Kingdom

Name: Kingdom
Brand: Raknida
Price: 45.0 USD
Availability: InStock

Toni Kuyinu

$45.00 – $110.00

A young king in profile wears round wire glasses, a gold band at his brow and a gold key at his ear. He is the waking gaze of Toni Kuyinu's royal trio.

Kingdom is a Studio Edition: 20 museum-quality art prints in each size, each numbered in its white border. Every artwork comes with its Cultural Passport.

The Cultural Passport

Every order comes with the heritage documented.

Digital, emailed when your order ships: the work's story, the tradition it draws on and how it was made. 5 × 7 in (13 × 18 cm), ready to print and frame beside the work.

How it works →

Kingdom is the king of Toni Kuyinu's royal trio, painted to hang with Queendom and Crown. He stands in profile, hair rising high above a broad gold band, a short beard at his chin and round wire glasses on his nose. Of the three he is the only one with his eyes open, looking steadily ahead.

Everything else is grey, so the gold carries the meaning. A band across the brow, studded at the temple. A heavy collar worked at the neck of a dark robe. And at his ear, look for it, a gold key hanging where an earring would be. Toni leaves the key unexplained, and it is hard not to read it as access: a young man who holds the means of opening doors. Hung on the left of the trio, he turns toward Crown and, beyond it, his queen.

Motifs in this work

Gold key at the ear: read here as access, doors he can open

Round wire glasses: a present-day face wearing royal regalia

Gold brow band: the king's crown, worn close to the head

Edition: Edition of 20 in each size · 60 across all sizes. Further runs possible once a size sells out, each tagged (Run 2). Edition numbers count the works sold through Raknida; the artist may also sell their own editions of this work.
Numbering: Number, title and artist printed in the white border.
Printing: Museum-quality giclée with archival pigment inks on museum-grade cotton fine art paper.
Includes: Your numbered artwork and its Cultural Passport.

Size	Sheet	Image	Museum-Quality Print only	Framed	Available
S	8 × 10 in	6½ × 8¼ in	$45	+$65	20
M	16 × 20 in	14 × 17½ in	$75	+$119	20
L	24 × 30 in	22 × 27½ in	$110	+$179	20

The artist

Toni Kuyinu

Yoruba · Toronto, Canada · 4 works on Raknida

Toni Kuyinu is a Toronto-based artist who paints young Black faces in soft greys and lets gold do the rest. His three works on Raknida, Crown, Kingdom and Queendom, were painted to hang together. They show a king in profile, a queen in profile, and between them a crowned young man who faces us with his eyes closed. The skin is modelled in charcoal tones and the metal is the only warm colour. Small gold marks repeat from face to face, beneath an eye, across a lip, so the three read as one household.

View full profile →All 4 works →