STANDING PINE

STANDING PINE Tokyo is pleased to present ‘Echoes in Colour, Mapping the Intimate’, a group exhibition opening on Saturday, 20 September 2025. This exhibition brings together the works of four artists—Abdoulaye Konaté, Januario Jano, Tegene Kunbi, and Yusuff Aina. In ‘Echoes in Colour, Mapping the Intimate’, the personal becomes a universal language, and material becomes a vessel for memory, resistance, and reflection. Their diverse practices explore the intersection of storytelling, cultural identity, emotional interiority, and historical memory through colour, form, and materiality.

Working primarily with textiles, Abdoulaye Konaté transforms cloth into narrative. Rooted in Malian tradition, his vibrant, large-scale fabric compositions merge the figurative with the abstract to address urgent sociopolitical and environmental concerns. Through carefully orchestrated colour and pattern, Konaté maps the collective anxieties of a globalised world, while drawing on local aesthetics and cultural symbolism. His work reflects not only the surface of cloth but the depth of African histories and the weight of lived experience.

Januario Jano navigates the space between tradition and modernity, body and memory. Born in Angola and educated in London, Jano draws from the tensions of transnational identity, using performance, photography, textiles, and installation to explore how the self is shaped by place, heritage, and contemporary culture. For Jano, material is not neutral—it is the grammar of personal and political storytelling. His work positions the body as a site of layered memory, bridging ancestral pasts with the immediacy of now.

In Tegene Kunbi’s paintings, colour itself becomes a field of meditation and assertion. Using oil and textile, Kunbi composes rhythmic arrangements of geometric shapes and bold chromatic contrasts that speak to the visual language of his Ethiopian heritage. His works echo the hues and textures found in Orthodox and Coptic manuscripts, murals, and woven fabrics, yet they assert a contemporary vision grounded in personal experience. Each canvas is a landscape—simultaneously interior and cultural—mapped in colour and repetition.

Yusuff Aina is a multidisciplinary artist who mainly works with acrylic and installation. From an early age, he was passionate about art and used creativity as a guide in life. His practice explores psychological and social themes such as alienation, trust, and belonging, and how these affect both people and their environment.  Aina creates alternative spaces and identities, pushing the boundaries of a constantly evolving visual language. He often uses cartoon-like figures, motifs, and fantastical landscapes to tell stories. Central to his work are patterns called “ainasm”—flowing, cord-like forms that surround “eniyan,” a recurring character representing the unity of humanity and the strength to endure. The word ainasm comes from the artist’s last name, Àina, which in Yorùbá tradition refers to a child born with the umbilical cord around their neck. Ènìyàn means “human being.”

Together, these four artists form a resonant chorus—each voice distinct, each practice rooted in the personal, yet resonating far beyond the individual. Echoes in Colour, Mapping the Intimate invites viewers to experience these works not as distant or opaque, but as deeply connected and emotionally immediate. It encourages us to feel the rhythm of tradition within contemporary expression, and to see how the inner worlds of artists can illuminate shared histories, cultural landscapes, and imagined futures.

Date: Saturday 20 September – Saturday 18 October 2025
Hours: 12:00 – 18:00 (From Tuesday to Saturday)
Closed on Sundays, Mondays, and national holidays
Opening reception: Saturday 20 September, 17:00 – 19:00

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Abdoulaye Konaté
Born in 1953 in Diré, Mali. Lives and works in Bamako. Konaté studied painting at the Institut National des Arts de Bamako and at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana. Since the 1990s, he has developed a textile-based practice that merges Malian traditions with pressing contemporary social issues. Through colour and symbolism, his works poetically visualise themes such as politics, the environment, religion, and disease. A leading figure in contemporary African art, Konaté has participated in numerous international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale, documenta, and the Dakar Biennale, and his works are held in major museum collections worldwide.

Abdoulaye Konaté, Composion au triangle violet, 2019, Textile, 209×149cm

Tegene Kunbi
Born in 1980 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Based in Berlin. Kunbi studied Art Education at Addis Ababa University and earned his MFA at the Berlin University of the Arts with support from a DAAD scholarship. He has held numerous solo and group exhibitions in Germany and abroad, and has participated in international collaborative projects and workshops in cities such as Paris, Casablanca, New York, Nairobi, Nouakchott, and Amsterdam. In 2022, he received the Grand Prix from the Senegalese government at the Dakar Biennale. Kunbi is regarded as one of the emerging voices in African contemporary art.

Tegene Kunbi, Untitled, 2024, Oil on canvas with textile, 150×120cm

Januario Jano
Born in 1979 in Luanda, Angola. Based between Luanda, London, and Lisbon. Jano holds an MA from Goldsmiths, University of London. His installations incorporate photography, video, textiles, and sculpture, and centre on themes such as the body, memory, and cultural heritage. His work poetically explores the tensions between tradition and modernity, the individual and the collective. Jano has held solo and group exhibitions across Europe, and his solo exhibition in Germany was featured in Frieze magazine, underscoring his growing presence on the international art scene.

Januario Jano, Untitled, 2019, Fabric, Rope, Bed wooden leg, Steal grill, Bedding,
Gelly Transfer onto canvas, Dye, Stitch, Sewing, 224×180×50cm

Yusuff Aina
Born in 1997 in Nigeria. Based in Lagos. Aina studied Fine Art Education at the Federal College of Education in Akoka, graduating in 2018. In 2019, he participated in a group exhibition held at the Nigerian Presidential Villa. In 2021, he unveiled an interactive installation featuring his recurring character “Ènìyàn” at ART X Lagos, West Africa’s premier art fair. Since then, he has presented a solo exhibition at Art Twenty One in Lagos and participated in group shows in Taipei, Seoul, Abidjan, London, Los Angeles, and Abuja, continuing to expand his international presence.

Yusuff Aina, Eniyan_Whispers Of The Heart 2, c.2024, Acrylic On Canvas, 152x122cm (59.84 x 48.03 in)

Yusuff Aina / Eniyan_ Bronze (limited) / 2023 / Bronze / 30 x 20 x 15 cm (11.81 x 7.87 x 5.91 in)

In collaboration with: Retro Africa

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