Ekun Richard

Ekun Richard relishes rich, earthy tones that celebrate the physicality of nature. Working with oil on card and canvas, as well as handstitched and hand-dyed textiles, his pieces exhibit a natural warmth and gentle sense of wit. His paintings begin as words, which set an emotional intention and often become the title of the piece. “I write a phrase in my sketchbook in response to what I observe and experience,” says Richard. “The words remind me of the emotion of the situation, and the colours that were present, which allows me to recreate that moment as a painting.”

Richard studied graphic art and design at Leeds School of Art, and as part of the course, spent one year studying at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Art in Dijon, France. It was here that Richard created his first paintings, and began to truly define his artistic practice. “The course at Leeds was very open; initially I was exploring many different forms of screen printing,” he says. “When I arrived in Dijon, where such facilities were no longer available to me, I began to figure out what I wanted to do with painting. I became meticulous about my practice, assessing each aspect of my work, from the ratios of the paper to the mixing of the colours.”

Richard has exhibited his work in London, Manchester and Dijon. Before painting, he explored street photography around Leeds, which taught him the art of composition. “Some of the photographers I was investigating at the time, such as Alex Webb, compose their photographs so well,” he says. “Everything is balanced between the foreground, background, high and low, all within the confines of a 35mm frame. That is what I hope to achieve in my work: a balanced composition, with a sense of depth. In a way, my paintings, which share similarities to landscapes and still lifes, bear a semblance to photography in their conception: I aim to take a snapshot of a moment, a fleeting feeling or emotion, and transform that into a painting.”