This painting represents Axum which is one of the most significant Christian empires that reigned from 400 B.C to the 10th century. I want to depict this power by using it in different forms of primitive art. This differs from the rest of the paintings I have done on this concept because I have taken the motifs and used them in a composition to truly reveal Axum. However, there are still repetitious symbols incorporated into this that I use in many of my other paintings as a character that slowly helps me to progress into a level where viewers can see me through my paintings. The fact is, art must be able to display the general but also have the ability to relate to the viewer as though they are looking at themselves in a mirror to capture an individualistic identity in art. Art has to speak in a language that allows others to see. A good example of this is artist Skunder Boghossian. Who has taken “significant sites from Ethiopia” and turned it into a modern primitive concept.
“For him, the systematic decomposition of culture, history and naturally of creativity on the psyche of people of color is sadly very significant. For him also, the universality in the culture of the creative history of people of color is a consequential reality and hence, the symbolic agreement of the jazz lyric of the African American, the harmonious chant of the Ethiopian and the rhythmical tune of the singer from Mali. In Skunder’s words all his works are “a perpetual celebration of the diversity of blackness.”
Also, another example is artist Wosene Kosrof .
(This is a painting I have from Wosene when he was attending an Ethiopian fine arts school)
“Wosene Worke Kosrof has explored the aesthetic potential of language, using the written symbols of his native Amharic as the major compositional element in his work. In his paintings, the calligraphic forms of Amharic are broken apart, abstracted, and reconfigured to create a new visual language that draws upon the artist’s Ethiopian heritage while incorporating his experiences as an expatriate living in the United States. As Wosene explains (the artist has chosen his first name as his professional name), “The symbols bring my culture to me and at the same time I recreate my culture with the symbols, producing a unique international visual language.””
All in all, these artists have made a substantial impact on Ethiopian art culture as well as raise the awareness of the art into a different perspective by adding highly skilled Ethiopian embroidery and design. Artists such as this have come out of one root but have different branches and styles.
Homepage: www.eyobart.com
