Àkòdì Òrìṣà artists
Àkòdì Òrìṣà artists painting the outside fence at Ile Ife, Nigeria.
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Àkòdì Òrìṣà artists painting the outside fence at Ile Ife, Nigeria.
The rainbow is smearing
pigments on my teeth
as if being colored
is a virtue;
All it does is keep the
cops from trusting me
when I cross
the street from innocence
to dark alleys
where they play hide
Just as a lens focuses light to the point
that it can generate enough heat
to set a leaf on fire:
The Òrùlé Orí uses sound and space
to focus and raise the level
of positive energy in an individual.
How? It’s the principle of electricity.
You connect the charger to the electricity socket to charge the battery of your laptop. Your laptop wakes up, ready to go.
LOOKING BACK
I
Exile, however sweet,
for home makes the heart yearn.
Àjò kìí dùn
kónílé gbàgbé ilé.
I colored the Yoruba proverb above for emphasis.
Why?
Because everybody living in Nigeria is a hero.
It is often akin to being a kamikaze pilot in WWII.
They just survived the #EndSars uprising.
Artist: Moyo Okediji
Title: Once Upon a Time, the Tortoise
Medium: acrylic on canvas
Date: 2018
The Last Dance.
Adetola Wewe is working in my studio gallery on his last painting as the first resident fellow of the University of African Art at Austin.
He is concluding a one-month stay, and has produced an incredible number of paintings during this short period.
He will leave for Houston during the week, from where he plans to fly back home.
Today, he will share his residency experience with the students of the University of Texas at Austin, in a course titled “Introduction to African Art,” taught by Moyo Okediji.
Yesterday, my friend, Femi, called from Maryland and we had a long and beautiful conversation on the art of social distancing.
He wanted to buy a painting.
I told him I was happy to sell a painting and sent him a picture of the work.
I said the painting would look good as a Zoom backgrounder—like when FOX News calls and wants your opinion.
Are you going to panic because the artless interior of your home would suddenly become exposed to hundreds of millions of people on television and social media?