Black Pearl IV is a significant example of Gbemileke Adekunle's figurative practice, representing the artist's characteristic engagement with the Black female form as a site of cultural and symbolic meaning. Adekunle's approach draws on a range of art historical references, from the flattened pictorial space of African textile traditions to the formal economies of Western modernism, assembling these influences into a visual language that is distinctly his own. The silhouetted female figure is rendered in acrylic, oil pastel, and charcoal on canvas, a mixed-media combination that Adekunle uses to build surfaces of considerable physical and optical complexity. The deep blue ground situates the figure in a chromatic environment of emotional resonance, drawing on Adekunle's sustained engagement with colour as a primary carrier of meaning. The 56 x 60 inch format gives the composition the scale it requires for its formal ambitions. Created in 2023 and acquired through Alexis Galleries.