Mor Faye

Mor Faye aka The African Van Gogh/ Poor Black Picasso

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Country: Senegal

Style: Modernist, Avant-garde, Cubist, Classical, Expressionist, Abstract

Medium: Canvas, Newspaper scraps, Recycled Material, Oil, Gouache, Crayon, Charcoal

Fun Fact: There is a lot to say about Mor Faye, also known aas the “African Van Gogh” because he died at 37 of celebral malaria, most his paintings were done in an asylum as a symptom of his dementia and he went widely unrecognised until after his death. He was against the Ecole du Dakar and Leopold Senghor’s art programs so much so that he once in a while stged colourful protests outside the gates of the presidential palace. What is amazing is that he owed all his skill and style to Leopold Senghor’s art programs 

Quote: No one really paid attention to him when he was alive but I imagine aside from the dementia some anti-Africanity sentiments were shouted at Senghor

Paintings

1.Untitled

2.Untitled

3. Untitled

Contacts:

http://www.contempafricanart.com/artist.asp?artistid=MorFaye

Wiz Kudowor

Wisdom Edinam Kudwor (Wiz Kudowor)

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Country: Ghana

Style: Cubism, Futurism, Contemporary Art, Fine Art, Abstract

Medium: acrylic on canvas

Fun Fact: Known as a trans-cultural visionary, Wiz`s work is influenced by two key interests: the human form as transformational agent and ancestral wisdom as “aesthetic tools”. Both are intricately linked to, and stand as metaphors for, self-growth. He speaks of “emotions, energies, feelings” some evoked from the everyday, others evoked from the “subconscious”; these “dictate at particular times” the nature and progression of his imaginative thinking and productivity.

Quote:

“I strive to satisfy my own whims first in all these attempts hoping eventually to attract mutual minds and interests. There is however room also for the viewer to transcend and relate to my work from his or her own perspective. In other words, I expect the works to prompt and extract a response from those who come into contact with [it], even if negative.”

“When I travelled out to exhibitions, it transformed me into knowing I could tackle other things and not feel guilty about it. You are a human being first, African second. When I freed myself from the trappings of being African, my work became more universal.” 

 

Paintings:

1.Intimacy in red

2. Persistent of Shame

3. Love Cocoon

4. Anatony and a Fabric IV

5. Floral Arrangement

6. Untitled

Contact: www.wizkudowor.com

http://www.african-encounters.com/Artist-Wiz-Kudowor_3.aspx 

(+233) 21-769016 

(+233) 244-876459

(+233) 27-2599999

wizkudowor@yahoo.com

Bakunzi Jean Bosco

Bakunzi Jean Bosco

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Country: Rwanda

Style: semi-abstract, semi surreal, fine art,  Contemporary art

Medium: oil on canvas

Fun Fact: He is an autodidact but counts (Richard) Onyango (Kenya), (Collins) Sekajugo (Rwanda) and Joseph Kartoon (Kenya) among his influences. He combs his paintings to increase flow and give them texture. 

Quote:

  “I see painting as a special medium that allows me to explore my ideas, creativity, and emotions. When I am producing art, I feel free with my style, and I am empowered to enjoy the movement of my tools. In choosing my subjects, I find inspiration in nature, my surroundings, everyday life and happiness…”

Paintings:

1. Bed Time

2.Thieves in the market

3.Images of memory

4. African girls

5. Musanze market

6. The Transporters

7. Wheatfield

Contacts:

http://www.uburangaarts.com/index.php/en/bakunzi-jean-bosco:

https://mobile.twitter.com/bakuart

 

 

More: He lost both his parents in the genocide and used art to deal with the situation 

Throughout my career, I have been motivated by the belief that “art has the power to heal people physically, mentally, and emotionally.”

  With this belief in mind, I founded Rwanda’s leading art center, “Uburanga Arts Studio” in March 2010. This studio brings together the most skilled and talented artists from all over the country with the goal of developing Rwanda’s fine art scene.

 I donate my time teaching arts and crafts to orphans and vulnerable children, especially those at Gisimba Memorial Center Orphanage. I have also spent time working and volunteering at Rwandan orphanages and hospitals painting bright and playful murals that have been sponsored by both private individuals and NGOs.

 

Joseph Amedokpo

Joseph Amedokpo

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Country: Togo

Style: Abstract personification, contemporary, magical realism, fine art

Medium: oil on canvas

Fun Fact: He is a simple man, an ecofriendly simple man; Amedokpo paints using locally available oils and his canvases are recycled flour sacks, washed and stretched. His studio forms part of his family compound; a tin roof shelters him from the African sun and seasonal rains.

Quote:

Red is my favorite color,” says Joseph. “From red I can make so many other colors. It is very important in our traditions, too. Red is the color of blood, which is life, and our soil, which feeds us. And red is one of the main colors of many of our gods, like Mamiwata, who can heal the sick.

Paintings

1. Shango- God of Thunder

2. Devil’s cooking pot

3. The Initiation of the Voudou maidens

4. Birds KIngdom

5. Angere stilt dancers

Dell picked Joseph’s paintings for their Computer covers, the statement was: His paintings touch on the failures and weaknesses of people, as well as their core strength, their hopes. The aids crisis in Africa. How all kings eventually dance naked, brought down to earth with the rest of us. 

His art covers a wide swath of the old and the new, in this area, and he has seen some success as his paintings are increasingly sought out and collected internationally. He hopes his participation in Project Red will expose his art to more people, and he is glad that his paintings will be helping fight aids in Africa.  

Bernadett Bagyinka

Bernadett Bagyinka

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Country: Hungary but honorary Yoruba so Nigeria

Style: Potraiture, Magical Realism, Fine Art, Historical Secesionism

Medium: Coloured Pencil

Fun Fact: She studied African tribal art with an emphasis on the Yoruba of South Nigeria

Quote:

 ’My pictures inspired by the exotic and spiritual nation of Africa, which is the most exotic continent to me.
I love to work with it’s cultural motifs and colours. I love to investigate after
african people ‘s caracter, different portraits and smiles on their face.
Im obsessed in love with the power and rhythm of the african continent.
My aim is to transfer these strenght beauty and richness through my pictures to those
interested…..

Paintings:

1.Yemoja

2. Geb the planet

3. Yaro tree soul

4. The Magician

5. Sango drawing

6. Fulani

More at http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/bernadett-bagyinka.html

Yoruba Orishas

divinemoon:

This is one of the most beautiful collection of art on the Orishas I have passed by. That is why I am sharing them all with you guys, you can tell how detailed they are; I just wish I knew who the artist was! On the very top is Elegua, following on the second row is Obatala, Babalu Aye, and Shango. Second row is Ochossi, Oshun, and Ogun. On the final row you will see Orula, Oya and Yemaya. I just love them, especially how the art depicts the specific Orisha such as Yemaya is of the sea and it shows her with ships, shells, etc.

Orishas are deities in the Yoruba spiritual/religious system 

Patrick Kinuthia

Patrick Peter Kinuthia

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Country: Kenya

Style: Potraiture, Fine Art, Contemporary, Realism

Medium: Mostly watercolour, oil on canvas

Fun Fact: If it wasn’t for someone throwing away a Reader’s digest, and Patrick hanging around near garbage he would never have discovered Norman Rockwell who inspired his realist style. Thank you Reader’s Digest, Norman Rockwell, Garbage Dump and random magazine thrower

Quote:

A portrait catches the eye nd the eyes are the windows to the heart

Painting:

1. Hadassah

2.Swahili Girl

3. Turkana Girl

4. First Audition

5.Girl

6. Ngara

7. Samburu girl Africa

8. Motherhood

Contact: http://patrickkinuthia.com

Kinuthiapat@yahoo.com

Kinuthiapat@gmail.com

Info@patrickkinuthia.com

More at: http://faso.com/Kinuthia 

http://www.saatchionline.com/profile/294736 

Mulangala Mwamba

Mulangala Mwamba

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Country: Zambia

Style: Contemporary Art, Fine Art,

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Fun Fact: He has served on as an executive committee member of the Zambia National Visual Arts Council of Zambia and is currently serving on the organizing committee of Insaka International Artists Trust in Zambia.

Over the years, he has been a volunteer visual arts instructor for kasisi orphanage and is currently working with street children, orphans and vulnerable children at lubuto in Zambia. He lives in Zambia and works from a home-based studio. Mwamba is also a visual arts teacher at the American International School of Lusaka.

Quote:

 “My work is merely a reflection of myself. I paint to transfer my feelings and inner self onto canvas and keep my mind fixed on an idea until it becomes part of my psyche. The rest is left to the viewer to relate to my artwork in their own perspective.”

Paintings

1. Values from our ancestors

2. Our roots in rythm

3. Political strategies

4.Spiritual Realm

5. Sensation

Contact: http://mulangala.com/

e-mail: mwamba.mulangala@gmail.com

Jan Gerard Sekoto

Jan Gerard Sekoto

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Country: Republic of South Africa

Style: potraiture, naturalism, 

Medium: oil on canvas, watercolour, 

Fun Fact: He was a jazz pianist in order to pay his way through art school

Quote:“Art is the spark, the illumination which is socially significant for it brings about understanding

Paintings

1. Smoker

2. View of the Sienne

3. Mother and Child

4. Youth with downcast eyes

5. Figures in a Shebeen

6. The two little boys

This profile would be incomplete without boy with the candle, which is why I included it in the profile rather awkwardly

Ibra Papa Tall

Ibrahim Papa Taal (Papa Ibra Tall)

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Country: Senegal

Style: Surrealist, Abstract Fine Art, Modernist Art, Magical Realism

Medium: Tapestries, Pen, Ink, Oil, SIlk Screen

Fun Fact: He used to illustrate the covers of the famous negritude magazine Présence africaine , he also knew John Coltrane and Malcolm X. He was also a prominent member of the Ecole du Daka which posed challenges to the universal tenets of humanism and demanded recognition of Africa’s contributions to global modernity

Quote: At the time it was a question of creating,

for myself, an artistic language that seemed to me to belong to Africa and to Senegal. I was inspired by the theory of Negritude that back then, you must recall, was unique. Wole Soyinka didn’t yet exist and the other theoreticians of the day were economic theoreticians—Nkrumah had an economic theory, not cultural. So, those of us who wanted to create something autonomous, belonging to and reflecting just us, had little to inspire us but Negritude…. What interested me in finding a kind of authenticity was not to create pure decoration but to create a language of visual forms which defined me for myself.

Paintings:

1. Chevauchee Solaire

2. La foret aux souvenirs

3. La Solitude de l’oiseleur

4. Title Unknown

5. First Song

6. A Kilim

7. Seamstress of the stars

Contacts: http://www.biennaledakar.org/2012/spip.php?article116

Of interest to art historians: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=11925