Beneath the Surface II by Tayo Explore Mondoir Studio Medium: Oil and acrylics Dimensions: 120 x 140 cm Year: 2026 Price: $7000.00 USD Status: available The crossed arms form a protective structure around the body while fragments of paint cut through the face and surrounding space. One eye is fully observed and the other remains only a line, turning the portrait into a negotiation between exposure and defence. The painting suggests that self-preservation can look like fragmentation: the subject withholds parts of herself in order to remain whole. Why collect this work?A carefully modelled face is interrupted by light, angular passages and black gestures, making partial obstruction, rather than likeness alone, the portrait’s central structure. Tayo states that his portraits explore concealment, exposure and identities transformed under pressure. Here, that intention is materially focused through the unequal treatment of the two eyes.In the photograph, crossed arms enclose the torso while one eye is fully rendered and the other remains a spare outline. The pose can read as self-protection, but the direct gaze resists complete withdrawal.Catalogue metadata identifies oil and acrylic. Their differing capacities for sustained modelling and abrupt, opaque marks support the visible tension between smoothly described skin and surrounding graphic interruption.At a documented 120 by 140 centimetres, the painting enlarges fragmentation to bodily scale. It is particularly useful for considering when an incomplete image preserves a presence rather than erasing it. About the ArtistTayo Tayo is an artist on Mondoir Studio. Artistic discipline: painting. Based in Ufa, RU. Nationality: Nigerian My paintings begin with the face and the body, but I am less interested in likeness than in what pressure reveals.
