Frieze London 2023 wrapped up on Sunday, and Atelier JI was incredibly proud to once again have prints produced at the studio featured in the show. ‘Here Today, Here Tomorrow’, a suite of 6 screenprints using enamel ink, is the first collaboration between Cristea Roberts Gallery and British-Nigerian multidisciplinary artist Yinka Ilori. Ilori’s beautiful colours and bold designs translated spectacularly into the medium; the project was a true joy to work on.

“Six new screenprints, featuring the bold and playful visual language of multidisciplinary artist and entrepreneur, Yinka Ilori, are centred around themes of mindfulness, spirituality, and joy.

Each work draws from the artist’s rich Nigerian heritage and his belief that art and design should be accessible to all. Here Today, Here Tomorrow is a series of six prints, each in an edition of 30 and is Ilori’s first print project with Cristea Roberts Gallery.

Like most of Ilori’s works that are rich in storytelling, the themes of Here Today, Here Tomorrow stem from Ilori’s memories of travelling to the coastal town of Margate as a young boy. Exploring what mindfulness looks like, Ilori captures joyous moments.

Evoking memories, both personal and collective, Ilori invites us to stop and stand still, providing us with a brief moment of meditation. Dynamic forms merge and interlock with each other, whilst colours flow to the surface edge, not bound by a border or a perimeter.

Interested in the power of colour as a form of cultural expression, the pinks, yellows, and oranges used in the prints, are drawn from Ilori’s childhood memories of family and loved ones, dressed in confident and bold colour combinations characteristic of Nigerian dress. This playful colour palette, combined with emotive titles suggest a sense of joy and optimism.

Ilori, whose practice embraces numerous different mediums from art and design to architecture and who uses the canvas of the city to express and develop his themes, made each screenprint with enamel ink, a new technique for the artist, which sees each image built up with thick, rich, luminous layers.”

Cristea Roberts Gallery

For more information on the individual prints, click here or visit cristearoberts.com

‘Here Today, Here Tomorrow’ is available exclusively on cristearoberts.com

Here Today, Here Tomorrow, 2023 by Yinka Ilori installation view © Cristea Roberts Gallery, London. Photo: Mark Blower

Yinka Ilori prints in production at Atelier JI, London, 2023. Courtesy artist and Cristea Roberts Gallery, London. Photo: Darrell Tuffs