Sunken III places Gbemileke Adekunle's figurative practice in dialogue with the traditions of psychological portraiture. The figure in this 34 x 56 inch oil and oil pastel painting is rendered in blue on blue, present in the composition as both form and atmosphere, the boundaries between figure and ground deliberately softened. This approach draws on a broad tradition of figurative painting concerned with interiority and psychological states, from the Symbolist painters of the late nineteenth century to the contemporary African artists who have reclaimed introspection as a subject of political as well as aesthetic relevance. Adekunle's oil pastel technique gives the surface a luminosity that distinguishes these works from his purely acrylic paintings, the pigment carrying light differently and producing a softer, more diffused effect. Sunken III was created in 2024 and its certificate of authenticity is held on file.