Many artists, one way of expression.
Art can be represented in many ways, through painting, music, illustrations. It’s precisely through painting that many artists express their feelings, their struggles, their emotions. Many emergent artists do. They describe their roots, their customs and traditions through colors and shapes made with brushes. They tell stories that everybody can “read” and love.
AMOAKO BOAFO was born in Ghana in 1984, in his paintings he mainly represents the “concept of being black”: the subjectivity and the determination that characterize black people and also the joy of being black. In his series of paintings called “Black Diaspora”, Amoako makes a sort of trip inside the identity and perception that black people have of themselves. The painter gives an image of his peers’ intimacy as from the portraits the viewers are able to understand what characters are feeling in that moment. Actually Amoako represents men and women who have something to tell: they communicate with eyes and their expressions. Amoako communicates also with the colors that emphasize certain emotions or vibes as good energy, they can be darker or lighter, for example blue and yellow. Boafo is one of the protagonists of “The Artsy Vanguard 2020” the exposition that promotes artists who should be well known by everybody.
OTIS KWAME KYE QUAICOE is a painter from Accra in Ghana, but he lives in
Portland, Oregon. He is considered one of the most talented emergent artists who
comes from Africa. Quaicoe’s strongest point is the usage of colors. An explosion of colors that are able to describe different realities from those we used to see and live in. Empowerment and redemption, reclamation of cultural dignity, humility, curiosity
and images are all themes that Quaicoe “discusses” in his creations. The resilience
and strength of African culture. Every painting has an important message to communicate, something related to the idea of personal intimacy, gender and race dynamics.
CLOTILDE JIMÉNEZ is an artist from Hawaii who grew up in a poor district of Philadelphia. He tells his story through his art, collages, the experienced he lived. Thanks to this particular technique he composes another piece of his life to present to the audience. The simplicity of Jiménez’s style and the evocations of feelings come from his work, allow the viewers tO give their own meanings to the artist’s work. His art is included in many collections such as The Ford Foundation, Orlando Museum of Art, Hessel Museum of Art, and the Beth Rubin DeWoody collection.
CASSI NAMODA is a painter from Maputo, Mozambique, with her art she
represents everyday life scenes in post-colonial Mozambique. She wants to let
people know her origins and how life is in a country as Mozambique: full of colors
but also struggles. The importance of the family and its values, the tiredness of working life, the acceptance of the pain and joy that life gives us. The most interesting aspect in Namoda’s works is that she uses very strong tonalities and bright colors, but the characters’ expressions are restless or even sad. Joy and
suffering at the same time. The most recent expositions where Namoda presented her works were: Pippy Houldsworth, London (2020); François Ghebaly, Los Angeles (2019) and Nina Johnson Gallery, Miami (2018). Her artworks are present in the collection of Pérez Art Museum, Miami.
CINGA SAMSON dedicates his life to art. Born in 1986 in South Africa precisely
in Cape Town, Samson depicts enigmatic characters without pupils. Cinga
Samson wants to represent desire, spirituality, superstition with a little bit of mystery.
In his oil painting on canvas he portrays the inhabitants’ belief of Ethembeni
and its surrounding countryside. Samson’s art and style is really original and out of
the box. the characters he creates are scary but actually they are just a
representation of an existent reality.
SALMAN TOOR was born in Lahore, Pakistan in 1983 and in his work he
represents the difficulty of young queer black people to live in a country such as
United States of America. Most of his characters are men who are always sad or
tormented. They are represented with dark colors and most of the times surrounded
by objects that can tell many things about them as they are protagonists of the paintings. His works are exposed at the Luhring Augustine Art Gallery in New York.
SUNG TIEU is a Vietnamese artist who immigrated and grew up in Germany, in
her works she discusses different important themes such as immigration, exile and
many experiences she lived in her life even if sometimes she fictionalizes them.
Sung Tieu realizes sound installations, videos and sculptures but also photographs
and performances.
THE HI-LITE MOVEMENT
The Hi - Lite movement can be considered as the first major artistic movement of
the 21st century. There are many artists who follow this artistic trend. They produce works that are easy to understand and do not discuss issues too seriously. The artists take inspiration from mangas, graffitis and animations and they usually use very bright colors.
The Hi - Lite Movement is a cosmopolitan tendency that put together a group of
Japanese artists such as Ayako Rokkaku, Aya Takano or Mr. Madsaki and also
artist from USA as Erik Partker or from Europe as Nicolas Party. This movement, as well as the other ones, connects artists from all over the world.
Article by
Riccardo Aimerito & Sara Orlandini