How African Art Has Changed and Inspire European Art

Introduction

In this essay, I would like to discuss how African art has changed and inspired European art. African art is a beautiful and deeply interesting kind of art, full of traditions and spirituality. Over time, this art has influenced many artists, including Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. Despite this, these artists could not fully capture the meaning and spirituality derived from African art. They embraced the techniques, use of colors, and methods very well, but there was still a lack of traditions and beliefs.

Influence of African Art on European Artists

In this section, I will introduce and analyze two different artists, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Hank Willis Thomas, explaining the differences between African art and African art influenced by European and American styles. The second part of this essay will explain the difference between African art produced by Africans and African works produced by Europeans.

Akan Peoples and Their Art

The first sculpture is a good representation of fertility. In the wooden sculpture of the Asante family, fertility and children are very popular themes. The piece represents a royal mother nursing a child. Why a royal mother? The figure is not an ordinary woman; she's a queen mother as she's wearing sandals and is seated in the state on formal occasions. A regular woman would be represented on her knees or without shoes. The Asante family is a long dynasty of clans ruling southern Ghana. The sculpture not only expresses nurturing but also the concept of family and the continuity of a matrilineage through daughters, as in Asante tradition, the primary purpose in a woman's life was to bear children.

Chris Ofili and "The Raising of Lazarus"

This art piece is very simple, almost superficial, but at the same time full of rich tones like black, red, and green; the figures are almost unreadable because this painting is heavily influenced by dance. The dance is an incarnation, where the figures represented are very pretty and delicate. The irregular lines are so sinuous that they evoke a sense of sensuality in the bodies. The choice of colors is very specific and interesting. The artist decided to choose five colors that are dominant in African art, each representing something. In this kind of art, red symbolizes violence and sacrifices. African artists chose red to represent the struggle for independence and sometimes used it to convey a sense of fertility and life. Black can be seen as a symbol of death and darkness, but in countries like Kenya, it symbolizes prosperity because it reminds one of the dark clouds of rain. White represents eternal life and God. Yellow symbolizes prosperity and gold.

Jean-Michel Basquiat and His Artistic Expression

Jean-Michel Basquiat is one of the most naïve painters of the widely celebrated Neo-Expressionism art movement. His art appears simple and complicated at the same time. At first glance, one might think that his style is almost childish due to the use of very bright colors and unrealistic figures, but it's not. It's all about disparate traditions, practices, and styles creating a visual collage between African-Caribbean heritage and urban origins. His work is an example of how American artists of the 1980s could reintroduce the human figure in their work after the wide success of Minimalism and Conceptualism, thus establishing a dialogue with the more distant tradition of 1950s Abstract Expressionism. The artist appropriates Africa by taking bones, skulls, and arrows and then adding his Neo-Expressionist touch. The objects represented are irregular, scribbled, suspended from nothing as if they were hallucinations. Basquiat demonstrates in his work that his art is thoughtful yet effortless, almost improvised.

"Guenn" is the result of a canvas with dominant colors and lit in the schematic figures with faces similar to masks, surrounded by signs, symbols, and words. Its pungent theories on cultural and social reality reach the inevitable construction of a composition worthy of the best experimental jazz. His works are not represented as simple graffiti with markers and spray enamel but as works of art built with oil, acrylic, and visual collage. His best paintings are trapped between opposing aesthetic and expressive forces: schematic control and spontaneity, anger and humor, civilization and primitivism. The art of the street invades his mind because beauty knows no bounds, and Basquiat knew it well.

Jordan Moore Saggese states that Basquiat is situated between African American art because it is the product of someone with African origins but who grew up and was educated in a Western society. His art brings out the diversity of both cultures. Basquiat is caught between his African origins and the Western culture imposed on him. By examining Basquiat's works carefully, we can perceive that the artist is trying to transcend his origins and Western influences in order to find his unique place in contemporary art. This great contrast between African and American art is also influenced by texts inspired by American art historian Robert Farris Thompson, who provided the artist with a model of productive ambiguity, which did not truly aid Basquiat's practices.

When examining Basquiat's work, there are racist implications when it comes to his credibility as a witness. "He had to be 'skinned alive,'" Hebdige claims, "bleached of his blackness and delivered into the hands of his right foster parents." In other words, despite his art, which was perhaps considered acceptable, the color of his skin had to "change" to be accepted into the canon of art history.

Conclusion

No matter what, Basquiat was always seen as an outsider. He never had a solo exhibition during his lifetime and was barely mentioned as an African American artist. The complex interplay of African and European influences continues to shape the art world today, offering a rich tapestry of cultural dialogue and innovation.

References

• Hebdige, D. (1988). "Subculture: The Meaning of Style." Routledge.
• Moore Saggese, J. (2014). "Reading Basquiat: Exploring Ambivalence in American Art." University of California Press.
• Thompson, R. F. (1984). "Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy." Vintage Books.