Abayomi Shogbade’s artworks unfold like a quiet but insistent conversation between memory, identity, and form. His practice does not shout for attention. Instead, it invites prolonged looking, rewarding viewers who are willing to sit with ambiguity, texture, and emotional restraint. In a digital space often driven by speed and spectacle, his work resists instant consumption, choosing depth over virality.
His palette often leans toward earthy, muted tones layered with moments of contrast. Browns, blacks, greys, and washed pigments dominate, evoking soil, skin, and weathered surfaces. These colours ground the work in something elemental and ancestral, while occasional sharp highlights introduce emotional friction. The textures feel deliberate, almost tactile, as if the surface itself carries history. Paint appears worked, revisited, and sometimes scarred, reinforcing the idea that identity is built through repetition and revision rather than perfection.
Cultural references in his work are present but never overstated. Rather than leaning on obvious symbolism, Shogbade embeds cultural consciousness in posture, skin tone, gesture, and mood. His art feels rooted in lived experience rather than theoretical representation. This grounding gives the work authenticity and prevents it from becoming illustrative or didactic. It speaks to Black identity not as a monolith but as a layered, evolving condition shaped by personal history and broader social realities.
Abayomi Shogbade’s practice reflects a confidence in restraint and a trust in the viewer’s ability to engage thoughtfully. His work does not aim to explain itself fully, and that is precisely where its power lies. His art offers a rare kind of clarity: one that emerges slowly, through attention, reflection, and emotional honesty.
Culture Beyond the Mainstream 