Chidy Wayne

Rooted in the duality of his African and European heritage, his work engages a dynamic balance between spontaneity and structure, intuition and intention.

His practice centres on the meditative, repetitive act of drawing as a means to distil the essential forms of human movement, gesture, and emotion. His process begins with raw charcoal studies, through which he refines an acute sensitivity to line, contour, and rhythm. The immediacy and decisiveness of his mark-making is honed from years of sketching (as both a former fashion designer and commercial illustrator), and has shaped the bold, distilled visual language that defines his art. Over time, Wayne has developed a personal lexicon of signs and motifs, symbolic markers executed with quick, confident strokes that invite an intimate dialogue with viewers while exploring themes of internal conflict, self-awareness, resilience, and human fragility.

Wayne began developing his visual language in the late 2000s and shifted fully into his artistic practice in 2017, exhibiting internationally from 2021 onward. Recent solo exhibitions include Ancestral Futures at Francis Gallery, Los Angeles (2025); Rooms at BOON_ROOM, Paris (2024); Echoes of the Self at Grège Gallery, Bruges (2024); Chidy Wayne at The Oilbird, Los Angeles (2024); and a presentation with Adeyemi Ajao in San Francisco (2024). Additional solo projects have been presented in New York, Miami and Brussels.

He has participated in group exhibitions such as Timeless Remnants at Grège Gallery, Knokke-Heist (2025); Art on Paper at Grège Gallery, Brussels (2023); and shows at OBRA Art and Le Reservoir Galerie in Paris. His work has been shown at Frieze London (2025) as part of Southern Guild’s presentation, as well as at SWAB Barcelona Art Fair (2024) and Salon du Dessin, Paris (2023).

In 2023, Creative.Voyage published Chidy Wayne: In the Mirror, a monograph offering deeper insight into his evolving practice.