Artist and author, Fortune Ileleji explores the connections between personal decisions, human relationships, organisational structures, and creative expression in his new book, The Law of Cohesion.

The book examines how different elements interact to determine a whole’s strength and direction, arguing that seemingly good components can produce undesirable outcomes when they work against one another.

Ileleji said the book emerged from years of observing people, relationships, organisations and society, during which he identified a recurring pattern: things become stronger when their constituent parts reinforce one another and weaker when those parts work at cross-purposes.

“I kept asking why good things fall apart despite having good parts. I became interested in how different elements interact and whether they strengthen or contradict one another,” he said.

According to him, the central idea of The Law of Cohesion is that the strength of a whole depends not only on its individual parts but also on how they relate to one another.

“When the parts reinforce one another, the whole gains strength; when they contradict one another, it weakens,” he explained.

Ileleji said the concept has also influenced how he evaluates opportunities, noting that an attractive prospect may conflict with broader personal priorities.

“I now consider not only whether an opportunity is good but also what it strengthens or weakens,” he said, adding that the approach has made it easier for him to decline opportunities that do not align with his overall direction.

The artist traced his creative journey to a childhood marked by curiosity, reading, drawing and experimentation. He recalled watching his father sketch with a pen, an experience that showed him how to turn an internal idea into a visible form.

He also recalled dismantling toys to understand how they worked, drawing on walls and writing poetry as a teenager. He said these experiences helped shape his artistic practice and his interest in the relationship between intention, accident, abstraction, and representation.

His design education in Italy and business studies in Ireland further shaped his understanding of how different elements work together.

He said design showed that creative freedom could coexist with structure, while business offered a practical perspective on the relationships between people, resources, incentives, and organisational objectives.

“Whether you are composing an image or building an organisation, you are asking how different elements can exist together without losing the integrity of the whole,” he said.

This philosophy also informs his painting process, where decisions about what to add, remove, strengthen or soften are guided by how each element affects the overall composition.

For Ileleji, no element exists in isolation; each influences the whole, just as the whole determines what each element needs to become.

He hopes readers will apply this understanding to their relationships, careers, ambitions and everyday decisions, particularly by recognising that individually sensible choices may collectively lead them away from their intended goals.

“You may not need more. You may need what you already have to stop working against itself,” he said, highlighting what he considers one of the book’s most important lessons.

The Law of Cohesion is available worldwide in print and digital formats through major book retailers.
Reflecting on 2026, Ileleji described the year as consequential, citing the completion of his book, the production of some of his strongest paintings, and an upcoming significant art exhibition as major milestones.

He expressed gratitude for the year’s achievements, noting that publishing The Law of Cohesion allowed his ideas to reach an audience beyond his immediate creative practice.