Untitled, 1996
For my second Non-Western post I have chosen African art. I am absolutely in love with this type of art. It seems the majority of African art that I have seen threw out my life has always made some kind of impression on me. A very talented African artist named Gedewon Makonnen has currently caught my attention with his awe-inspiring paintings. Gedewon as he is best known, trained as cleric in the Ethiopian Orthodox church. During his training he learned to draw talismans, which are amulets or different objects which are made to protect a person from trouble, and or riding the body of demonic spirits. These drawings soon became sought after by many western collectors. Gaedewon’s purpose of his art was to “heal the body and soul through ancient patterns, imagery, and invocation. Gedewon’s works where mainly all produced in the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. His talismans were, and still are perceived by many as “healing art.” In talisman drawings evil spirits are suppose to enter and exit through the openings in the maze-like drawings. The evil eventually gets trapped and destroyed by the patterns and the words. Ethiopians and others who look upon these types of art still today, recognize them as beautiful art and as a powerful medicine. Gedewon’s talisman drawings have this white glow to them that makes me feel at ease. In the drawing above I feel like I am looking into a magical stream and or looking at something in space that no one has ever seen before.
When I look at that painting I see like an ancient city at night lit up with lights. I think its quite interesting that talisman were looked at as healing agents. Im so use to thinking of internal medicines that heal the body. If this painting put you at ease maybe it is something to it. Maybe a healing of the mind.
For fun, see mporreca’s blog on the same artist.