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African heritage of masks, gods and ancestors

Saturday August 19 2017
mask

African Masks, by Seth Musindi. PHOTO | KARI MUTU | NMG

By KARI MUTU

Fine artist Seth Musindi usually paints village life. But more recently he says he has been inspired by African heritage and ancestral veneration, representing them in a style that lies between impressionism and cubism.

The portraits of faces resemble tribal masks, with prominent facial features and symmetrical patterns.

“The mask is a representation of the gods and ancestors that are sacred and powerful images in African society,” said Musindi, who signs his works as “Remy.”

Musindi uses a palette of warm, bright colours and symbolic designs.

His mixed media painting, African Masks, is of a colourful face with large eyes, a bulbous nose and full lips surrounded by geometric shapes and patterns. Musindi says every design in traditional artwork represented a certain god or acted as a symbol of faith.

“Masks also played a major role in arbitration of justice and judgements,” he says.

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Thoughts is also a mixed media drawing of a pensive face with an open mouth, overlapped by another face, a leg, a breast, a woman holding a pot and other undefined shapes, all of which add to the depth of the image.

In other pictures, Musindi draws attention to modern liberal lifestyles. Exhale is a painting of a young modern couple embracing. The woman is wearing a low-cut yellow dress, head thrown back, eyes closed with lips pouting seductively.

The Love Pot is a semi-abstract acrylic collage of men, women and traditional brewing pots interspersed with symmetrical designs. Several hands are furtively reaching out to touch one another, and there is a predominance of red, the colour of romance and excitement.

Musindi studied graphic design at the Kenya Polytechnic University College. The paintings are on show at the Royal Nairobi Golf Club until September.

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