Drawing and Painting

      There are many different styles of painting, some not always being the traditional Da Vinci, or Picasso. Drawing is so much more than just sketches; even though they all begin as such drawing has evolved into something more complex than just a pencil and paper. Nowadays, felt pens, paper materials for collage, and paint are also incorporated in drawings. There are also many types of painting such as fresco, oil, watercolor, acrylic, and even beyond.
      There is one fairly modern drawing called Hide and Seek, Kill or Speak by Wangechi Mutu that is composed of paint, ink, and collage. This piece depicts a woman as one with the African Grasslands. Some say she looks like a lion with the way her hair trickles down the length of her spine like a mane. Her spotted and marbled body elicits camouflage and/or disease. The artist also uses cut outs of photographs for the woman’s eyes, lips, and ear as well as the guns and motorcycles to convey a sense of beauty, danger, and desire. This piece also sparks controversy to the lethal conflicts that have arisen in African Societies.
      Wilfredo Lam’s, The Jungle is another wildly intricate, colorful, and interesting work of art composed of watercolors. Watercolors are made of pigments that are suspended in water-soluble vehicle and have a more transparent look to them and are not applied thickly like oil and acrylic paints. The Jungle is composed of many tropical colors showing various points of dark and light in the watercolors. This painting resembles the importance of the relationship between humans and animals, and depicts human and animal forms to be somewhat coinciding and mingling. Essentially, humans are animals too. I feel that the message this painting puts forth is that we must not forget how important all animals are to this world and the importance of our relationship with them.

Hide and Seek Kill or Speak. Wangechi Mutu. 2004.

The Jungle.Wilfredo Lam.1943.