Awareness Post: Wangechi Mutu

Wangechi Mutu, born in 1972 in Nairobi, Kenya, is a Kenyan visual artist whose work encompass themes such as race, gender (femininity), art history, colonialism, and personal identity. She works with mixed media in many of her artworks. She mostly does sculpture, painting, and collage. She works with many different mediums and textures, such as ink, acrylic, and many different found objects, and sometimes uses mylar, X-ray paper, and bronze (for sculptures). Her work appears to be surrealist, and a lot of her work deals with women, distorted bodies and faces, and tentacle and nature-like shapes. Wangechi Mutu received her inspiration from African mythology, science fiction, and global pop culture. She has stated, with concern for Western commercialism, that a lot of her work reflects America's influence on contemporary African culture. Her works also commentate on the historical and ongoing exploitation of the female body as well as politics. Her work has been exhibited worldwide, and she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (BFA) from Cooper Union in 1996 and her Master of Fine Arts degree (MFA) from Yale University in 2000.

The reason why I chose this artist is not only because their work is gorgeous, but also because I love surrealism and surrealist horror! The distorting and modeling of her characters appeal to me.

Water Woman, 2017, bronze, 91 x 165 x 178 cm.

This statue is what made me interested in Wangechi, especially as I love statues of figures, for example Buddhist statues. The sculpture is beautiful and, though I am not someone who particularly wants to do sculpture, I love the figure and the power and elegance that emits from it. The fluidity and the face of the figure inspires me!

drip, drip, drip, 2017, ink, acrylic and collage on mylar, 246.4 x 99.1 cm.

Drunk Palm II, 2007, ink, paint, plant material and plastic on X-ray paper, 43.2 x 35.6 cm.

Both of these paintings of hers also stood out to me. Some of Wangechi's art looks like this; a surrealist style with gorgeous patterns and colors, giving an elegant yet mysterious feel. I absolutely LOVE the figures; I would like to play around with blob-like and tentacle shapes that correspond in a fascinating figure. I bring up the shapes because I typically play around with shapes and movement-based lines not only in my artwork, but also when I doodle for fun. Her use of paint in "drip, drip, drip, 2017" also looks fascinating, as the way she uses color looks almost like wart-ish bubbles.

Sources:

https://www.artnet.com/artists/wangechi-mutu/4

https://momaa.org/icons-african-art/wangechi-

mutu/#:~:text=Drawing%20inspiration%20from%20African%20mythology,the%20complexities%20of%20modern%20identity.