Afolabi Fakunmoju’s A Glamorous Tree is mother nature’s digital resume

One of the key hallmarks of a great painting is its ability to evoke emotions. Despite the biases with digital art, Afolabi Fakunmoju’s painting dubbed, A Glamorous Tree, flows with a masterful intentionality that presents complex ideas in simple hues and shadows. The painting captures the season of autumn, with the rich display of yellow, as captured in the falling leaves. The presence of a tree by a riverside complements the idea of autumn, as both signify life; the practice of shedding leaves in autumn helps trees to conserve ‘water’ and protect their ‘energy’ during the winter season, whereas its deciduous roots run deep into the river, a supposed harbour of energy and food. The paradox is the idea of preparing for scarcity while being surrounded by abundance; because, ultimately, the overdependence on external help could possibly cause lethargy and loss of self-preservation.

The painting preaches the potential of pixels, once again, as Fakunmoju aptly composes this artwork, with striking attention to detail. The main subject is a huge tree bent towards east as the wind blows strongly — trees do this, normally, for growth, a process called phototropism — and is separated by a mid-ground of a flowing river and a background of a forest of green pine trees. The entire composition points out the intricate detail of mother nature, as she spaces herself within each tree, yet harmoniously in concord and communication with every part of the forest. All trees talk, yes; but Fakunmoju’s painting reveals a message of hope, where the trees are faithful to their appreciation of life, trusting in the art of ‘dying to self’ for the greater good of self-preservation. Fakunmoju’s painting reminds this writer of the same sentiments carried by Senegalese filmmaker Djibril Diop Mambety, who believes that cinema should mirror life, not to copy it but to show it’s movements; here, Fakunmoju captures a primordial state of life, one that reflects transcendence, growth, movement, and optimistic surrender to the order of things, the same order that ensures its survival.

Again, still on composition, Fakunmoju also richly explores the use of horizon and leading lines, in arranging the trees in the background, helping to create a cinematic look and feel, one that calms the tension and increases the suspense of the story with the cliffhanger-esque disappearance of the trees.

Another pleasure point of this painting would be its choice of colour. While the painting remains warm, thanks to the yellow leaves that dominate 60 percent of the frame, the bluish-grey tone and deep green that distinguish the river and trees, respectively, help build contrast and balance the harmony of colours on the painting. Ideally, this is exactly how an oil painting would look like on canvas, but Fakunmoju’s A Glamorous Tree reduces the glossy feel and increases the sharpness, essentially, redefining the concept of oil paintings. The fallen leaves on the tree’s trunk appear more saturated than the ones dropping mid-air, with the hue shifting towards burnt orange. The visuals appear comforting and captivating. And the water currents painted from the tree’s trunk flowing into the river appear as if they were coming out of the tree itself, showcasing Fakunmoju’s skill with digital brush stroking and use of tones to illustrate movement.

The lighting, straight from the Sun’s throat, gushing down on the left side of the painting, scattering its seductive rays on the yellow leaves of the foregrounded tree, while the background is dimly lit and misty, is an interesting choice. The idea of the painting richly reflects hope, warmth and longevity; while the contrasting shadows and misty feel of the background reflects life’s eternal odds consistently lurking around. Yet, it is this understanding of the bigger picture that communicates just how important those odds are to growth and sustenance, and, like they help spotlight the foregrounded tree and all its colours, those odds are also relevant for an individual’s growth and shine.

Generally, the whole painting is a conspiracy towards catharsis. Fakunmoju’s obsession with nature is admirable, but it is the storytelling that puts the painting into the human perspective. This shared connection with trees, grass, rock, wind and water might just be a portal for deep introspection, self-evolution and societal revolution. The artist displays his mastery of digital tools like Blender and Adobe Creative Suite, enriching the painting with some life-like detail that generally elevates its technical execution and surficial beauty. Save for some slight rough blending on the edges of some foliage, which although aren’t really visible on first glance, the entire painting is smoothly blended and intricately textured.

Afolabi Oluwunmi Fakunmoju is a revolutionary digital artist, with a core focus in nature. He was born in Lagos, where he lived and developed a strong interest in art and nature from fishing, farming and hunting expeditions with his parents at their country home in a neighbouring city. Popularly known as Folly’s Creative Art, Fakunmoju has exhibited his works digitally, within the last decade, including notable works like “A Tree of Seasons”, “Instinct and Nature”, “Sunset Island”, at virtual showrooms hosted by Artboxy, The Holy Art, The Blotted, Madeke, among others, pushing the boundaries of creativity with modern technology.

He also notably consulted and developed the largest painting portrait of Nigeria’s current president Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which measures 32 by 64 feet. In more recent times, he has exhibited his works across Berlin, Dubai, Athens, London, Lagos, among others.