Temi Wynston Edun is a contemporary abstract figurative artist who lives and works in Columbia, Maryland. Born in Ibadan, West Africa, the first of six children, his intense and brooding portraits explore social, political and psychological themes of the black experience. His engaging figures capture phenotypic features of people of sub Saharan heritage that he calls “Africanness” in a unique and distinctive use of mark making.
Scale portraits and figures, usually isolated in spare or abstract backgrounds, emphasize the facial stares and expressions of the subjects, transporting the viewer to a level of intimacy and engagement with the work. This intimacy is the focal objective of the artist’s creations. Nothing tells the story of humanity like the face of a human, "I am fascinated by faces and the stories they tell, I look for "interesting faces" more so than a beautiful one. But, to me, interesting is not enough. A portrait must be engaging and emotive, be able to tell a story without words and to communicate with the viewer in an unspoken dialogue of new ideas and insights, and perhaps also of some shared experiences"
From a young age, Edun’s talent was recognized. He won multiple awards as a child including a competition in 1979 for his design of a poster commemorating UNESCO’s International Year of the Child. While a teenager studying at Edo College in Benin City, Nigeria (high school), his portrait of the Oba of Benin (the traditional ruler of the Edo people) was presented to the Oba.
In 1984, Wynston earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Benin in Benin City, Nigeria, where he graduated with honors. One of his large-scale metal sculptures is still exhibited in a garden at the university.
After graduation, Edun had exhibitions of his work in both Benin City and in Lagos, Nigeria. In 1990, after migrating to the U.S., he received a commission to design a work of art for the Howard University Gospel Choir. From 1990 to 1993, Wynston worked and studied under internationally acclaimed Baltimore-based artist Larry “Poncho”Brown.
Edun’s work has been exhibited in galleries throughout his home state of Maryland and internationally such as Paris in 2022 and London in 2021. His work has been in international publications such as New American Paintings, issue number 166.
His work, “Just get over it (they say)”, was featured on the Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures. In 2018, Wynston was commissioned by the DC Black Repertory Company to paint the portrait of the repertory’s founding actor and Hollywood legend, Robert Hooks.
Wynston Edun volunteers as a teacher to both young and older aspiring artists at Bridgeway Community Church in Columbia Md and is a member of a number of artists’ organizations including the Maryland Federation of Art
Statement
My work investigates Black identity through abstract portraiture, using oil stick as both medium and metaphor. Mainly focusing on single-figure compositions that evoke vulnerability, interiority, and emotional presence. Through abstraction, I move away from literal representation to emphasize the psychological and spiritual dimensions of being-what it means to exist, to be seen, and to be known on one's own terms.
Oil stick is a deliberate choice. Its tactile, physical nature allows me to draw and paint simultaneously, working directly and instinctively on the surface.
The friction of material against canvas mirrors the tension embedded in the subject matter-between visibility and erasure, power and agility, silence and expression. The immediacy of the mark-making process brings an urgency to the figures, as if they are emerging or dissolving in real time.
These portraits are not about capturing likeness; they are about holding space.
Each figure, isolated against minimal or undefined backgrounds, becomes a vessel for story, memory, and affect. Some stare out, asking to be reckoned with; others turn inward, existing in a moment of private contemplation.
Together, they form a quiet but insistent assertion of presence-one that resists stereotype, generalization, or simplification.
My practice is deeply influenced by the work of Ben Enwonwu, whose ability to merge African aesthetics with modernist traditions continues to resonate with me. Like Enwonwu, I am interested in representing Black subjects with complexity, dignity, and a sense of rooted transcendence. His work-particularly in portraiture-offers a blueprint for how the figure can operate not only as a visual form but also as a carrier of cultural weight, history, and narrative depth. Enwonwu's synthesis of tradition and innovation inspires me to explore how abstraction can serve as a site of both personal and collective expression.
As an artist, I am committed to using abstraction to carry emotional and narrative weight-how distortion, reduction, and gesture can tell truths that realism cannot. I draw from personal experience as well as broader cultural and historical contexts, but I leave space for interpretation. The ambiguity in these works is intentional; it invites viewers to bring their own associations and emotional responses.
Ultimately, my practice is about honoring complexity. It's about vulnerability not as weakness, but as a powerful form of expression and resistance. Through each portrait, I hope to create a space where Black interiority can be felt— viscerally, quietly, and without compromise.