Saturday, January 26, 2008

Affandi and his art (II)

Affandi was greatly influenced by Van Gogh in his work.
we can see the similarities through:
- Affandi’s use of rough brushstrokes which is similar to that of Van Gogh’s
- they both like to do self portraits which reveal their emotional state
- they both enjoy including strong emotions in their work
- they both drew realistically in the earlier part of their lives (potato-eaters by Van Gogh and mother by Affandi)
- they both concentrated on individual expressions
- they both used exaggerated colours which were unnatural
- their works usually have a raw form to it, unpolished areas and unfinished patches
- they both drew commoners, peasants and poor people from the lower hierarchy
- thy both pioneered unconventional techniques (Affandi pioneered mixing paint on the canvas with his bare hands, Van Gogh pioneered post impressionism)
- they both mixed colours directly on the canvas
- their brush strokes are bold and wavy
- they often did spontaneous painting where they drew the instant they had inspiration
the objectives of Affandi’s works were:
- to portray the daily suffering and events the poor have to go through
- he wanted to prove to the world that Indonesian art is just as modern as art from other countries, had strong visions of art in society
- to draw his family
- to portray emotions
- to satisfy the calling of his soul as he feels he needs to draw, just for the plain reason that he needs to
- he wanted to prove to his parents that, contrary to their belief, being an artist is not useless. This shows his determination
- he wants to show his feeling towards humanity, empathizes with the people
- relied on his observation and sensitivity to the people around him
- used recurring themes to emphasize his ideas (e.g. war, suffering)
- he wanted to remind the world that it was not a perfect world out there, but one filled with the harsh reality of life

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