in frame\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eframed: 43 1\/2 x 29 3\/4 inches (110.5 x 75.5 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2018.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEXHIBITED:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLondon, Gallery 1957, \u003ci\u003eSerge Attukwei Clottey 'DISTINCTIVE GESTURES,'\u003c\/i\u003e August-September, 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1985 in Accra, Ghana, Serge Attukwei Clottey is a multidisciplinary artist celebrated for his expansive practice spanning installation, performance, sculpture, photography, and works on paper. He studied at the Ghanatta College of Art and Design in Accra and has emerged as one of the leading voices of his generation within contemporary African art. Drawing deeply from the social and material realities of urban Ghana, Clottey’s work examines themes of migration, consumption, environmental transformation, and personal memory through a visual language that is both intimate and politically charged. Central to his practice is his ongoing concept of “Afrogallonism,” through which he repurposes discarded yellow oil containers ubiquitous throughout West Africa into complex meditations on trade, globalization, and survival.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile widely recognized for his monumental assemblages and public performances, Clottey’s works on paper reveal a more immediate and introspective dimension of his practice. In \u003ci\u003eOutcome for Participation\u003c\/i\u003e, executed in 2018, the artist employs pastel and charcoal to construct a psychologically resonant composition alive with gestural energy and fragmented figuration. The drawing’s layered surfaces and rhythmic mark-making evoke both vulnerability and resilience, echoing the improvisational quality that defines much of Clottey’s broader oeuvre. Faces and forms appear to emerge and dissolve within the composition, suggesting the fluidity of identity and collective experience in rapidly shifting social landscapes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe work exemplifies Clottey’s ability to translate the tactile sensibility of his sculptural practice into two dimensions. His handling of charcoal and pastel produces a dynamic tension between softness and abrasion, intimacy and monumentality. Like his assemblage works composed of salvaged materials, \u003ci\u003eOutcome for Participation\u003c\/i\u003e reflects an ongoing interest in transformation—of objects, bodies, and histories—and in the traces left behind through human interaction and movement.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eClottey’s work has been exhibited internationally, with solo and group exhibitions at institutions including the Brighton Festival, the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and Gallery 1957 in Accra and London. His work was featured in Venice Architectural Biennale in 2023, marking a significant moment in the global recognition of contemporary Ghanaian art. His works are held in numerous prominent public and private collections internationally. Outcome for Participation was exhibited in \u003ci\u003eDISTINCTIVE GESTURES\u003c\/i\u003e at Gallery 1957 in 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501920366841,"sku":"JP0526278","price":950.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/Joopiter_Black-Vangaurds-images_0a2.jpg?v=1784038933"},{"product_id":"uuu","title":"UUU","description":"\u003cp\u003eCAROLINE KENT (B. 1975)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eUUU\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eacrylic on paper\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e30 x 22 inches (76.2 x 55.9 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eframed: 32 1\/2 x 24 1\/2 inches (82.6 x 62.2 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2020.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1975 in Sterling, Illinois, Caroline Kent is a contemporary artist whose abstract paintings, drawings, and installations investigate language, translation, memory, and systems of visual communication. Working across painting and works on paper, Kent constructs compositions that function as speculative forms of notation, blending gestural abstraction with symbols, fragmented marks, and rhythmic structures that suggest language without ever becoming fully legible. Her practice is deeply informed by literature, music, Black cultural histories, and the instability of communication itself, creating works that invite viewers into acts of interpretation, improvisation, and sensory reflection. Through layered surfaces and carefully orchestrated spatial relationships, Kent develops a visual language that remains intentionally open-ended and fluid.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2020, \u003ci\u003eUUU\u003c\/i\u003e exemplifies Kent’s distinctive approach to abstraction as a mode of communication beyond fixed meaning. Rendered in acrylic on paper, the composition unfolds through an interplay of gesture, shape, and suspended mark-making that feels simultaneously structured and improvisational. Forms drift across the surface like fragments of an invented syntax, suggesting rhythm, cadence, and emotional resonance rather than direct narrative. Kent’s handling of negative space becomes equally important to the composition, allowing silence and absence to function alongside visual density.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThough abstract, Kent’s works are deeply attuned to the body and to the emotional registers of perception and listening. In \u003ci\u003eUUU\u003c\/i\u003e, repeated forms and gestural movements create a sense of visual rhythm that recalls musical notation or spoken language partially remembered. The work resists singular interpretation, instead encouraging viewers to navigate the painting intuitively through association, movement, and feeling. This openness remains central to Kent’s practice, where abstraction becomes a means of exploring the spaces between speech and silence, visibility and concealment, intimacy and distance.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKent’s work has been exhibited extensively in museums and institutions across the United States, including solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Walker Art Center. Her work is held in numerous prominent public collections, and she is widely recognized for expanding the language of contemporary abstraction through works that merge conceptual rigor with poetic and sensory immediacy.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501920399609,"sku":"JP0626005","price":3200.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0626005_unframed.jpg?v=1784038933"},{"product_id":"where-there-is-beauty-there-were-women","title":"Where There is Beauty, There Were Women","description":"\u003cp\u003eTHANDIWE MURIU (B. 1990)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhere There Is Beauty, There Were Women\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ephotography, fine art print on paper\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e35 3\/8 x 23 5\/8 inches (90 x 60 cm)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eframed: 36 x 25 inches (91.4 x 63.5 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2025. This work is number 5 from an edition of 7 plus 2 artist's proofs. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity signed by the artist.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE\u003c\/b\u003e:\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A man without culture is like a zebra without stripes.” African Proverb\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1990 in Nairobi, Kenya, Thandiwe Muriu is a contemporary artist whose vividly patterned portraits explore African identity, femininity, and the cultural language of adornment. Drawing upon African textile traditions, Muriu creates highly stylized compositions in which figures often merge seamlessly with backgrounds, challenging conventional representations of women while celebrating the richness and complexity of African visual culture. Her work combines precise composition with symbolic layering, transforming portraiture into a site of empowerment, visibility, and cultural affirmation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe heart of Africa's adornment is shaped under the hands of women. Looking back into centuries of color palettes, beadwork and textile development, female artists often designed the visual cues of a culture to symbolize a new stage in life. Their tasteful craftsmanship developed trends as they defined new looks based on personal taste. On the East African coast, women were the purveyors of style in the development of the kanga cloth when they imagined the first fabrics using dye made from tree bark. Often where there is beauty, the hands of a woman have been involved.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2025, \u003ci\u003eWhere There Is Beauty, There Were Women\u003c\/i\u003e reflects Muriu's ongoing exploration of femininity, identity, and cultural empowerment through the visual language of textile and adornment. As in much of her practice, the work carefully balances concealment and visibility, allowing the figure to emerge through intricate relationships of pattern, color, and pose. Through this interplay between body and textile, Muriu creates an image that feels simultaneously contemporary and deeply connected to histories of African craftsmanship and feminine authorship. The blend of historical references and contemporary aesthetics become tools harnessed by Muriu as she contemplates how womanhood can thrive, not in spite of cultural legacies, but within them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMuriu's work has been exhibited internationally and featured in major publications and art exhibitions. In 2023, her work was selected by Pharrell Williams for inclusion in \u003ci\u003eFEMMES\u003c\/i\u003e at Perrotin, a landmark exhibition celebrating the work of Black women artists from across the global diaspora. Her distinctive visual language has established her as one of the leading voices in a new generation of African photographers redefining portraiture through color, pattern, and cultural storytelling.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501920432377,"sku":"JP0626002","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526292_1.jpg?v=1784038933"},{"product_id":"shanna-and-sita","title":"Shanna and Sita","description":"\u003cp\u003eCHE LOVELACE (B. 1969)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eShanna and Sita\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned with the artist's initials and dated 'CL 21' (lower left); signed again twice, titled and dated ''SHANNA + SITA' 2021 CHE LOVELACE Che Lovelace' (on the reverse)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eacrylic and dry pigment on board panel\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e60 x 50 inches (152.4 x 127 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEXHIBITED:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBrussels, Almine Rech, \u003ci\u003eResting Point of Accommodation\u003c\/i\u003e, April-May, 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1969 in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, Che Lovelace is a celebrated painter whose exuberant, deeply atmospheric works explore the spiritual, social, and sensory dimensions of Caribbean life. Trained at the École Régionale des Beaux-Arts de la Martinique, Lovelace draws upon the landscape, rituals, festivals, and vernacular culture of Trinidad to construct richly layered compositions that oscillate between figuration and abstraction. His paintings are distinguished by their rhythmic use of color, dense material surfaces, and immersive treatment of space, transforming scenes of everyday life into emotionally and mythically charged environments. Across his practice, Lovelace approaches the Caribbean not as subject matter to be interpreted for outsiders, but as a complete visual and cultural language with its own internal logic, symbolism, and history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eShanna and Sita\u003c\/i\u003e is organized around the abundance of a Caribbean market stall: pineapples, watermelons, plantains, bananas arranged in vivid, near-surreal profusion. To the centre of the composition two figures emerge, half-framed, seemingly gazing at one another with the ease of deep familiarity. Lovelace works in acrylic and dry pigment on board; his treatment of the natural landscape is inseparable from his sense of national identity. For Lovelace, Trinidad is not backdrop but grammar, the generative centre of form, colour, and myth from which is painterly language emerges.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe composition hovers between the domestic and the celebratory, between painting and tableau. Lovelace does not translate Caribbean life for an external audience; he treats it as a complete visual world with its own laws. The alternation between naturalistic and near-abstract rendering of the food – lush, mouthwatering, abundant – creates an intimacy that is entirely Trinidadian, and entirely his. Through this balance of abundance and intimacy, \u003ci\u003eShanna and Sita\u003c\/i\u003e becomes both portrait and atmosphere, capturing the sensual immediacy and cultural specificity that define Lovelace’s work.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLovelace’s work has been exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions at Almine Rech, where Shanna and Sita was exhibited in \u003ci\u003eResting Point of Accommodation\u003c\/i\u003e in 2021. His paintings are held in major institutional collections including the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Aïshti Foundation in Beirut. In 2025, Lovelace was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government, recognizing his significant contribution to contemporary art and culture.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501920465145,"sku":"JP0526271","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526271_1.jpg?v=1784038941"},{"product_id":"sekuru-koni","title":"Sekuru Koni","description":"\u003cp\u003eKUDZANAI-VIOLET HWAMI (B. 1993)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSekuru Koni\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned and dated 'Hwami 2017' (on the reverse)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eacrylic and oil on canvas\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e23 5\/8 x 23 5\/8 inches (60 x 60 cm)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eframed: 25 3\/4 x 25 3\/4 inches (65.4 x 65.4 cm)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2017.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, Florida\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEXHIBITED:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLondon, Tyburn Gallery, \u003ci\u003eIf You Keep Going South You'll Meet Yourself,\u003c\/i\u003e September-November, 2017.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1993 in Gutu, Zimbabwe, Kudzanai-Violet Hwami is a contemporary painter whose psychologically charged portraits and dreamlike figurative compositions explore memory, migration, identity, and diasporic experience. Raised in Zimbabwe before moving to South Africa and later the United Kingdom, Hwami draws upon personal archives, family photographs, and imagined spaces to construct paintings that move fluidly between autobiography and collective history. Her works are characterized by expressive brushwork, layered surfaces, and emotionally resonant palettes that dissolve distinctions between portraiture, memory, and fantasy. Through this deeply intuitive approach, Hwami creates figures that feel suspended between presence and recollection, intimacy and distance.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2017, \u003ci\u003eSekuru Koni\u003c\/i\u003e reflects the artist’s early exploration of familial memory and psychological portraiture. The title, using the Shona word “Sekuru,” meaning grandfather or elder, immediately situates the work within a framework of kinship, ancestry, and personal history. Rendered in acrylic and oil on canvas, the composition possesses the atmospheric softness and emotional ambiguity that have become hallmarks of Hwami’s practice. The figure emerges through layered passages of color and gesture, occupying a space that feels simultaneously physical and remembered.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHwami’s paintings often resist fixed narrative, allowing emotional tone and painterly surface to carry the psychological weight of the work. In \u003ci\u003eSekuru Koni\u003c\/i\u003e, areas of loose abstraction coexist with moments of carefully articulated form, producing a sense of intimacy shaped as much by absence as by depiction. The restrained square format intensifies the immediacy of the portrait, drawing attention to the quiet emotional exchange between sitter and viewer. Like much of Hwami’s work, the painting functions not simply as representation, but as an act of recollection and reconstruction through paint.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHwami has exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions at the Kunstinstituut Melly and major gallery presentations with Victoria Miro in London and New York. Her work is held in prominent institutional collections including the Tate in London and the Studio Museum in Harlem, and she is widely recognized as one of the leading voices in contemporary diasporic figuration.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501920497913,"sku":"JP0626009","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/Joopiter_Black-Vangaurds-images_0b7.jpg?v=1784038936"},{"product_id":"coccinelle-no-1","title":"Coccinelle No.1","description":"\u003cp\u003eABDOULAYE KONATÉ (B. 1953)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eCoccinelle No. 1\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eembroidered with the artist's signature and date 'A. Konaté 2022' (lower right); signed twice, titled, and dated 'Coccinelle No. 1 2022 A. Konaté Abdoulaye Konaté' (on the reverse)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etextile\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e60 1\/4 x 44 3\/4 inches (153 x 113.7 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2022.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, Accra\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1953 in Diré, Mali, Abdoulaye Konaté is one of the most internationally celebrated contemporary African artists, renowned for his monumental textile-based works that merge minimalist abstraction with the aesthetic lineage of traditional West African craft practices. Trained at the Institut National des Arts in Bamako before continuing his studies in Cuba, Konaté developed a distinctive visual language rooted in layered strips of dyed and woven fabric. His works often address themes of environmental fragility, spirituality, migration, disease, and social conflict, transforming textile into a medium capable of carrying both aesthetic and political weight. Drawing upon the deep textile traditions of Mali while engaging the formal language of modernist abstraction, Konaté creates compositions that are at once materially sumptuous and conceptually rigorous.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2022, \u003ci\u003eCoccinelle No. 1\u003c\/i\u003e demonstrates the artist’s extraordinary sensitivity to color, rhythm, and surface. Composed entirely of layered textile, the work unfolds vertically through a gradual chromatic transition from delicate pale pinks to deep, velvety burgundy tones. Konaté’s suspended strips of fabric create subtle shifts in density and movement, allowing color to operate almost atmospherically, as though the composition were breathing or vibrating with light. Near the top of the work, a solitary ladybug emerges as both visual interruption and symbolic anchor, introducing a moment of quiet narrative within the otherwise meditative abstraction.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe title, referencing the coccinelle or ladybug, imbues the work with a sense of delicacy and transformation. Long associated with renewal, protection, and ecological balance, the insect becomes a subtle but potent symbol within Konaté’s layered textile environment. As in much of the artist’s practice, abstraction here is never entirely detached from lived reality or symbolic meaning. The tactile richness of the fabric and the gradual movement between tonal registers create a contemplative visual experience that rewards sustained viewing, balancing monumentality with remarkable intimacy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKonaté’s work has been exhibited extensively worldwide, including major presentations at the Venice Biennale, the Dakar Biennale, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C. His works are held in numerous international public and private collections, and he is widely regarded as a pioneering figure in the elevation of textile within contemporary global art discourse. Through his fusion of material tradition and contemporary abstraction, Konaté has profoundly expanded the possibilities of textile as a medium for both artistic expression and cultural reflection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501920530681,"sku":"JP0526267","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526267_1.jpg?v=1784038936"},{"product_id":"7-hours","title":"7 HOURS","description":"\u003cp\u003eSAMUEL ROSS (B. 1991)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e7 HOURS\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned (lower left)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eemulsion, acrylic, oil, masonry paint, aerosol, indian ink and fabric dye on soaked duck canvas in steel frame\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e53 9\/16 x 103 15\/16 inches (136 x 264 cm)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2022.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE\u003c\/b\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, London\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEXHIBITED\u003c\/b\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLondon, White Cube, \u003ci\u003eSamuel Ross: LAND\u003c\/i\u003e, April-May, 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSavannah, SCAD Museum of Art, \u003ci\u003eSamuel Ross: HEAVE\u003c\/i\u003e, January-July, 2025.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1991 in London to Caribbean parents, Dr Samuel Ross MBE is a British artist, designer, and creative director whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, sculpture, fashion, industrial design, and installation. Initially trained in graphic illustration before moving into product and industrial design, Ross first gained international recognition through the founding of his label A-COLD-WALL* in 2015, where he reimagined streetwear through a sharply conceptual and materially driven approach informed by architecture, labor, and class structures. Across both his visual art and design practices, Ross investigates systems of industry, Black identity, urban space, and material functionality, often working with utilitarian surfaces and industrial processes to create works that feel simultaneously engineered and deeply physical.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2022, \u003ci\u003e7 HOURS\u003c\/i\u003e exemplifies Ross’ materially experimental approach to abstraction. Composed using emulsion, acrylic, oil, masonry paint, aerosol, Indian ink, and fabric dye on soaked duck canvas, the work unfolds through layered gestures, stains, and ruptured surfaces that emphasize process as much as image. Ross treats the canvas less as a traditional support than as a site of physical intervention, allowing industrial materials to bleed, absorb, and accumulate across the composition. The resulting surface possesses a raw, weathered intensity, evoking erosion, impact, and the unstable relationship between body, landscape, and built environment.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThough abstract, \u003ci\u003e7 HOURS\u003c\/i\u003e retains a strong bodily and architectural presence. Ross frequently draws connections between collapsed structures, industrial materials, and the lived realities of Black experience, using abstraction as a means of approaching psychological and social conditions indirectly rather than illustratively. Areas of density and abrasion are countered by moments of openness and atmospheric space, producing a tension between force and vulnerability that runs throughout the work. His use of soaked canvas and masonry paint further destabilizes traditional painterly hierarchies, collapsing distinctions between fine art, construction material, and physical labor.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRoss’ visual art has been exhibited internationally alongside his influential design practice, including presentations at White Cube and the SCAD Museum of Art, where \u003ci\u003e7 HOURS\u003c\/i\u003e was exhibited as part of \u003ci\u003eLAND (2023)\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eHEAVE (2025)\u003c\/i\u003e, respectively. In addition to his work as an artist, Ross has collaborated with major global brands including Nike, Apple, and LVMH through his design studio SR_A. His increasingly expansive practice positions him at the forefront of a generation of artists and designers redefining the intersections between material experimentation, contemporary abstraction, and Black cultural production.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501920563449,"sku":"JP0626006","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0626006_1.jpg?v=1784038944"},{"product_id":"temporary-friends","title":"Temporary Friends","description":"\u003cp\u003eNINA CHANEL ABNEY (B. 1982)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eTemporary Friends\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned, numbered and dated in black ink '12\/35 NINA CHANEL ABNEY 2019' (lower edge on the fifth print)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe complete set of five relief prints in colors, on Hahnemühle Aurora paper\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eeach: 38 1\/2 x 29 inches (97.8 x 73.7 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eeach framed: 42 x 32 1\/2 inches (106.7 x 82.6 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2019. This work is set number 12 from an edition of 35 plus 8 artist's proofs. Published by Pace Editions, Inc., New York.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1982 in Harvey, Illinois, Nina Chanel Abney is a celebrated contemporary artist whose bold, graphic works explore the complexities of race, gender, politics, and identity in the 21st century. She received her B.F.A. from Augustana College in Illinois in 2004 and her M.F.A. from Parsons School of Design in New York City in 2007. Now based in New York, Abney has developed a visual language that fuses representation and abstraction, compressing narratives into high-velocity compositions that reflect the chaotic pace of contemporary life. Her works resist linear storytelling in favor of disjointed scenes where time, space, and identity collapse and recombine—producing what she has called “easy to swallow, hard to digest” imagery.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAbney’s aesthetic draws on a rich lineage—from the color theories of Matisse and the fractured geometries of Cubism to the politically charged formalism of Harlem Renaissance artists like Aaron Douglas and Jacob Lawrence. Yet her approach is resolutely of-the-moment, shaped by the language of memes, emojis, and news headlines. As art historian Richard J. Powell has observed, Abney’s works “jolt viewers’ internal sense of equilibrium” through vivid color, geometric fragmentation, and rhythmic, collage-like structure, creating a new kind of history painting grounded in the immediacy of digital-age overload.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis vibrant suite from Nina Chanel Abney, \u003ci\u003eTemporary Friends\u003c\/i\u003e distills her signature visual language—flat color fields, bold iconography, and playful yet pointed symbolism—into five devotional portraits that reimagine divinity through a contemporary, Black lens. Each figure radiates intimacy, power, and layered meaning, rendering sacred archetypes with modern edge and cultural nuance.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAbney’s work has been widely exhibited internationally. Recent solo presentations include the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (2023), ICA Miami (2022), and a major 2022 public commission for the façade of Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall in New York. Past institutional exhibitions have been held at the ICA Boston, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and the Nasher Museum of Art. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Rubell Family Collection, and the Dallas Museum of Art.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese works are sold framed.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501920596217,"sku":"JP0325038","price":22000.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0325038_01.jpg?v=1784038944"},{"product_id":"innocent-prisoner-no-12","title":"Innocent Prisoner No. 12","description":"\u003cp\u003eSALAH ELMUR (B. 1966)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eInnocent Prisoner No. 12\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned and dated 'S. ELMUR. 2020' (lower left)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eacrylic on canvas\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e47 1\/8 x 31 1\/4 inches (119.7 x 79.4 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2020.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eVigo Gallery, London\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcquired from the above by the present owner\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1966 in Khartoum, Sudan, Salah Elmur is a celebrated painter whose vividly stylized works draw upon memory, folklore, and everyday life in Sudan. Trained at the College of Fine and Applied Arts at Sudan University of Science and Technology and now based in Egypt, Elmur has developed an internationally recognized practice characterized by flattened perspectives, elongated figures, and richly symbolic compositions that explore themes of migration, identity, displacement, and collective memory. His works often evoke the rhythms of storytelling, transforming ordinary scenes into poetic meditations on resilience, humor, and human experience.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2020, \u003ci\u003eInnocent Prisoner No. 12 \u003c\/i\u003eexemplifies Elmur’s ability to merge narrative ambiguity with striking formal economy. Rendered in acrylic on canvas, the work centers a solitary figure whose stylized presence radiates both dignity and psychological complexity. Elmur’s restrained yet deeply resonant visual language allows the subject to occupy a space between portrait and allegory, transforming the painting into a broader reflection on confinement, vulnerability, and endurance. The title introduces an immediate tension between innocence and imprisonment, encouraging viewers to consider systems of judgment, social alienation, and the fragility of personal freedom.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eElmur’s compositions are distinguished by their flattened spatial constructions and carefully controlled palettes, which heighten the symbolic weight of gesture and expression. In \u003ci\u003eInnocent Prisoner No. 12\u003c\/i\u003e, areas of austere color and simplified form create a dreamlike stillness that contrasts with the emotional gravity of the subject matter. The figure’s quiet confrontation with the viewer recalls the directness of devotional portraiture while remaining rooted in contemporary political and psychological realities. Through this balance of tenderness and tension, Elmur transforms a singular image into a universal meditation on humanity and survival.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSalah Elmur’s work has been exhibited internationally across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, with notable solo exhibitions including \u003ci\u003eFragrances of the Forest and Photos\u003c\/i\u003e at the Sharjah Art Museum in 2018 and \u003ci\u003eWater and Electricity\u003c\/i\u003e at Vigo Gallery in 2022. His work has also been included in major group exhibitions such as \u003ci\u003eForests and Spirits: Figurative Art \u003c\/i\u003efrom the Khartoum School at the Saatchi Gallery in 2018. Elmur’s paintings are held in prominent international collections including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town, and the Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden (MACAAL) in Marrakech.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501920628985,"sku":"JP0526288","price":9500.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526288_1.jpg?v=1784038947"},{"product_id":"the-breakfast","title":"The Breakfast","description":"\u003cp\u003eENIWAYE OLUWASEYI (B. 1994)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Breakfast\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned thrice, titled, and dated thrice 'ENIWAY OLUWASEYI 2021 'THE BREAKFAST' ENIWAYE OLUWASEYI 2020 ENIWAYE OLUWASEYI 2020' (on the reverse)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ediptych, oil on primed canvas\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eeach: 60 x 60 inches (152.4 x 152.4 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eoverall: 60 x 120 inches (152.4 x 304.8 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2020.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEXHIBITED:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNew York, Christie's, \u003ci\u003eSay It Loud\u003c\/i\u003e, August, 2020.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1994 in Nigeria, Eniwaye Oluwaseyi is a contemporary painter whose carefully constructed figurative works explore memory, domestic space, and the emotional architecture of everyday life. Originally trained in agricultural engineering before turning fully to painting, Oluwaseyi brings a distinctive structural precision to his compositions, combining technical rigor with atmospheric sensitivity. His paintings frequently center intimate interiors and psychologically charged encounters, using shadow, silhouette, and spatial recession to transform familiar environments into meditative spaces suspended between observation and memory. Through this restrained visual language, Oluwaseyi examines themes of presence, longing, and the quiet complexities of contemporary African life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Breakfast\u003c\/i\u003e is set within a distinctly Nigerian interior: burglar-proofed windows, pink curtains, and a wooden table laid with milk and flasks of tea—the recognizable furniture of West African domestic life rendered with remarkable clarity and precision. Oluwaseyi’s background in engineering is evident in his handling of perspective and spatial construction, where carefully calibrated recession and geometry lend the composition a quiet formal rigor that heightens rather than diminishes its atmosphere of ambiguity. Against this meticulously observed setting, the figures appear silhouetted almost to abstraction, rendered in deep, luminous black, their faces turned toward the viewer with calm and unwavering authority.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe diptych format, mirrored in composition, amplifies the work’s stillness and interiority, suggesting both dialogue and meditation. This sense of suspension recalls the liminal quality of the breakfast hour itself—that threshold between sleep and waking, dream and day. Oluwaseyi positions the Nigerian domestic interior not as backdrop, but as the emotional and conceptual center of the work, transforming everyday space into an act of remembrance and reclamation. The composure and direct gaze of his figures evoke the psychological intensity of portraitists such as Barkley L. Hendricks, while maintaining a visual language entirely his own: restrained, contemplative, and deeply attuned to atmosphere.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOluwaseyi’s work has gained increasing international recognition through exhibitions in New York, Amsterdam, and Lagos. \u003ci\u003eThe Breakfast\u003c\/i\u003e was included in \u003ci\u003eSay It Loud\u003c\/i\u003e at Christie's in 2020, a landmark exhibition dedicated to emerging Black artists from across the diaspora. In 2023, the artist was awarded a residency at the prestigious Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam, where he continues to develop his practice. His paintings have established him as one of the most compelling young voices in contemporary African figuration.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501920661753,"sku":"JP0526276","price":1800.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526276_1.jpg?v=1784038946"},{"product_id":"the-ol-ball-and-chain","title":"The Ol' Ball and Chain","description":"\u003cp\u003eSLAWN (B. 2000) \u0026amp; OPAKE (B. 1988)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Ol' Ball and Chain\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned, titled and dated 'Slawn 2025 BALL N CHAIN OPAKE' (on the reverse)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003espray paint and acrylic paint marker on maple wood\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e48 x 48 inches (121.9 x 121.9 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2025.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, Miami\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 2000 in Lagos, Nigeria, Slawn is a contemporary artist whose frenetic visual language merges graffiti, caricature, street culture, and contemporary figuration. After relocating to London, he quickly emerged as one of the most visible young artists of his generation, known for works that channel the immediacy of punk, skate, and music culture through raw, instinctive mark-making. His practice spans painting, sculpture, fashion, and design, collapsing distinctions between fine art and subcultural expression while bringing the visual energy of the street into contemporary art discourse.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOpake (b. 1988) is an artist whose work draws upon graffiti aesthetics, graphic illustration, and contemporary urban culture. His collaborative practice embraces spontaneity, humor, and improvisation, creating compositions that privilege immediacy and visual impact over refinement.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2025, \u003ci\u003eThe Ol’ Ball and Chain\u003c\/i\u003e exemplifies the duo’s raw and highly graphic collaborative style. The work was created for \u003ci\u003eHeroes, Villains \u0026amp; Violence\u003c\/i\u003e, the landmark Slawn and Opake exhibition presented during Art Miami 2025 at the Museum of Graffiti. The exhibition drew over 4,000 attendees on the opening night despite it being the first exhibition by the artist in the United States, a testament to the artist’s global resonance.  Created with spray paint and acrylic paint marker on maple wood panel, the work combines gestural mark-making, exaggerated forms, and layered iconography into a composition animated by humor, irreverence, and controlled chaos. The composition absorbs the vocabularies of both artists into a single charged surface. \u003ci\u003eThe Ol' Ball and Chain \u003c\/i\u003eis Slawn operating at the height of his powers, his most recognizable imagery deployed with full confidence across the canvas. But it is the title that gives the work its conceptual depth, a phrase that pulls in two directions at once. On one hand a pun, a wink, the language of cartoon captions and playground humor; on the other a direct reference to the iconography of incarceration, the literal ball and chain of prison imagery. That Opake's practice is built on Disney and cartoon characters makes the collision pointed: childhood imagery pressed into the service of something considerably darker, the innocence of the visual register held in deliberate tension with what the title names.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWorking in a visual language informed equally by graffiti, cartoons, music culture, and street intervention, Slawn and Opake embrace a deliberately unruly approach to image-making. Their compositions oscillate between satire and absurdity, transforming familiar motifs into distorted, animated forms that feel simultaneously playful and confrontational. In \u003ci\u003eThe Ol’ Ball and Chain\u003c\/i\u003e, this instinctive energy becomes central to the work’s appeal, reflecting a broader shift within contemporary art toward practices shaped by speed, spontaneity, and the visual language of contemporary urban culture.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501920694521,"sku":"JP0526268","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526268_1.jpg?v=1784038937"},{"product_id":"jerusalem","title":"Jerusalem","description":"\u003cp\u003eARTHUR TIMOTHY (B. 1957)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eJerusalem\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned with the artist's initials and dated 'ABT 21' (lower right); signed again twice, titled and dated again ''JERUSALEM' 2021 A. B. TIMOTHY Arthur Timothy' (on the reverse)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eoil on canvas\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e39 3\/8 x 39 3\/8 inches (100 x 100 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1957 in Ghana and raised between Ghana and Sierra Leone, Arthur Timothy is a contemporary painter whose richly atmospheric portraits and narrative scenes explore memory, migration, family history, and the cultural hybridity of the African Atlantic world. Before turning fully to painting in 2018, Timothy worked for decades as a RIBA-chartered architect, a background that continues to inform the structural precision and compositional balance of his canvases. Drawing extensively from family photographs and personal archives, the artist creates works that reclaim and celebrate histories of Black elegance, intellectualism, and social ritual often omitted from dominant historical narratives. His paintings are distinguished by their luminous color, psychological intimacy, and careful attention to gesture, posture, and dress.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eJerusalem\u003c\/i\u003e, three Black men in immaculate formal dress – top hats, morning coats, pocket squares and white gloves in hand – stand against a softly rendered natural landscape composed of rich atmospheric washes of color. Timothy draws from a familial archive rooted in his home countries of Ghana and Sierra Leone, and these figures carry that history in their bearing. Their sartorial precision speaks to a particular tradition within late colonial and postcolonial culture, in which the intelligentsia of the African Atlantic dressed impeccably as an assertion of equivalence; a direct counter-narrative to colonial projections of African inferiority, delivered unapologetically.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat distinguishes Timothy’s work is the intimacy of his gaze. Rather than aestheticizing his subjects from a distance, he paints them with familiarity, warmth, and reverence, emphasizing the complexity and cultural richness of Afro-Caribbean diasporic life. The figures in \u003ci\u003eJerusalem\u003c\/i\u003e possess both individuality and symbolic resonance, occupying a space between portraiture and historical reconstruction. Timothy’s architectural training remains evident throughout the composition, where spatial clarity and formal balance heighten the emotional restraint and quiet authority of the scene.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTimothy’s work has been exhibited internationally and is held in several significant institutional and private collections, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, and the Dean Collection. Since transitioning fully into painting, he has gained widespread recognition for his nuanced reimagining of Black diasporic histories through portraiture rooted equally in memory, elegance, and lived experience.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501920727289,"sku":"JP0526274","price":900.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526274_1.jpg?v=1784038949"},{"product_id":"brothers-iii","title":"Brothers III","description":"\u003cp\u003eARTHUR TIMOTHY (B. 1957)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBrothers III\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned with the artist's initials and dated 'ABT 21' (lower right); signed again twice, titled and dated ''BROTHERS III' ARTHUR TIMOTHY 2021 Arthur Timothy' (on the reverse)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eoil on linen\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e74 3\/4 x 74 3\/4 inches (190 x 190 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eframed: 77 x 77 inches (195.6 x 195.6 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEXHIBITED:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAccra, Gallery 1957, \u003ci\u003eArthur Timothy: Grandma's Hands\u003c\/i\u003e, August-October, 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1957 in Ghana and raised between Ghana and Sierra Leone, Arthur Timothy is a contemporary painter whose atmospheric portraits and narrative scenes explore migration, family history, memory, and the cultural hybridity of the Black Atlantic world. After a long career as a RIBA-chartered architect, Timothy turned fully to painting in 2018, bringing to his practice a strong sense of spatial construction and compositional discipline. Drawing extensively from family photographs and personal archives, the artist reconstructs intimate moments of diasporic life with remarkable emotional sensitivity. His paintings are distinguished by their softened palettes, quiet psychological intensity, and deeply human approach to portraiture, offering nuanced reflections on migration, kinship, and belonging.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBrothers III\u003c\/i\u003e  is among the most emotionally resonant works in Timothy’s practice. Derived from a photograph taken on the deck of the MV Aureol, the passenger ship carrying the artist (left) and his brother Desmond toward Britain, the large-scale composition captures a moment poised between intimacy and historical transformation. Two young men stand on the cusp of migration, framed by the geometry of a pool deck and the expansive light of open water. Timothy’s handling of paint is characteristic of his signature visual language: a palette softened and faintly faded, as though the canvas itself were attempting to preserve the fragility and emotional texture of childhood memory.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe monumental scale of \u003ci\u003eBrothers III \u003c\/i\u003etransforms a private family image into a contemporary history painting. Themes that have come to define much recent diasporic art—migration, kinship, displacement, and the Black Atlantic passage—are distilled here into something profoundly personal and deeply human. Timothy’s architectural background remains visible in the careful structure and spatial clarity of the composition, which gently draws the viewer into the picture plane rather than overwhelming them. The result is a work of remarkable formal restraint and emotional depth, one that quietly expands the visual language through which Black Atlantic experience is represented and remembered.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTimothy’s work has been exhibited internationally and is held in prominent institutional and private collections including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, and the Dean Collection. Brothers III was exhibited in Grandma’s Hands at Gallery 1957 in 2021, an exhibition centered on memory, family, and intergenerational connection within the African diaspora.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501920891129,"sku":"JP0526270","price":4600.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526270_1.jpg?v=1784038949"},{"product_id":"eve-on-an-apple-bottom","title":"Eve on an apple bottom","description":"\u003cp\u003eKUDZANAI-VIOLET HWAMI (B. 1993)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eEve on an apple bottom\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eoil on paper\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e78 1\/4 x 60 1\/2 inches (198.8 x 153.7 cm)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eframed: 83 1\/2 x 64 1\/2 inches (212 x 164 cm)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2016.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, Florida\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEXHIBITED:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBrooklyn, Tyburn Gallery, \u003ci\u003e1:54 Contemporary Africa Art Fair\u003c\/i\u003e, May 2017.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1993 in Gutu, Zimbabwe, Kudzanai-Violet Hwami is a contemporary painter whose evocative figurative works explore themes of migration, memory, sexuality, and diasporic identity. Having lived between Zimbabwe, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, Hwami draws upon personal photographs, imagined scenes, and fragments of autobiography to construct psychologically layered compositions that blur the boundaries between intimacy and mythology. Her paintings are distinguished by expressive brushwork, fluid figuration, and richly atmospheric surfaces through which bodies emerge, dissolve, and reconfigure. Across her practice, Hwami treats painting as a space of emotional excavation, using gesture and color to navigate the complexities of selfhood, belonging, and desire.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2016, \u003ci\u003eEve on an apple bottom\u003c\/i\u003e belongs to an important early period in Hwami’s practice, in which the artist began developing the sensuous and emotionally charged visual language for which she has become widely recognized. Rendered in oil on paper, the work combines monumentality with remarkable vulnerability, presenting the figure through loose passages of paint that oscillate between clarity and abstraction. The title invokes layered associations with femininity, temptation, sexuality, and biblical archetype, while simultaneously grounding the work within contemporary cultural language and bodily presence.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHwami’s treatment of the figure resists fixed definition, allowing forms to emerge gradually through gestural marks, stains, and translucent layers of oil. The result is a composition that feels suspended between dream and memory, where the body functions not simply as subject but as an unstable site of projection, longing, and transformation. Despite the work’s large scale, there is an extraordinary intimacy to its surface, as though the painting records an internal emotional state rather than a fully resolved image. This tension between monumentality and fragility remains central to Hwami’s practice and contributes to the singular emotional resonance of her work.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHwami has exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions at the Kunstinstituut Melly and major gallery presentations with Victoria Miro in London and New York. Her work is held in prominent institutional collections including the Tate in London and the Studio Museum in Harlem, and she is widely recognized as one of the leading voices in contemporary diasporic figuration.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501920923897,"sku":"JP0626008","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/Joopiter_Black-Vangaurds-images_0a4.jpg?v=1784038944"},{"product_id":"yellow-house-1","title":"Yellow House 1","description":"\u003cp\u003eCOLLINS OBIJIAKU (B. 1995)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eYellow House 1\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eoil and charcoal on paper\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e29 x 21 inches (73.7 x 53.3 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eframed: 33 1\/2 x 25 inches (85.1 x 63.5 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEXHIBITED:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMiami, Roberts Projects, \u003ci\u003eArt Basel\u003c\/i\u003e, December, 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1995 in Nigeria, Collins Obijiaku is a contemporary painter whose intimate portraits explore visibility, psychological presence, and the emotional complexity of everyday life. Working primarily in oil and charcoal, Obijiaku has developed a distinctive figurative language marked by richly textured surfaces, restrained palettes, and direct, confrontational gazes. His subjects—often friends, neighbors, and people encountered on the streets of Abuja—are rendered with a quiet monumentality that challenges conventional hierarchies of representation. Through close cropping and atmospheric fields of color, the artist creates deeply human portraits that emphasize vulnerability, dignity, and the politics of being seen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eYellow House 1\u003c\/i\u003e brings the viewer into close proximity with a single figure, his face filling the picture plane against a luminous amber ground, his gaze level and entirely unyielding. Obijiaku works in oil and charcoal, and the interplay between the two gives his surfaces an almost geological depth: cartographical passages of mark-making that make skin feel richly textured, monumental, alive. His use of color is atmospheric rather than decorative, pressing the figure forward and forcing the encounter between viewer and subject to feel at once intimate and charged.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is a portrait concerned with looking back. The direct gaze of Obijiaku’s subjects invokes the politics of the gaze, recalling a long tradition stretching back to canonical works such as Manet’s Olympia: those who have historically been overlooked now compel the viewer to stop and truly see them. Yet Obijiaku resists spectacle in favor of slowness, intimacy, and painterly discipline, allowing the emotional authority of the work to emerge through sustained attention and quiet intensity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eObijiaku completed a residency at Kehinde Wiley’s Black Rock Senegal and has exhibited internationally in New York, London, Lagos, and Accra. His work has gained increasing recognition for its psychologically charged approach to portraiture and its contribution to the evolving landscape of contemporary African figuration.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501920956665,"sku":"JP0526282","price":2600.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526282_1.jpg?v=1784038952"},{"product_id":"abinu-alur-for-i-am-coming-2023","title":"ABINU - Alur for \"I am coming\"","description":"\u003cp\u003eACAYE KERUNEN (B. 1981)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eABINU - Alur for \"I am coming\"\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003estripped banan rind, raffia, and hand dyed palm leaves\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e37 x 17 x 4 3\/4 inches (94 x 43.2 x 12.1 cm)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, Florida\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1981 in Uganda, Acaye Kerunen is a multidisciplinary artist, researcher, and environmental activist whose practice is rooted in indigenous knowledge systems, sustainable material traditions, and the cultural histories of East Africa. Working primarily with hand-processed natural fibers and plant-based materials, Kerunen creates sculptural and textile works that challenge conventional distinctions between craft, design, and contemporary art. Her practice is deeply informed by ecological stewardship and community-based making, foregrounding materials that have historically been overlooked or undervalued while highlighting the complex relationships between land, labor, memory, and identity. Through this approach, Kerunen positions traditional knowledge not as a relic of the past, but as a vital framework for imagining sustainable futures.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2023, \u003ci\u003eABINU\u003c\/i\u003e—Alur for “I am coming”—embodies the artist’s ongoing engagement with movement, transformation, and cultural continuity. Constructed from stripped banana rind, raffia, and hand-dyed palm leaves, the work reveals an extraordinary sensitivity to material and process. The elongated vertical form suggests both presence and passage, its woven and layered surfaces carrying the traces of the natural materials from which it is made. The title introduces a sense of anticipation and arrival, positioning the work as an expression of transition, emergence, and becoming.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCentral to Kerunen’s practice is the belief that materials themselves carry histories. By working with banana fiber, raffia, and palm leaves—resources deeply embedded within the agricultural and cultural life of East Africa—she elevates everyday organic materials into objects of profound visual and conceptual significance. The resulting sculpture balances delicacy with strength, drawing attention to the labor-intensive processes of harvesting, dyeing, and weaving that underpin its creation. In \u003ci\u003eABINU\u003c\/i\u003e, material becomes language, communicating ideas of resilience, ancestry, environmental interconnectedness, and the enduring relevance of indigenous forms of knowledge.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKerunen’s work has been exhibited internationally, including presentations at the Venice Biennale, the Sharjah Biennial, and major institutions throughout Africa, Europe, and North America. Her practice has received widespread recognition for its innovative fusion of contemporary art, ecological activism, and traditional craft methodologies, establishing her as one of the leading voices in contemporary African textile and fiber-based art.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501920989433,"sku":"JP0626010","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/Joopiter_Black-Vangaurds-images_0a11.jpg?v=1784038942"},{"product_id":"youve-really-got-a-hold-on-me-for-jean-harris","title":"You've Really Got A Hold On Me (for Jean Harris)","description":"\u003cp\u003eESIRI ERHERIENE-ESSI (B. 1982)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eYou've Really Got A Hold On Me (for Jean Harris)\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned, titled, and dated '\"YOU'VE REALLY GOT A HOLD ON ME (for JEAN HARRIS) (2021) ESIRI ERHERIENE-ESSI' (on the stretcher bar on the reverse)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eoil, ink and xerox transfer on linen\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e53 1\/8 x 68 7\/8 inches (135 x 175 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEXHIBITED:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBelgium, Maruani Mercier, \u003ci\u003eThe Future Isn't What It Used To Be\u003c\/i\u003e, August-September, 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1982 in London, Esiri Erheriene-Essi is a Dutch-Nigerian painter whose richly layered works investigate memory, Black cultural history, and the construction of diasporic identity through archival imagery. Drawing upon family photographs, found images, magazines, and personal ephemera, the artist creates compositions that blur the boundaries between portraiture, historical reconstruction, and collective memory. Her practice is deeply informed by the visual culture of the African diaspora, particularly the ways in which Black histories are preserved, obscured, or reimagined through domestic archives and vernacular photography. Combining painting with xerox transfer, collage, and ink, Erheriene-Essi produces works that feel simultaneously intimate and historiographic, emphasizing the emotional and political weight carried by images across generations.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eYou’ve Really Got A Hold On Me (for Jean Harris)\u003c\/i\u003e is a painting built from collected lives. Working through a personal archive of vernacular photographs and found imagery, Erheriene-Essi brings Jean Louise Harris—the first Black woman to graduate from the Medical College of Virginia and later Virginia’s Secretary of Human Resources—into the foreground of a domestic scene layered with historical resonance. Behind her, a wall hung with photographs of Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, and other figures from Black American cultural life evokes the intimate, politically charged interiors of Kerry James Marshall’s Souvenir paintings, where personal memory and collective history collapse into one another.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe work combines oil, ink, and xerox transfer on linen, and its materiality is inseparable from its meaning. Processes of transfer, layering, and reworking speak directly to the instability of historical memory itself: what survives within archives, what is neglected, and what must be reconstructed through the artist’s hand. Erheriene-Essi does not simply recover overlooked histories; she demonstrates how painting can reactivate the archive, transforming static images into living, emotionally resonant spaces. The resulting composition feels at once deeply personal and historically expansive, positioning the domestic interior as a site where Black intellectual, political, and cultural histories continue to circulate and endure.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eErheriene-Essi’s work has been exhibited internationally, including presentations at the Kunsthal Rotterdam, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, and Maruani Mercier, where You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me (for Jean Harris) was exhibited in The Future Isn’t What It Used To Be in 2021. She was awarded the Koninklijke Prijs voor Vrije Schilderkunst (Dutch Royal Award for Modern Painting) and was shortlisted for the prestigious Prix de Rome. In addition to her studio practice, the artist serves as a faculty member at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501921022201,"sku":"JP0526272","price":6000.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526272_1.jpg?v=1784038952"},{"product_id":"hair-legacy-v-2020","title":"Hair legacy V","description":"\u003cp\u003eSERGE ATTUKWEI CLOTTEY (B. 1985)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eHair Legacy V\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eacrylic and charcoal on paper in frame\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eframed: 38 x 38 inches (96.5 x 96.5 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted 2020.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEXHIBITED:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLondon, Gallery 1957, \u003ci\u003eSerge Attukwei Clottey 'DISTINCTIVE GESTURES,'\u003c\/i\u003e August-September, 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1985 in Accra, Ghana, Serge Attukwei Clottey is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans installation, performance, sculpture, photography, and drawing. A graduate of the Ghanatta College of Art and Design in Accra, Clottey has become internationally recognized for works that interrogate themes of migration, identity, environmental precarity, and systems of global exchange. Central to his practice is his concept of “Afrogallonism,” through which he transforms found yellow oil containers into large-scale sculptural compositions that address the circulation of goods, bodies, and histories throughout contemporary Africa and beyond. Across media, Clottey’s work remains deeply rooted in the textures and rhythms of everyday life in Ghana while engaging broader conversations surrounding memory, labor, and postcolonial experience.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2020, \u003ci\u003eHair Legacy V\u003c\/i\u003e reflects the artist’s sustained engagement with portraiture as a site of cultural inheritance and personal history. Rendered in acrylic and charcoal on paper, the composition possesses an immediacy and emotional intensity that distinguishes Clottey’s works on paper. Here, the artist uses bold gestural marks and layered surfaces to construct a fragmented visage in which hair becomes both formal device and symbolic language. More than an aesthetic feature, hair functions as an archive of ancestry, identity, and communal belonging—an enduring marker of Black self-fashioning across generations and geographies.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe work’s tactile surface and expressive linearity reveal Clottey’s instinctive approach to materiality. Sweeping passages of charcoal intersect with areas of saturated acrylic, producing a dynamic interplay between opacity and transparency, structure and improvisation. The composition oscillates between figuration and abstraction, allowing the subject to emerge gradually through accumulations of mark and gesture. In this way, \u003ci\u003eHair Legacy V\u003c\/i\u003e embodies the artist’s broader interest in transformation and reconstruction, themes that recur throughout his practice regardless of medium.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eClottey’s work has been exhibited extensively across Africa, Europe, and the United States, including presentations at the Brighton Festival, the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and Gallery 1957 in Accra and London. In 2019, he was included in Ghana’s inaugural pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, a landmark exhibition that brought renewed international attention to contemporary Ghanaian art. His works are held in significant public and private collections worldwide. \u003ci\u003eHair Legacy V\u003c\/i\u003e was exhibited in \u003ci\u003eDISTINCTIVE GESTURES \u003c\/i\u003eat Gallery 1957 in 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501921087737,"sku":"JP0526279","price":1100.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526279_1.jpg?v=1784038953"},{"product_id":"yellow-house-4","title":"Yellow House 4","description":"\u003cp\u003eCOLLINS OBIJIAKU (B. 1995)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eYellow House 4\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eoil and charcoal on paper\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e29 x 21 inches (73.7 x 53.3 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eframed: 33 1\/2 x 25 inches (85.1 x 63.5 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1995 in Nigeria, Collins Obijiaku is a contemporary painter whose intimate portraits examine visibility, psychological presence, and the emotional texture of everyday life. Working primarily in oil and charcoal, Obijiaku has developed a distinctive figurative language defined by densely worked surfaces, restrained palettes, and direct, unflinching gazes. His subjects—often friends, neighbors, and individuals encountered within his immediate environment—are rendered with a quiet monumentality that challenges conventional hierarchies of representation. Through tightly cropped compositions and atmospheric fields of color, the artist creates portraits that feel both deeply personal and psychologically expansive.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eYellow House 4\u003c\/i\u003e, the sitter occupies the composition with quiet certainty: face forward, gaze direct, rendered through Obijiaku’s signature fusion of dense charcoal line and oil paint that gives skin not simply color, but topography. Layered passages of mark-making create richly textured surfaces that feel almost geological in their depth and accumulation. The yellow ground, more striated and tactile here, performs an atmospheric function rather than a decorative one, pressing the figure into the viewer’s field of consciousness and intensifying the immediacy of the encounter.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eObijiaku’s portraits resist spectacle and overt narrative in favor of a quieter, more inward mode of contemporary figuration. His figures are not treated as symbols or abstractions, but as individuals whose specificity and humanity remain central to the work. In this way, the paintings engage broader questions surrounding visibility and representation while maintaining an extraordinary emotional restraint. The directness of the sitter’s gaze recalls the long history of portraiture as a site of power and recognition, compelling the viewer not simply to observe, but to acknowledge presence.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eObijiaku completed a residency at Kehinde Wiley’s Black Rock Senegal and has exhibited internationally in New York, London, Lagos, and Accra. His work has gained increasing recognition for its psychologically charged approach to portraiture and its contribution to the evolving landscape of contemporary African figuration.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501921317113,"sku":"JP0526283","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526283_1.jpg?v=1784038952"},{"product_id":"love-you-regardless","title":"Love You Regardless","description":"\u003cp\u003eLORD OHENE OKYERE-BOUR (B. 1990)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eLove You Regardless\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned and dated 'Ohene Lord 20' (lower right)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eoil pastels and acrylic on canvas\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e71 1\/4 x 79 1\/2 inches (181 x 201.9 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGallery 1957, Accra\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcquired from the above by the present owner\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1990 in Kumasi, Ghana, Lord Ohene Okyere-Bour is a contemporary painter whose emotionally resonant figurative works explore themes of intimacy, identity, vulnerability, and Black self-representation. A graduate of the Ghanatta College of Art and Design in Accra, Okyere-Bour belongs to a generation of Ghanaian artists redefining contemporary portraiture through psychologically charged depictions of everyday life and human connection. His paintings frequently center solitary figures or close interpersonal exchanges rendered in luminous palettes and expressive gestures, creating compositions that balance tenderness with quiet monumentality. Through his nuanced treatment of color, posture, and surface, the artist foregrounds emotional presence and interiority within contemporary Black figuration.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2021, \u003ci\u003eLove You Regardless\u003c\/i\u003e exemplifies Okyere-Bour’s intimate and deeply human approach to painting. Created in oil pastel and acrylic on canvas, the work envelops the viewer within a richly layered composition where gesture and color become vehicles for emotional depth. The title conveys unconditional affirmation and emotional steadfastness, framing the work as a meditation on devotion, acceptance, and resilience. Through flattened perspectives and expressive mark-making, Okyere-Bour constructs a visual language that prioritizes psychological atmosphere over strict naturalism.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe artist’s handling of oil pastel introduces a tactile immediacy to the painted surface, allowing contours and gestures to retain an almost diaristic quality. Figures emerge through layered fields of saturated color that simultaneously flatten and energize the composition, heightening the emotional intensity of the scene. Like much of Okyere-Bour’s practice, \u003ci\u003eLove You Regardless\u003c\/i\u003e resists spectacle in favor of introspection, offering instead a quiet yet powerful reflection on tenderness and human connection. The monumental scale of the canvas further amplifies the work’s immersive presence, transforming a private emotional exchange into something universal and deeply affecting.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501921349881,"sku":"JP0526290","price":5500.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526290_1.jpg?v=1784038955"},{"product_id":"you-cant-have-my-shine-baby-im-doing-just-fine","title":"You Can't Have My Shine, Baby I'm Doing Just Fine","description":"\u003cp\u003eFEBRUARY JAMES (B. 1977)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eYou Can't Have My Shine, Baby I'm Doing Just Fine\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned twice, titled, and dated 'YOU CAN'T HAVE MINE SHINE, BABY I'M DOING JUST FINE FEBRUARY JAMES 2021' (on the reverse)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eoil, oil pastel, acrylic, ink and watercolor on canvas\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e22 x 22 inches (56 x 56 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1977 in Washington, D.C., February James is a contemporary artist whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, sculpture, installation, and performance. Largely self-taught, James has developed a distinctive visual language rooted in explorations of Black identity, femininity, spirituality, and psychological interiority. Her works often center Black female subjects rendered through expressive figuration and layered symbolism, combining abstraction and portraiture to create emotionally charged narratives that resist fixed interpretation. Drawing from personal experience, diasporic histories, and mythic archetypes, James constructs images that celebrate vulnerability, self-possession, and transformation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2021, \u003ci\u003eYou Can’t Have My Shine, Baby I’m Doing Just Fine\u003c\/i\u003e exemplifies the artist’s vibrant and deeply intuitive approach to portraiture. Composed in oil, oil pastel, acrylic, ink, and watercolor on canvas, the work radiates with emotional immediacy and chromatic intensity. James layers gestural marks, translucent washes, and richly saturated color to produce a figure that feels at once grounded and dreamlike. The painting’s title functions almost as a declaration of resilience and self-affirmation, imbuing the composition with an unmistakable sense of confidence and psychic protection.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJames’ figures frequently occupy ambiguous psychological spaces, balancing tenderness with defiance. Here, the interplay of materials creates a shifting surface in which the subject seems to emerge through accumulations of memory, gesture, and sensation. Her use of line and color resists rigid structure in favor of emotional truth, allowing the painting to operate simultaneously as portrait, meditation, and assertion of presence. The intimacy of the square format further heightens the work’s immediacy, drawing the viewer into a direct encounter with the figure’s expressive force.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFebruary James’ work has been exhibited widely throughout the United States and internationally, with presentations at institutions and galleries including the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA), and Eric Firestone Gallery in New York. Her work has gained increasing recognition for its powerful engagement with Black subjectivity and contemporary figuration, and is held in numerous private collections. Through her richly layered practice, James continues to expand conversations surrounding representation, spirituality, and emotional agency within contemporary art.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501921382649,"sku":"JP0526285","price":1000.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526285_1.jpg?v=1784038964"},{"product_id":"adama","title":"Adama","description":"\u003cp\u003eIDRIS HABIB (B. 1977)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAdama\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned and dated 'H. Idris 2020-2021' (lower right)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eacrylic and Dutch wax fabric on canvas\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e66 1\/4 x 52 3\/4 inches (168.3 x 134 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted 2020-21.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Contemporary Art Modern Projects, Miami\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcquired from the above by the present owner\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1977 in Accra, Ghana, and based in New York, Idris Habib is a contemporary artist working across painting, collage, and textile-based assemblage, Habib incorporates Dutch wax fabric and other textiles into his compositions, following in the tradition of luminaries like Yinka Shonibare in transforming materials associated with trade, fashion, and diasporic exchange into powerful vehicles for storytelling. His practice reflects an ongoing engagement with the layered histories embedded within textiles and adornment, while also examining the ways portraiture can communicate dignity, resilience, and personal presence. Through richly textured surfaces and carefully composed figures, Habib creates works that balance intimacy with monumentality.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2020–21, \u003ci\u003eAdama\u003c\/i\u003e exemplifies the artist’s distinctive fusion of painting and textile collage. Rendered in acrylic and Dutch wax fabric on canvas, the work centers a commanding figure whose presence is heightened through the interplay of patterned material and painted form. Habib’s incorporation of wax fabric introduces both visual dynamism and cultural specificity, referencing the long and complex history of these textiles within West African identity and commerce. The fabric fragments function not merely as decorative elements, but as repositories of memory, movement, and social meaning.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHabib’s compositions often emphasize stillness and psychological depth, allowing his subjects to occupy space with quiet authority. In \u003ci\u003eAdama\u003c\/i\u003e, the contrast between richly patterned textiles and areas of restrained painterly treatment creates a tension between surface ornamentation and emotional interiority. The artist’s careful attention to gesture, posture, and texture lends the figure a sculptural presence, while the layered construction of the canvas reflects broader themes of fragmentation and reconstruction that recur throughout contemporary diasporic art practices. Through this synthesis of material and portraiture, Habib transforms the individual subject into a meditation on identity, heritage, and belonging.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHabib’s work has been exhibited in galleries and art fairs across Africa, Europe, and the United States, contributing to the growing international visibility of contemporary Ghanaian painting. His practice has been recognized for its innovative integration of textile traditions within contemporary portraiture, situating his work within broader conversations surrounding material culture, migration, and Black representation in contemporary art.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501921415417,"sku":"JP0526291","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526291_1.jpg?v=1784038954"},{"product_id":"fagadaga-le-retour-du-pain","title":"Fagadaga [Le retour du pain]","description":"\u003cp\u003eKASSOU SEYDOU (B. 1971)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eFagadaga [Le retour du pain}\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned, titled, inscribed and dated 'Kassou Seydou Fagadaga Kassou Seydou 2020' (on the reverse)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eacrylic on canvas\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e39 1\/2 x 39 1\/2 inches (100.3 x 100.3 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2020.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\nPrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1971 in Senegal, Kassou Seydou is a contemporary painter whose vibrant figurative works draw upon everyday life, folklore, memory, and the visual culture of West Africa. Working in a highly distinctive style characterized by intricate patterning, flattened perspective, and densely layered surfaces, Seydou creates compositions that blur the boundaries between observation and imagination. His paintings often depict scenes of daily life infused with symbolic detail and decorative complexity, transforming familiar moments into richly textured narratives. Through his use of repetition, ornament, and color, Seydou constructs visual worlds that celebrate community, movement, and the resilience of ordinary experience.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2020, \u003ci\u003eFagadaga [Le retour du pain]\u003c\/i\u003e presents a dynamic street scene animated by movement and visual rhythm. At the center of the composition, a cyclist travels through a landscape of swirling ornamental forms, carrying what appears to be a stack of loaves—a humble act elevated into a celebration of labor, sustenance, and daily ritual. The title, which translates roughly as “The Return of Bread,” reinforces the painting’s connection to nourishment, provision, and the cyclical rhythms of community life. Rendered in acrylic on canvas, the work balances narrative clarity with a dreamlike sense of invention.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSeydou’s signature arabesque-like patterning envelops the entire surface, dissolving distinctions between figure and environment and creating a sense of perpetual motion. The bicycle, architectural elements, and surrounding forms emerge through a dense network of marks that recall textile design, mural painting, and decorative traditions found throughout West Africa. Yet despite the visual abundance of the composition, the work remains grounded in a recognizable human story. Through its vibrant color palette and celebratory atmosphere, \u003ci\u003eFagadaga [Le retour du pain]\u003c\/i\u003e transforms an everyday journey into a meditation on perseverance, community, and the beauty embedded within ordinary life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSeydou’s work has been exhibited internationally and is recognized for its unique synthesis of narrative figuration and decorative abstraction. His paintings have attracted growing attention for their ability to capture contemporary West African experience through a visual language that is at once deeply local and universally accessible, positioning him among an important generation of artists expanding the possibilities of contemporary African painting.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501921448185,"sku":"JP0526281","price":1100.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526281_1.jpg?v=1784038957"},{"product_id":"self-portrait-2","title":"Self Portrait","description":"\u003cp\u003eAMANI LEWIS (B. 1994)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSelf Portrait\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eacrylic, pastel, glitter and digital collage on canvas\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e47 x 70 inches (119.4 x 117.8 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2022.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1994 in Atlanta, Georgia, Amani Lewis is a contemporary artist whose multidisciplinary practice explores identity, community, memory, and self-representation through painting, collage, and mixed media. Drawing upon personal experience, popular culture, archival imagery, and the visual language of youth culture, Lewis creates richly layered portraits that celebrate the complexity and individuality of Black life. Their work often incorporates unconventional materials, vibrant color, and fragmented compositional structures, producing images that feel simultaneously intimate and expansive. Through a practice rooted in care, visibility, and storytelling, Lewis examines how personal identity is shaped through both individual experience and collective cultural histories.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2022, \u003ci\u003eSelf Portrait\u003c\/i\u003e offers a powerful example of the artist’s deeply personal and materially inventive approach to portraiture. Combining acrylic, pastel, glitter, and digital collage on canvas, the work constructs identity through accumulation rather than singular representation. Layers of image, texture, and mark-making coexist across the surface, creating a portrait that feels fluid and multifaceted. Rather than presenting the self as fixed or fully knowable, Lewis embraces complexity, allowing different visual elements to overlap, obscure, and reveal one another.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe incorporation of digital collage introduces a contemporary dimension to the work, reflecting the fragmented ways identity is constructed through memory, media, and lived experience. Glitter and pastel contribute moments of luminosity and tactile richness, while painted passages anchor the composition in the traditions of portraiture. The result is a work that moves between vulnerability and self-possession, balancing introspection with celebration. In \u003ci\u003eSelf Portrait\u003c\/i\u003e, Lewis transforms the genre of self-portraiture into a space for examining the layered realities of Black identity, embodiment, and self-definition.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLewis’ work has been exhibited widely throughout the United States and has attracted significant attention for its innovative fusion of painting, collage, and community-centered storytelling. Their work is held in important public and private collections and has been featured in exhibitions that foreground emerging voices in contemporary figurative practice. Through a visually dynamic and deeply personal approach, Lewis continues to expand the possibilities of portraiture as a vehicle for representation, affirmation, and cultural memory.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501921480953,"sku":"JP0526277","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526277_1.jpg?v=1784038956"},{"product_id":"made-you-look","title":"Made you Look","description":"\u003cp\u003eDELPHINE DESANE (B. 1988)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMade You Look\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned twice and inscribed 'Delphine Desane NY' (on the reverse)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eoil and acrylic on canvas\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e30 x 24 inches (76.2 x 61 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2022.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDeli Gallery, New York\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcquired from the above by the present owner\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1988 in France to Haitian parents, Delphine Desane is a contemporary painter whose intimate figurative works explore themes of Black womanhood, migration, family, and emotional memory. After an early career in fashion, Desane turned fully to painting and quickly developed a distinctive visual language rooted in autobiography and psychological depth. Now based in New York, she is known for compositions that center Black subjects within quiet, contemplative spaces, using color, gesture, and simplified form to evoke tenderness, resilience, and interiority. Her paintings often blur the line between portraiture and memory, constructing emotionally charged scenes that feel both deeply personal and universally resonant.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2022, \u003ci\u003eMade You Look\u003c\/i\u003e exemplifies Desane’s nuanced approach to contemporary figuration. Rendered in acrylic on canvas, the work reflects the artist’s ability to distill emotional complexity through formal clarity and compositional restraint. Her figures frequently engage the viewer with a directness that feels intimate rather than confrontational, occupying ambiguous spaces shaped less by narrative than by atmosphere and sensation. Through layered color relationships and subtle shifts in gesture and expression, Desane creates a composition that invites prolonged contemplation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDesane’s paintings are distinguished by their balance of softness and monumentality. Flattened perspectives and carefully controlled palettes lend the work a dreamlike stillness, while the physical presence of the figure anchors the composition in lived experience. Rather than emphasizing spectacle or overt symbolism, the artist allows emotional resonance to emerge gradually through surface, posture, and tone. In \u003ci\u003eMade You Look\u003c\/i\u003e, this restraint becomes a source of power, transforming an intimate portrait into a broader meditation on presence, identity, and self-possession.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDesane’s work has been exhibited internationally in solo and group presentations in New York, London, Turin, and Hong Kong. Her paintings have been featured in exhibitions with Pace Gallery and Ben Brown Fine Arts, and she gained widespread recognition following her inclusion in Vogue Italia’s landmark illustrated issue in 2020. Her work is held in several prominent private and institutional collections, reflecting the growing international attention surrounding her practice and its contribution to contemporary figurative painting.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501921513721,"sku":"JP0526305","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526305_1.jpg?v=1784038953"},{"product_id":"better-days-are-coming","title":"Better Days Are Coming","description":"\u003cp\u003eDELPHINE DESANE (B. 1988)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBetter Days Are Coming\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned, titled and dated '\"Better days are coming\" 2021 Delphine Desane DD N.Y.' (on the reverse)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eacrylic and oil on linen\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e60 x 45 inches (152.4 x 114.3 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1988 in France to Haitian parents, Delphine Desane is a contemporary painter whose intimate figurative works explore themes of Black womanhood, migration, family, and emotional memory. After an early career in fashion, Desane turned fully to painting and quickly developed a distinctive visual language rooted in autobiography and psychological depth. Now based in New York, she is known for compositions that center Black subjects within quiet, contemplative spaces, using color, gesture, and simplified form to evoke tenderness, resilience, and interiority. Her paintings often blur the line between portraiture and memory, constructing emotionally charged scenes that feel both deeply personal and universally resonant.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2021, \u003ci\u003eBetter Days Are Coming\u003c\/i\u003e exemplifies Desane’s ability to transform portraiture into a space of emotional reassurance and psychological reflection. Rendered in acrylic and oil on linen, the composition centers the figure within an atmosphere that feels at once intimate and quietly monumental. The title itself carries the cadence of affirmation and resilience, framing the work as both personal declaration and collective meditation on endurance, hope, and emotional survival. Desane approaches the figure with characteristic tenderness, allowing posture, gesture, and chromatic subtlety to communicate emotional depth rather than overt narrative.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe painting’s restrained composition and carefully modulated palette create a sense of stillness that is central to Desane’s practice. Her figures frequently inhabit spaces suspended between memory and imagination, where emotional presence takes precedence over physical specificity. In \u003ci\u003eBetter Days Are Coming\u003c\/i\u003e, layered passages of color and softened contours lend the surface a dreamlike quality, while the directness of the figure’s presence anchors the work in lived experience. Through this balance of vulnerability and strength, Desane creates a portrait that feels deeply personal yet universally resonant, offering an image of Black interiority shaped by care, contemplation, and quiet optimism.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDesane’s work has been exhibited internationally in solo and group presentations in New York, London, Turin, and Hong Kong. Her paintings have been featured in exhibitions with Pace Gallery and Ben Brown Fine Arts, and she gained widespread recognition following her inclusion in Vogue Italia’s landmark illustrated issue in 2020. Her work is held in several prominent private and institutional collections, reflecting the growing international attention surrounding her practice and its contribution to contemporary figurative painting.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501921546489,"sku":"JP0526289","price":2600.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526289_1.jpg?v=1784038958"},{"product_id":"may-good-things-fill-your-life","title":"May good things fill your life","description":"\u003cp\u003eRUTH IGE (B. 1992)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMay good things fill your life\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned with the artist's initial and dated 'R.I. 2022' (on the reverse)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eacrylic on canvas\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e48 x 48 inches (121.9 x 121.9 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2022.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1992 in Nigeria and based in New Zealand, Ruth Ige is a contemporary painter whose works center Black figuration while exploring themes of representation, memory, futurity, and transcendence. Blending abstraction and figuration, Ige creates atmospheric compositions in which figures seem to drift between visibility and concealment, occupying spaces that feel at once intimate and otherworldly. Her paintings are distinguished by luminous tonal palettes—particularly expansive fields of blue—through which past, present, and imagined futures collapse into one another. Rather than offering fixed narratives, Ige constructs enigmatic visual worlds where Blackness is protected, celebrated, and allowed to exist beyond imposed definitions or expectations.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2022, \u003ci\u003eMay good things fill your life\u003c\/i\u003e reflects the artist’s ongoing exploration of emotional refuge, spiritual expansiveness, and speculative space. Rendered in acrylic on canvas, the composition unfolds within a dreamlike atmosphere where figuration and abstraction remain in constant negotiation. Ige’s handling of color creates a sense of depth that feels less physical than psychological, allowing the work to operate as a space of contemplation and possibility. Her figures often appear suspended between dimensions—between history and fiction, visibility and obscurity—occupying environments shaped as much by emotion and memory as by material reality.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLike much of Ige’s practice, the painting resists definitive interpretation in favor of openness and ambiguity. The work evokes a boundless and protective space where Blackness is centered not through spectacle, but through stillness, interiority, and care. Through layered surfaces and shifting tonal relationships, Ige creates a visual language in which concealment becomes a form of preservation and abstraction becomes a vehicle for emotional and spiritual freedom. The resulting composition feels meditative and expansive, inviting viewers into a world where tenderness, resistance, and imagination coexist.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIge received her Bachelor of Visual Arts from Auckland University of Technology in 2016 and has exhibited internationally in New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at Roberts Projects, Karma in New York, Stevenson in Cape Town, and City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi. Through her evolving practice, Ige has emerged as a distinctive voice within contemporary diasporic painting, recognized for her poetic synthesis of abstraction, figuration, and speculative Black futures.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501921579257,"sku":"JP0626004","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0626004_1.jpg?v=1784038959"},{"product_id":"king","title":"King","description":"\u003cp\u003eADJEI TAWIAH (B. 1987)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eKing\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned 'A. Tawiah' (center)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eoil and sponge cloth on canvas\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e54 x 39 1\/4 inches (137.2 x 99.7 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1987 in Kumasi, Ghana, Adjei Tawiah is a contemporary painter whose expressive portraits and mixed-media works examine themes of identity, memory, spirituality, and social transformation. A graduate of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Tawiah belongs to a generation of Ghanaian artists expanding the language of contemporary African figuration through experimentation with material and surface. His practice is distinguished by the incorporation of unconventional materials—including sponge cloth—into richly textured compositions that blur the boundaries between painting, assemblage, and sculpture. Through these layered surfaces, Tawiah constructs psychologically charged portraits that explore both individual presence and broader questions of cultural resilience and self-definition.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2021, \u003ci\u003eKing\u003c\/i\u003e exemplifies the artist’s materially driven approach to portraiture. Combining sponge cloth and oil on canvas, the work transforms everyday utilitarian material into a powerful formal and symbolic device. Tawiah manipulates the porous texture of sponge cloth to create dimensionality and rhythm across the canvas, allowing the surface itself to participate in the emotional construction of the figure. The resulting composition possesses a tactile immediacy that reinforces the subject’s physical and psychological presence.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe title \u003ci\u003eKing\u003c\/i\u003e suggests authority, dignity, and self-possession, themes reinforced through the monumentality of the figure and the commanding structure of the composition. Rather than relying on literal regalia or overt symbolism, Tawiah communicates power through gesture, texture, and atmosphere. His layered application of oil paint and fabric elements creates a dynamic interplay between concealment and revelation, abstraction and representation. The work ultimately functions as both portrait and meditation on contemporary Black identity, elevating the individual subject into a broader reflection on strength, visibility, and transformation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTawiah’s work has been exhibited internationally in galleries and contemporary art fairs across Africa, Europe, and the United States, where his innovative material practice has attracted increasing critical attention. His paintings are recognized for their synthesis of experimental surface techniques and emotionally resonant figuration, situating him among a rising generation of artists redefining the possibilities of portraiture within contemporary African art.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501921612025,"sku":"JP0526292","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526292_1_1.jpg?v=1784038962"},{"product_id":"grey-3","title":"Grey 3","description":"\u003cp\u003eCHIDERAH BOSAH (B. 2000)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eGREY 3\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned, inscribed, titled, and dated 'FROM THE STUDIO OF CHIDERAH BOSAH GREY 1 OF 3 2020' (on the reverse)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e30 1\/2 x 29 1\/2 inches (77.5 x 74.9 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2020.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 2000 in Nigeria, Chiderah Bosah is a contemporary painter whose intimate figurative works explore themes of solitude, emotional interiority, and the complexities of self-representation. Working primarily through portraiture, Bosah creates psychologically charged compositions that emphasize mood, atmosphere, and subtle human gesture over overt narrative. His paintings often center solitary figures suspended within ambiguous spaces, using restrained palettes and carefully modulated surfaces to evoke states of contemplation, vulnerability, and quiet tension. Through this understated visual language, Bosah contributes to a younger generation of contemporary African painters reimagining portraiture through intimacy and emotional specificity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2020, \u003ci\u003eGREY 3\u003c\/i\u003e exemplifies the artist’s restrained and atmospheric approach to figuration. The title itself suggests emotional ambiguity and tonal subtlety, qualities that resonate throughout the composition. Bosah’s handling of paint emphasizes surface and mood rather than strict realism, allowing the figure to emerge gradually through layered passages of color and softened contours. The resulting image feels suspended between presence and absence, clarity and obscurity, creating a portrait defined as much by psychological atmosphere as by physical likeness.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBosah’s compositions frequently resist spectacle in favor of stillness and introspection. In \u003ci\u003eGREY 3\u003c\/i\u003e, the compressed format heightens the sense of intimacy, drawing attention to the emotional weight carried by posture, expression, and tonal relationships. The painting’s subdued palette reinforces this meditative quality, while subtle shifts in texture and light lend the surface a quiet complexity. Through this balance of restraint and emotional depth, Bosah transforms portraiture into a space for reflection on identity, perception, and contemporary experience.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs part of a rising generation of Nigerian figurative painters, Bosah has gained attention for his nuanced and emotionally resonant approach to contemporary portraiture. His works reflect broader developments within contemporary African painting toward psychological intimacy and everyday subject matter, positioning personal experience at the center of increasingly global conversations surrounding representation and identity.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501921644793,"sku":"JP0526287","price":1300.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526287_1.jpg?v=1784038962"},{"product_id":"mieyoshis-hold","title":"Mieyoshi's Hold","description":"\u003cp\u003eCONRAD EGYIR (B. 1989)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMieyoshi's Hold\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned 'Conrad Egyir' (on the reverse)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eoil and acrylic on mounted wood on canvas\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e46 x 46 inches (116.8 x 116.8 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2020.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1989 in Ghana, Conrad Egyir is a contemporary artist whose vibrant figurative paintings investigate themes of migration, identity, spirituality, and diasporic memory. After studying painting and sculpture at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, he later received an MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. Now based in the United States, Egyir has developed a distinctive visual language that merges portraiture, symbolism, and abstraction through densely layered compositions saturated with color and narrative detail. Drawing upon West African folklore, personal history, and contemporary social realities, his works construct richly symbolic worlds in which Black subjects occupy spaces of dignity, power, and celebration.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMieyoshi’s Hold\u003c\/i\u003e presents a Black woman with an expression of self-contained joy staged within a composition that borrows the graphic clarity of Pop while adopting a symbolist visual grammar. Working across oil, acrylic, and mounted wood, Egyir treats the picture plane as both image and object, producing a surface that carries an almost totemic charge. Color is pushed beyond naturalism into something vivid and emotionally heightened, insisting upon celebration rather than mere description. The resulting composition radiates a sense of emotional and psychological abundance.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEgyir’s subjects possess a striking sense of regality, their presence reinforced through compositions dense with symbolic references rooted in West African storytelling and diasporic consciousness. In \u003ci\u003eMieyoshi’s Hold\u003c\/i\u003e, the figure functions simultaneously as an individual portrait and as a broader meditation on Black womanhood, rendered with a grandeur and seriousness historically denied to such subjects within Western art history. The artist’s layered iconography and carefully orchestrated palette transform the portrait into a space of affirmation, resilience, and cultural memory. Through this synthesis of symbolism and figuration, Egyir reshapes the conventions of contemporary portraiture from within.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEgyir’s work has been exhibited internationally in solo and group exhibitions across the United States, Europe, and West Africa. His paintings are held in prominent institutional collections including the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, and the Rennie Collection in Vancouver. His rapidly growing institutional recognition reflects the depth and urgency of a practice that continues to expand the possibilities of contemporary diasporic portraiture.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501921677561,"sku":"JP0526275","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526275_1.jpg?v=1784038957"},{"product_id":"moment-02","title":"Moment (02)","description":"\u003cp\u003eWENDIMAGEGN BELETE (B. 1986)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMoment (02)\u003c\/i\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned, titled in Amharic and dated  'Wendimagegn 2019' (on the reverse)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eacrylic, pastel, oil stick, textile and collage on canvas\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e70 7\/8 x 70 7\/8 inches (180 x 180 cm)\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2019.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEXHIBITED:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLondon, Kristin Hjellegjerde, \u003ci\u003eWendimagegn Belete: MOMENT “አንዳፍታ” \"ANDAFTA\"\u003c\/i\u003e, November-December, 2019.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\n \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1986 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Wendimagegn Belete is a contemporary painter whose richly layered works investigate memory, perception, and the fragmented nature of lived experience. He studied at the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design at Addis Ababa University and the University of Tromsø, Norway, where he developed a multidisciplinary approach that merges painting, collage, textile, and mark-making into densely constructed visual fields. Now based between Ethiopia and Norway, Belete has become known for compositions that blur the boundaries between abstraction and figuration, drawing upon the visual rhythms of urban life, personal recollection, and collective histories. His works often function as emotional and psychological landscapes in which traces of bodies, symbols, and gestures emerge through accumulations of texture and color.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2019, \u003ci\u003eMoment (02)\u003c\/i\u003e exemplifies Belete’s deeply intuitive and materially driven practice. Composed of acrylic, pastel, oil stick, textile, and collage on canvas, the work unfolds as a dynamic constellation of layered forms and expressive surfaces. Fragments of pattern and line appear suspended within a shifting spatial environment, suggesting fleeting impressions or partially remembered encounters. The title itself points toward the transitory nature of perception—a suspended instant rendered through an evolving network of marks, textures, and chromatic tensions.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBelete’s process is inherently accumulative, allowing the canvas to develop through cycles of addition, concealment, and revelation. Textile elements and collage materials introduce tactile complexity while simultaneously referencing histories of labor, domesticity, and cultural production. The work’s expansive square format further immerses the viewer within its pulsating surface, where abstraction becomes a vehicle for emotional resonance rather than pure formalism. Though non-linear in composition, \u003ci\u003eMoment (02) \u003c\/i\u003emaintains a strong internal rhythm, balancing gestural spontaneity with careful orchestration.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBelete’s work has been exhibited internationally in solo and group presentations throughout Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. His work has been shown at institutions and galleries including the Addis Fine Art Gallery, the African Artists’ Foundation, and Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, where Moment (02) was exhibited in the artist’s 2019 exhibition \u003ci\u003eMOMENT “አንዳፍታ” (\"ANDAFTA\").\u003c\/i\u003e His paintings have gained increasing international recognition for their materially sophisticated exploration of memory, temporality, and abstraction within contemporary African art.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501921710329,"sku":"JP0526280","price":1200.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526280_1.jpg?v=1784038962"},{"product_id":"you-are-my-other-me","title":"You Are My Other Me","description":"\u003cp\u003eFEBRUARY JAMES (B. 1977)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eYou Are My Other Me\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esigned, titled and dated 'YOU ARE MY OTHER ME FEBRUARY JAMES 2021' (on the reverse)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eoil, oil pastel, acrylic and acrylic ink on canvas\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e30 x 70 inches (76 x 178 cm)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROVENANCE:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrivate collection, New York\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEXHIBITED:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLos Angeles, Wilding Cran Gallery, \u003ci\u003eFebruary James: (Don't) Take Me With You\u003c\/i\u003e, September-October, 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1977 in Washington, D.C., February James is a contemporary artist whose multidisciplinary practice encompasses painting, sculpture, installation, and performance. Working largely outside traditional academic frameworks, James has cultivated a highly personal visual language that explores Black identity, femininity, spirituality, and emotional interiority. Her works frequently center Black female figures rendered through expressive gestures and layered symbolism, collapsing distinctions between portraiture, abstraction, and psychological narrative. Drawing upon memory, intuition, and diasporic cultural histories, James creates compositions that celebrate vulnerability, resilience, and self-possession while challenging conventional representations of the Black body.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExecuted in 2021, \u003ci\u003eYou Are My Other Me\u003c\/i\u003e exemplifies the artist’s emotionally charged approach to figuration and relational storytelling. Rendered in oil, oil pastel, acrylic, and acrylic ink on canvas, the work unfolds across an expansive horizontal composition that suggests dialogue, mirroring, and interconnectedness. The title evokes themes of duality and shared identity, positioning the figures not as isolated subjects but as reflections, companions, or extensions of one another. James’ gestural handling of paint and line imbues the work with a sense of movement and immediacy, allowing the composition to oscillate between intimacy and monumentality.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe artist’s layered surfaces and vivid palette create an atmosphere that feels simultaneously dreamlike and psychologically acute. Areas of loose abstraction dissolve into moments of sharply articulated form, producing a visual rhythm that mirrors the complexity of emotional connection. James’ figures often exist within undefined spaces, untethered from conventional settings and instead situated within states of feeling, memory, and spiritual resonance. In \u003ci\u003eYou Are My Other Me\u003c\/i\u003e, this ambiguity becomes a source of strength, allowing the painting to operate as both portrait and meditation on empathy, kinship, and self-recognition.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFebruary James’ work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States and internationally, including presentations at the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA), and galleries such as Wilding Cran Gallery, where You Are My Other Me was exhibited in the artist’s 2021 exhibition \u003ci\u003e(Don’t) Take Me With You\u003c\/i\u003e. Her work has earned growing critical attention for its dynamic fusion of abstraction and figuration, and for its powerful engagement with Black subjectivity, spirituality, and emotional agency within contemporary art.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joopiter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48501921743097,"sku":"JP0526286","price":1200.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/files\/JP0526286_1.jpg?v=1784038965"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0613\/2783\/5385\/collections\/Screenshot_2026-06-10_at_1.45.59_PM.png?v=1781113592","url":"https:\/\/shop.joopiter.com\/collections\/the-contemporary-take-4.oembed","provider":"Joopiter","version":"1.0","type":"link"}