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Obama's portrait
A reviewer must be careful and not flippant
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A matter of symbolism is Obama's Official Portrait

 

E. Ablorh-Odjidja

For ARTCapitalGhana

February 13, 2018

 

There are very few fields as rich in symbolism as the arts. And painting, I dare say, is the most dominant in this aspect.

 

So Obama's portrait, by the painter Kehinde Wiley, is going to be subject to symbolic scrutiny, and opportunistic exploitation in the name of Art.

 

But caution, any reviewer must be careful and not flippant in his or her interpretations brought to this work.  The reason being this work of art is not so much a matter between the artist and an abstract subject in the painting.

 

In this case, it is about Obama, the first African American president, therefore a   matter which easily could transform the interpretation into a matter between all of us, especially those of us in the Black world - the artist, his subject, and all of us.

 

But first, let us make it necessary to ask whether Kahide's work, with this flourish of buried suggestions, should merit standing as the official portrait of the first Black president of the United States.

 

As much as I would like to have this work burnt, as Winston Churchill was purported to have wished for his first official portrait, I still would love to see the ashes of this burnt work buried somewhere deep within the earth's bowel and to remain there undigested by any mind for centuries to come.

 

Or, to have it as the official portrait of the first Black president, I would plead for a wait for a more charitable time to put on display before an interpreter can go about unearthing the irksome symbolisms that some may find buried in Kahinde's official work on President Obama.

 

For now, it is still horrifying to think of the symbols that have already been found in this one work. And very apprehensive just to think of the minds out there that will seek to attack this portrait to destroy Obama's heritage.

 

A legacy overwhelmed with foliage; the official portrait is likely to be called.

 

The jungle takes back its own or the sixth finger aberration man?

 

Hopefully, there are charitable reviewers out there who can come up with interpretations more refreshing and as verdant as the thick foliage surrounding President Obama in his first official portrait.

 

If so, then these reviewers must go to work now – fast!

 

But before then, we still must ask  Kahinde why we needed to start Obama on this footing; or why make more controversial this highly historical figure whose image is already under various distortions of political nature?  

 

Whatever Kahide's purpose is, we must ask if this drive is all about artistic notoriety?

 

There are few personalities of our generation whom God, the creator, has made more opportune and historic; and, therefore, more symbolic by their very being or existence. And Obama is one of these critically, significant personalities.  

 

Obama, as the first Black African-American president, doesn’t own this pride alone. We share it equally with him.  Kehinde, therefore, has no right to distort this pride outright in artistic form.

 

Obama's official portrait should not be a mission for artistic experimentation!

 

The groundbreaking nature of Obama's presidency, the symbolism of which is already done, is what we ought to seek to burnish or preserve with this painting. The one such as Kahinde’s doesn’t arrive at this mark, much more to exceed it.

 

For an official portrait of Obama, a personality of providence, I would expect the image of the man to be more dominant, right at the center, with nothing else like foliage overwhelming the subject.

 

A minimalist background and a flawless execution of details, even if rendered a little in the abstract, is what would have been satisfying - for me. But the opposite is exactly what Kahinde has done.

 

So, to the next painter, I say, no more ridiculous distortions of historic figures for the sake of art, please!

 

E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC, February 13, 2018.

 

Permission to publish: Please feel free to publish or reproduce, with credits, unedited. If posted on a website, email a copy of the web page to publisher@ghanadot.com. Or don't publish at all.

 



 

 

 

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