ARTISTS
Innocent Malleey Mwaipungu
Innocent Malleey Mwaipungu is an artist from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (East Africa) currently living in Baltimore, Maryland.
Artist Statement
Innocent is a contemporary visual artist and printmaker. He states that: “My vision as an artist is for his work to inspire and reflect the life we live. It’s wonderful to have a strong vision as an artist and I see my creative work as part of my mission to inspire and reflect the life we live. I believe that Art has a unique power to convey messages and emotions, and can certainly leave a lasting impact on those who experience it. I will keep pursuing my artistic journey and sharing my creations with the world. My passion and dedication will surely make a difference”.
About the ART in this Show
Mwaipungu uses various mediums for his artwork, such as acrylics, oil and water color. Through cubism inspiration, he has reinvented his own unique style “M i k a t o A r t”. He blends colors and various mediums to create DOPE, bold and beautiful art pieces.
UNFAITHFUL
The artist states that: “Man cheating seems normal while women cheating seems abnormal. Most likely that notion is shared by societal groups around the world”. In this work of acrylic on canvas, Innocent shows his preference for an artistic format that is decidedly cubist. He uses basic geometric components that intersect in a way that amazingly gives both depth and intimacy to the work.
GUIDING
For this artwork, the artist communicates an important thought. If you study the life of various insects or animals, you will definitely find out one of their greatest instinctual preoccupations is protecting their families. This fact is a powerful lesson we as humans should learn from these noble giants and constantly stay reminded of. The basic question for ourselves as humans is: If these animals can continue to maintain this quality of protection for their families - Why can’t we?
The JOURNEY
The artist states “If life is a journey then there are ways to Go. In order to follow the right path, we must overcome obstacles. Sometimes these obstacles are really blessings in disguise, only we don’t realize that at the time.” In his work of acrylic on canvas, Innocent favors a format that is decidedly cubist with an abstracted and flatten format with the subject matter of the work reduced to basic geometric components that intersect in a way that invites the viewer to engage with the work from different viewpoints to create their own analytical approach to understand the subject matter presented.
The Keyboard
In this work, the artist constructs the feeling of intimacy as he continues his flatten perspective and reduction of forms and objects to their basic geometric components. The subject matter is a realistic reflection and portrayal of a lifestyle and sensuality that is rendered in strong, bold earthy colors during a time of isolation under duress such as was the case during the worldwide catastrophic commonly called the Covid epidemic.
The LOCKDOWN
The artist states that this work was done during the Covid-19 lockdown. The context of this work is a realistic portrayal of social interaction in a difficult and challenging time. In this artwork, the artist presents the viewer with a collage of multiple images. His use of classical cubist structure with depth and perspective tightly controlled using geometric triangles - almost like cages allows him to visually portray his images as if there are a series of private and separate activity.
Sebastian Charles Mnjindo
Sebastian Charles Mnjindo is a contemporary visual artist and printmaker, born in Mtwara, Tanzania. He currently lives in Dar es Salaam. He works in a variety of materials and creative styles using scrap bamboo, fagio leaves, used takeaways and parts. These things help me to be
able to show different feelings. Using raw materials and things that are around us but not thought to be useful or productive in our society or culture can be reused.
Artist Statement
The content of my paintings examines the existing environment, daily lifestyles, and social interaction from the perspective of my distant vision, the reality of life today and what is imaginable. I also create large art murals for public places, Houses of Worship, private and government institutions and schools all directed toward the topic of globalization of the earth, and increasing the understanding of issues of daily life.
About the ART in this Show
One of the first things that you focus on when seeing Sebastian Charles Mnjindo’s artwork is a profusion of circles. The repetition is mesmerizing. Are they all round ..no… some seem elliptical…..some have smiles on them.. some seem like a half of a circle……maybe… wait there are circles within the circles and shady points on the circles.
There is such intentionality about these circles as the background and a pattern that is on the entire composition that the viewer’s mind is compelled to speculate about all of the meanings associated with circles before proceeding to the images in each artwork. Meandering thoughts all leading to this truth: That along with the cyclical world of nature, individually and collectively our own lives with its emotional highs and lows, successes and failures alternate in a circle. All of our lives are a combination of different circles and circles within our circles. All continuously linked together, all similar and familiar and yet all distinctive and unique. This is the background, upon which the artist places all of the extraordinarily colorful and intricate compositions of beautiful brown-skinned people happily engaged in various activities recognizable by people in every culture around the world. If you scrutinize the entire composition closely amazingly it’s a combination of circles.
Brenda Kibakaya Nakisoko
Brenda Kibakaya Nakisoko is an emerging visual artist whose primary focus is painting. Her style of painting is abstract and mixed media using acrylics, watercolor and colored pencils. Her work portrays the trials and the triumphs that women face, as well as those of the society overall in Africa. Her work also portrays the still life objects around her daily life.
Artist Statement
My art work is all about the life that surrounds me as I observe and experience from every angle. Through my art I try to change the negative mindsets of people into positive thinking. I am also interested and inspired by the natural world’s beauty and mystery that is why I use materials like fabrics, sand, bubblegum and other things to make my art. My overall focus is to make people to think and be more positive, happy and to see what I am seeing.
About the ART in this Show
In the painting “Hustler” the artist stated “Fight for your life and your family. That is the lifestyle most of the women in my city experience along with all kinds and forms of violence that includes raping”. In this she has expressed a social construct and behavior that is all too common and is too often experienced by woman in reality, subjectively or experienced attitudinally around the globe as a continuum, with the past flowing into the present and the present merging into the future. Seemingly without surceases. The artist clearly intends to speak to the harm and effect of this on women who are in many cultures voiceless.
However, unwanted this truth, woman are often left to cope and or respond by internalizing, suppressing their thoughts and feelings so that they “don’t wear their feelings on their faces”. The artist skillfully uses bold color and space to construct her images of woman with almost inexpressive, unemotional – even blank impenetrable - visages. One could say this is intended to convey “inner peace” or “happiness”. Perhaps that is true. Maybe. But the artist has indicated rather strongly otherwise. Perhaps the blankness of the faces, hidden faces, and in the featureless painting “Choices” could also convey dissociation. A physical and psychological mental disconnection from unwanted memories. The faces look peaceful which could be true or very far from the truth. The fluidity of consciousness - our thoughts, feelings, and memories - can exist on a continuum that can blur and distort the distinctions between past, present and future; and mental peace or happiness. The artist skillfully uses large soft oval blank faces as if to indicate that the circumstances she is painting about could be true for any woman anywhere. She uses strong bold colors to create a feeling of being present in the world notwithstanding what may be true in their lives. The bold colors can also serve as camouflage to force the viewer to feel a sense of calmness and peacefulness when viewing the work as if all is OK- In spite of the predatory nature in the social environment for women that she alluded to. The beautiful attire of the woman amplify their vulnerability and at the same time their learned ability and behaviors that allow them to carry on with life no matter how dreadful their daily environment and socialization may be.
