Professor Butter Beard and Tunji Adeniyi-Jones’ “Crimson Grin”
“All my life I’ve pursued the perfect red. I can never get painters to mix it for me. It’s exactly as if I’d said, “I want a Rococo with a spot of Gothic in it and a bit of Buddhist temple.” They have no idea what I am talking about.” – Diana Vreeland
Oh, Diana! I do! I know exactly the shade and it commands my full attention every time I see it – whether in nature, in art, or in my dreams. Pure, vibrant, and perfect, red.
Just yesterday morning, it grabbed my soul by surprise and gave it a good ole shake-up. Nellie and I had just finished our morning hike with the deer - all of us dodging warm raindrops on the steamiest of July daybreaks. I sat down with a welcome tall glass of iced coffee, sliced a piece of Peach Upside-Down Cake (baked the night before), and submerged myself deeply into the latest edition of the “Art Newspaper.”
I began with Bendor Grosveno’s editorial pleading the case for connoisseurship to be taught as part of every art historian’s graduate program. I moved on to Ben Luke’s review of “Michelangelo: The Last Decades” – the current exhibition at the British Museum (and my favorite catalogue of the season… so far). Janet Dickinson introduced me to Steven Reid’s “The Afterlife of Mary, Queen of Scots” – an exploration of the many facets of Mary’s enduring cultural legacy. Next, Christoph Irmscher reviewed Alessandro Giardino’s “The Caravaggio Syndrome: A Novel,” which I immediately ordered from Amazon and now is already holding top position on my nightstand stack.
And then my soul was snapped to attention as if being awakened by a Marine Corp Drill Sergeant. There, in the bottom right corner of page 40, was the perfect red. A tiny postage-stamp image of a crimson grin. I had to step away for a minute, refresh the ice in my coffee, offer Nels a guaranteed twenty-minute chew bone, and mentally prepare to deep dive into the realm of red.
“The star of the young English artist Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, who is based in New York, is in ascent.” Now that is an opening sentence! “At only 10” by 8”, this is the first time that a painting of the scale by the artist has come to auction,” writes Nina Piro, specialist and associate vice president for Modern and Contemporary Art at Phillips. “Adeniyi-Jones is typically known for works on paper and editions, so it is a great opportunity to collectors interested in his wider practice to purchase a painting.”
I was smitten and knew I needed to Sherlock Holmes this artist immediately.
Born in 1992 to Nigerian parents in London, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones received a BFA from The Ruskin School of Art at Oxford University in 2014 and an MFA in painting and printmaking from the Yale School of Art in 2017. He now lives and paints in New York City.
Fay Janet Jackson, contributor for “Ocula” writes, “Using painting as a means to pay homage to his Yoruban ancestry and its attendant folklore, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones employs a vivid palette and an expressive treatment of the body within a flattened picture plane to present a distinctly West African take on modernism.” According to the artist himself, he is paying homage to his heritage while also considering idolatry and myth from his perspective in the African diaspora. He is influenced by travel, movement, and cultural hybridity, and his practice expands on cultural themes detailed in the works of novelists Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka, as well as by the artist Ben Enwonwu—widely regarded as the pioneer of African modernism.
Adeniyi-Jones writes that he draws from each of these legacies to call attention to the rich substance of West African history, philosophy, and mythology. “Every memorable Greek myth or fable we know of has an equally compelling African counterpart, but because of reductive concepts like primitivism, one rarely sees the expansive world of ancient West Africa outside the continent. I want my paintings to serve as a visual accompaniment to this lineage.”
The artist believes that “ritualized repetition” is key to the maintenance of ceremony and is central to his process. Within vibrant fields of deep reds, blues, purples, pinks, and greens, he frequently reworks figures, patterns, and forms over and over again, including the slightest of manipulations. He creates spaces within lush foliage utilizing bright colors to emphasize motion flowing in and around the stylized figures, animals and tribal masks.
“The figures in my work are expressions of my identity,” he writes, “and there is something very rewarding about using the face and body as vehicles for storytelling.”
He too, I recognized, shares a passion for “the perfect red.” I looked up from my laptop research and my eyes immediately focused on a glass bowl overflowing with vibrant red cherry tomatoes from the last farmer’s market. I knew what had to be done. Already dancing in my mind with a recipe from Chef Yann Nury, I turned up the air conditioning and preheated my oven to 425 degrees. I love the chef’s idea to use a yeasted savory olive oil tart crust when working with such ripe and juicy tomatoes. The crust forms a crackle on the exterior and a thin bread-like interior, ready to absorb the sweet juice of the fruit as it quickly bakes and caramelizes. The addition of Dijon mustard and fresh oregano and basil from my garden add even more subtle layers to the tart’s intensity. “A little Rococo with a spot of Gothic in it and a bit of Buddhist temple.”
Cherry Tomato Tart
Inspired by Yann Nury
Filling:
2-3 lbs. fresh cherry tomatoes
1 red onion
Fresh, or dried, oregano to taste
Olive oil to toss
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
Crust
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup warm water
½ cup olive oil
3 tsp granulated yeast
1 tsp fine sea salt
1) Lightly brush a 12-inch round metal tart pan with olive oil and preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
2) Make the dough: Mix the warm water, olive oil and yeast in a small bowl until completely incorporated. Combine the salt and flour in a medium bowl. Add the liquid to the flour mixture, first mixing with a fork or wooden spoon and then gather by hand into a ball. Don’t overwork the dough or the final result will be too dense.
3) Place the dough in the oiled pan and pat it evenly with your fingers to the edge of the pan and up the sides. Cover with a towel and let sit for one hour to proof.
4) Make the coulis: Slice the onion and toss it with a half-pound of the cherry tomatoes and enough olive oil to coat. Sprinkle with a bit of oregano and roast in a cast-iron skillet at 450 degrees until the tomatoes are lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Let cool slightly, then, using a food processor, purée with 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard until smooth. Taste and adjust salt. You will have more than you need – that is a gift!
5) Slice the remaining tomatoes into halves. Spread a thin layer of the tomato mustard coulis onto the dough, adding an additional pinch of oregano to taste. Arrange the halved tomatoes atop the dough, packing them as tightly as possible. Drizzle with olive and sprinkle with sea salt.
6) Bake at 425 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the tomatoes are slightly charred.
