Ayo Banton: Brutiful
Doyle Wham and Wilton Way Gallery are delighted to present Brutiful, the debut solo exhibition by Ayo Banton.
In the gallery window, Banton unveils Summertime, a monumental installation composed of real flowers and plants, including pansies, campanula, dill, adiantum and oxalis. Suspended elements cascade from the ceiling, transforming the window into a living artwork that also incorporates two photographic prints from the Brutiful series. Taking its title from John Coltrane’s iconic rendition of the Gershwin classic, the installation reflects the profound influence of jazz on Banton, with all of his works titled after seminal compositions. Its lifespan is intentionally brief: the exhibition will last only until the flowers wilt, expected to be around Sunday 21 September, underscoring the celebration of flowers’ fragility and impermanence at the heart of Banton’s practice.
Downstairs, four lightboxes are presented for the first time: Maiden Voyage, Love Supreme, Seven Steps to Heaven and Lavender Mist. Illuminated solely by their own glow, these works evoke the sensory richness of sacred spaces, recalling the artist’s Catholic upbringing. Each artwork begins as a unique flower sculpture, carefully arranged by the artist, who has honed this practice for over three decades. Shot against hand-painted backdrops, the photographs recall still life paintings of the Dutch Golden Age while reimagining the genre through the language of contemporary photography. Light, in turn, becomes both subject and medium. Banton, who describes his approach as ‘painting with light,’ captures multiple exposures of each arrangement, altering only the direction of the light source. This technique creates the striking chiaroscuro traditionally associated with 16th- and 17th-century painting.
At the core of Brutiful lies an exploration of beauty, impermanence and transformation. Flowers, with their transient lives, have long symbolised love, mortality and renewal. Through his lens, Banton elevates them to embody profound emotions such as grief, tenderness and hope, while reminding us of the possibility of enlightenment through everyday forms.
View works from the exhibition on Artsy here.
