Brittanay Miller
Humanities 101
Professor Bomboy
19 March, 2015
Non-Western
Art Critique
The
African artwork I chose is called Sunshine on my Mind. This painting is absolutely stunning with its
repetition of reds and yellows and also the shapes of the birds, tress and
faces. There is emphasis on the space in
the middle at the face of the shining sun.
That is also where the focal point is located as well. This painting is very stable because of its
warm colors and focal point on the sun.
The red and yellows are an instant view of something that is “good”. It gives off calm, soothing feelings when you
look at this piece of artwork.
As Walters states about this specific painting, he says, “The sunlight is so warm
and pleasant, unlike darkness. The sun shine in my mind makes me to smile due
to my victory and successes in life and I believe darkness will never come my
way because, the faces in the painting, are my ancestors who will always protect
me till the end of time” (Walters). Sunshine
on my Mind was produced sometime between 2009 and 2015 by Angu Walters. Walters is from Africa himself, so painting
African art is something that comes natural to him. When people buy his African artwork, Angu Walters
stated, “They don't ask for an explanation of the subject, which is really an
important & personal part of my work.” (Walters).
To me, the artist creates paintings through
his own emotions and thoughts. He has such passion behind his artwork and that
is what an artist should paint with; passion.
The meaning of this painting, to me, is to show that there is always
light at the end of the tunnel or that there is always good after the bad. It is very inspiring to look at this painting
and how it gives a sense of happiness if you have any doubts troubling
you. The cultural information the
painting conveys is how the sun makes the artist smile due to his life
accomplishments, but more so how other people might feel the exact same way
while looking at this painting. This
African artwork soothes me with the warm tone of color and makes me personally
think of my own worries I am going through and how I will get past them, just
how the sun moves past the darkness in this painting.
As you can see, there are also some faces in
the clouds or dark red sky. These faces
might be symbolic towards the devil or the faces are all the bad and evil
things or people attempting to bring you down, mentally or physically. The sun is glowing into the red sky, making
it look as if the sun is overcoming or overpowering the dark, red sky with the
bad and evil. For example, a happy event
overpowers an unhappy event in life. The sun in this painting is the main
value. Sun generally makes everyone
happy. We sometimes take happiness for
granted and when you take it for granted once too often, you will never quite
be happy ever again because of how selfish you have become. The sun represents happiness; True, genuine
happiness. It is sort of like the artist
is also teaching us to not take everything for granted and to enjoy life. Also to enjoy the happiness we encounter each
and every day. Happiness will overcome
all the bad things that are in your path.
Work
Cited
Walters, Angu. "ANGU WALTERS Contemporary
African Paintings."Cameroon Artist Angu
Walters |Contemporary
African Paintings. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.
