Richard Ayodeji Ikhide (b. 1991, Nigeria) is a visual artist whose practice explores the notion of the creation of personal mythology and the importance of myth in modern man. Working between graphite, ink and watercolour, Ikhide’s focus on drawing is tied to an interest in the mark-making of our ancestors, and the affective dimensions of a two-dimensional practice. Taking inspiration from diverse archives and artefacts, Ikhide seeks to manifest the spiritual in material form.

Influenced by European artists such as El Greco and William Blake, and by titans of Japanese illustration such as Yoshitaka Amano, Ikhide’s practice seeks to untangle art and knowledge production from the traditional Euroamerican episteme. Instead, Ikhide’s work challenges us to utilise ancient and indigenous ways of knowing as the basis to create our own systems of expression. The figures of Ikhide’s drawings and paintings are not positioned within a certain place or time, nor belong to a certain nation or creed, representing instead our shared experiences. They exist as broad allegories to the universal nature of being, thus emphasising the importance of the imagination in the process of emancipatory myth-making.

Ikhide earned a BA (Hons) in Textile Design at Central Saint Martins (2014), where he specialised in Printed Textiles, followed by a Postgraduate Diploma at the Royal Drawing School, London (2017). 

Solo exhibitions include ‘Acts of Creation’ (Online), Victoria Miro Projects, London (2023); ‘MythMaking’, Steve Turner, Los Angeles (2021) ‘Cosmic Memory’ (Online), Steve Turner, Los Angeles (2021); ‘Future Past’, V.O Curations, London (2021); ‘Osmosis’, Zabludowicz Collection (2019). His work has been featured in exhibitions at FF Projects, Lagos, (2023); Untitled Art Fair, Victoria Miro Booth, Miami (2023); Sim Smith, London (2022); V.O Curations, London, UK, 2021; Zabludowicz Collection, London (2020); Guts Gallery (Online), London (2020); South London Gallery, London (2018); Christies, London (2017). Ikhide’s work has been acquired by the Royal Collection Trust.