Reflectionalism: Light, Emotion, Geometry With Anjola Dave

Anjola Dave is a contemporary Nigerian visual artist whose practice explores light, form, and identity through a delicate balance of abstraction and realism. His works often weave personal narratives with broader cultural themes, creating visual conversations that feel both intimate and universal. With a keen eye for color and composition, Anjola pushes the boundaries of canvas and medium, inviting viewers to pause, reflect, and find meaning in the spaces between.

Can You Share how Your Childhood or Early Experiences Inspired Your Turn Toward 3D Visual Art?

I basically grew up surrounded by art. My mom is a traditional artist, so I spent a lot of time watching her create these incredible oil paintings. I was always intrigued by how she could bring ideas to life on canvas. Funny enough, I never really tried painting myself because I wasn’t good at drawing in school. What I was good at, though, was molding. I’d play with plasticine and make all sorts of figures, and people would always ask how I managed to do it. Honestly, I never had an answer, it just came naturally. Fast-forward to 2015, I watched Age of Ultron, and in the end credits, there was this digital 3D sculpture of the battle scene. That moment stuck with me. I thought it was the coolest thing and felt like it was something I should try myself but digitally. That’s how I discovered 3D software. At the time, I didn’t even own a laptop, so it felt like one of those “one day” dreams. By 2020, I finally got a laptop and downloaded Blender, the popular 3D software I had read about. But the system was way too weak to handle it. It wasn’t until 2021, when I got a better laptop, that I could actually dive in and start learning. And that’s really where my 3D journey began.

You Coined the Term “Reflectionism”, How did You Develop this Concept and what does it Mean to You?

Reflectionism emerged from my experiments between 2021 and 2022 while searching for a signature style. I began working with shiny, reflective surfaces, colorful spheres, and glass textures to bend light in dynamic ways. Midway through that journey, watching Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar inspired me to explore darker environments. This led to a breakthrough, I created subjects made entirely of reflective surfaces, surrounded by lit, colorful objects hidden from the camera’s view. What the audience sees is not the objects themselves, but their reflections producing a liquid-metallic effect that feels both surreal and alive. I further built on this with light streaks, geometric lines, and recurring shapes, especially circles, arranged in converging patterns.

The result is Reflectionism: a visual language rooted in the reflection of light and color, crafted to communicate emotion and energy in a bold, unique synergy.

What does your creative process look like, from initial spark to finished piece?

It always starts off with an idea that comes to me. I’m inspired by multiple things so it can be anything from music to movies to dreams or even my faith in God. The title usually comes to me as the inspiration for the piece hits, so I write it down in a note I keep on my phone (the title helps me remember the concept I have in mind). Then, when I’m ready to create, I always have music playing in the background, but not the conventional music. I love to listen tomusical composers, whether the artistes that make music for movie scores like Hans Zimmer, Ludwig Goransson, or John Powell, or composers of old like Vivaldi, Beethoven and Debussy. This music allows my mind to wander because instead of communicating through lyrics they communicate through moods set by the music itself.

I think music is one of the most beautiful art forms to ever exist. The music helps me concentrate on what I’m creating and it helps me build the idea I’m creating a lot further than I originally thought through, So when I’m done with the composition of the 3D scene, I manually pose my subjects and give them attributes necessary to the concept of the meaning of the artwork, then I go on to either animate the piece or render a still frame, depending on the type of artwork I intend it to be, then I take the rendered piece into Adobe Lightroom to do a little color correction in post-render stages.

How do you use Light, Geometry, and Reflective Surfaces to Evoke Emotion in Your Work?

I just let my intuition do the work, deciding where to place the reflective colourful lines and shapes and then make sure my subjects are well posed to communicate my vision for the piece.

Your work Bridges Music, Film, and Visual Art. How do those Influences Manifest in Your Visuals?

These various art forms contribute multiple elements of inspiration to my body of work allowing me to properly express the exact feels I’m going for through the way my art scene is lit, composed and captured within the 3d software.

How do you Balance Narrative and Abstraction in Your 3D Compositions?

I like to think that the abstraction is a tool in emphasizing the narratives present in my work, letting myself explain express natural feelings and stories with my work using abstract concepts and elements. They all just have a role to play in creating the big picture.

What do you hope viewers take away or feel when they experience your art?

I hope viewers find themselves in my work, I hope they feel seen, I hope they can tell they’re not alone in the things they go through, I hope they know they can dream, just like I have.

Your Work has been Exhibited Internationally, including in New York, how has that Exposure Shaped Your Vision?

Well, seeing how far my work has traveled across the world has just opened my mind up to more possible things than I thought; it has enlarged my horizon and put me in the place to explore how much more my art can be shared with the rest of the world.

Where do you see Reflectionism evolving next—as a style or concept?

When I’m done with my current collection “colours lines and feelings” I intend to explore more storytelling with the art style I’ve honed and developed over time. Using them as a tool to tell stories through themed collections that have a unique continuing story cutting across piece within the collection.

Are there other Mediums or Collaborative Spaces You’re Interested in Exploring?

There are in fact many other collaborative mediums I have under consideration and I will be exploring them all, from digital concepts like extensive animation and augmented reality to bringing my work to the physical world through 2D prints on multiple media, 3d printing, sculptures and other art installation methods I’m yet to uncover. I intend to push the boundaries of what digital art can do and show it with the rest of the world. This is just the beginning.