• INTERSECTION combines objects, places and scenes from Ade Adesina’s African roots, British culture, and encounters whilst travelling into visually captivating...
    Ade Adesina, Interception, stone lithograph, 2024

    INTERSECTION combines objects, places and scenes from Ade Adesina’s African roots, British culture, and encounters whilst travelling into visually captivating landscapes. This exhibition explores new processes for the artist, experimenting with screenprint and lithograph alongside relief printing and sculptural installations. The artist is also embracing colour on a large scale for the first time but remains engaged in addressing current affairs. This exhibition marks a journey of artistic exploration, with references to cultural narratives within a socio-political context.

     

    Ade Adesina is an artist living and working in Aberdeen, Scotland. Having previously studied printmaking at Gray’s School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, he graduated in 2012. Adesina is a Royal Scottish Academician and an Associate member of The Royal Society of Painters and Printmakers, and a member of The London Group. He has had artist residencies at Eton College, Glasgow Print Studio, Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen, Engramme, Quebec, Canada, and Fossekleiva Kultursenter Berger Museum, Norway 2024. More recently, he was awarded the Mario Avati Engraving Prize 2023 from the Academie des Beaux-Arts, France.

     

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  • During his residency at Edinburgh Printmakers, Adesina, who usually works in monochrome and relief, experimented with incorporating colour and other...

    During his residency at Edinburgh Printmakers, Adesina, who usually works in monochrome and relief, experimented with incorporating colour and other printmaking methods. Alongside his main use of relief, he has created works using stone lithography, screenprint, and etching. This period of experimentation with new processes has allowed him to explore and evolve his practice, becoming more confident in broadening his style while also continuing to push the boundaries of printmaking in a supportive environment.

     

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  • “I want to make work that makes people think. There might be an element that catches your eye and as you look deeper you are drawn into the artwork inviting you to spend time with it."
    Adesina creative process begins with collecting imagery from his heritage, recent travels, and cultural influences. These include elements such as the baobab tree, road signs, clouds, architecture, and domestic objects. He then connects these visuals to underlying themes or questions. Each print is designed to tell multiple stories or pose various questions, always keeping the ideas open-ended, but with a clear sense of direction. Unique to Adesina’s approach is his spontaneity: he doesn’t start with sketches or plans. Instead, he draws and cuts directly onto the final plate, embracing the unpredictability of the final outcome. Adesina's work often includes British road signage, which he sees as a form of visual communication similar to his prints. These signs describe direction and guidance, illustrating how his life in Aberdeen has influenced his practice. In his latest diptych screenprint, the anchor symbolises a dead end or being held down, yet also signifies stability—rocking but not drifting away. Repeated cloud imagery in this and other works reflects the unpredictability and anxiety surrounding issues like climate change, symbolising the ever-changing nature of these challenges. Along with the anchor, the compass metaphorically guides the course of his artistic journey.
  • Griot

    Griot

    One of the featured works is the self-portrait, ‘Griot’. In West African tradition, a ‘griot’ is a historian, storyteller, poet, and musician—a guardian of oral tradition and advisor to royalty. Adesina identifies with the storytelling aspect of this role, using his prints to ask questions about current affairs, presenting his findings through representative objects. Creating his own unique language with these symbols, he draws attention to the effects of war, political power and gain, climate change, and deforestation. Adesina uses this visual communication to encourage audiences to unpack the symbolism in their own way, creating discussions and forming opinions.

  • Revolver II and Revolver III

  • The screenprints in INTERSECTION bring together symbols and themes from Adesina's previous works, but also pave a way for the future.

     

    This was Adesina's first time trying screenprinting, working hard to translate the intricacies of his linocut prints into a new process.

     

  • Under the Gray Sky
    Under the Gray Sky, linocut, 2024

    Under the Gray Sky

    Under the Gray Sky explores Adesina's connection to Aberdeen and its heritage, and his love for the city. Aspects of Aberdeen he wants to represent include signage, trees, innovation, and protected land.

     

    The ladder from the installation Freeway comes from this print.

     

  • Ade Adesina's residency and exhibition are supported by the British Council.