In a new profile published this week by the New Yorker, Jadé Fadojutimi, a fast-rising painter, explained her reasons for departing Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, the London-based gallery that made her famous, for the mega-gallery Gagosian.
The move, she told Rebecca Mead, was meant to ensure she had more resources. Fadojutimi, 31, said she “outgrew” Pippy Houldsworth by the time she inked her Gagosian representation deal in 2022.
“It was too personal,” Fadojutimi said. “I didn’t want a mum anymore.”
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By that time, Fadojutimi had already been on the ascent. In October 2021, at Phillips in London, one of her paintings sold for £1.2 million ($1.6 million)—an extraordinary sum for a painter who had not yet turned 30, and one all the more notable because it outpaced the work’s estimate 15 times over. (As of this year, her auction record stands at $2 million.)
Her success had also been seen elsewhere, since Houldsworth had “swiftly placed her work with collectors and in museums, in addition to connecting her with other gallerists internationally,” according to Mead. Fadojutimi had an Institute of Contemporary Art Miami solo exhibition in 2021 and appeared in the 2022 Venice Biennale, which opened just months before the Gagosian representation news was made public.
Some cautioned her that she had gone too big too fast. The German dealer Gisela Capitain, who still represents her, recalls in the New Yorker profile that she warned Fadojutimi of a “different economic situation.” “But,” Capitain said, “she was sure that she could handle it.”
Fadojutimi remains with Gagosian, where, at its New York space, she recently debuted new paintings. As usual for her, these are not just made in acrylic or oil but both mediums. The works are large-scale, with vibrant colors, gestural strokes, and vaguely figurative imagery that recalls plants and landscapes.