Kakorrhaphiophobia by Olumide Ajayi
Explore Mondoir Studio
Medium: Acrylic and Ink on Canvas
Dimensions: 91.4 x 91.4 cm
Year: 2026
Price: $1850.00 USD
Status: available
For years, I thought my fear was trying to protect me. It always sounded the same: STOP. Stop before you fail. Stop before you lose. Stop before you love too deeply. Stop before you become something unfamiliar. Eventually, I realized how predictable my fear was. It never offered a new ending, only the safest one: nothingness. Fear is necessary when danger is real, but sometimes it disguises itself as wisdom. It tells us to stay where we are, to choose certainty over possibility, silence over vulnerability, and comfort over becoming. I am learning that fear does not always mean don’t go. Sometimes, it simply means this matters to you. And perhaps the bravest thing I can do is hear the voice that says STOP, and keep living anyway. But I do not need my fear in the realm of doing greater things, loving and living.
Why collect this work?
A monumental head dominates the square composition, yet its blank brown expanse is breached by a compact black panel bearing “STOP.” This scale reversal makes a small command appear powerful enough to govern the larger body.
- Ajayi says his paintings use the body as a window onto complex feelings. That intention clarifies the profile format here, while the scattered words and signs keep its meaning open rather than illustrating a single emotion.
- In the photograph, looping marks cover nearly every red interval around the central figure. Their accumulation presses against sharply bounded silhouettes, while unevenly legible phrases make reading intermittent and uncertain.
- Catalogued as acrylic and ink on canvas, the medium supports a division between flat painted masses and finer repeated lines. White outlines separate forms, but recurring marks visually reconnect head, clothing, figures, and ground.
- The 2026 title names fear of failure. Encountered alongside the picture’s commands, pleas, crown, and watchful secondary figure, it provides a concrete case for considering how language can regulate action before any failure occurs.
About the Artist
Olumide Ajayi
Olumide Ajayi is an artist on Mondoir Studio. Artistic discipline: Painter. Mixed Media. Based in Ibadan, NG.
Nationality: Nigerian
My work seeks to embrace complex feelings, giving them a canvas to breathe, shift, and resonate.
