African Contemporary Paintings And Their Meaning

African art has always favored abstraction over natural representation. This is because many African artworks generalize visually and represent the ideal rather than the actual representation. When compared to the ancient Egyptian artworks, (also usually thought of as naturalistic and very depictive), we find that they however made use of regimented visual ideals, especially found in the paintings and the use of different colors to represent the characteristic qualities of the person being illustrated, and not the same type of abstraction of the African works. Typically a smaller part of an African design will look similar to a larger area. This has been referred to as "scalable point art" More recently it has also been known in terms of fractal geometry and some have even been compared to the early fractals of Pollock. The human figure has been a key influential subject for almost all African art, and even influencing early European traditions. In the fourteenth century Portugal traded with the Sapi culture near the Ivory Coast, detailed ivory carvings that are hybrids of the European andAfrican of the time have been found, They are seen in the shape of the human figure(which did not appear before in Portuguese saltcellars). Though one might tend to generalize it as a "traditional" African art, the African continent is diversely populated with different civilizations, societies, and cultures, each and every one having their unique art forms through the ages. The very definition of African Art therefore includes the art of the African Diasporas, such as the early art of the African Americans originating from west Africa. Despite this diversity and time span, there are many unifying aspects of note when considering the totality of this visual culture. Human figures are seen symbolizing both the living and the dead, they represent chieftains, dancers, and numerous types such as hunters and mystics. They may even be the representation of the God like or have some other supernatural purpose. Another common theme is the combining of the concept of human and animal. The 3 dimensionality of traditional African sculptures is the fact that much of it is crafted for use solely in performance contexts, rather than in static ones. Masks and costumes may often are used for ceremonial purposes. The societies in Africa have names for their own masks, and our single name "Mask" incorporates all, the meanings behind the mask and the dances always have a native design associated and often embrace the spirits that reside within as well. In the African psyche, these cannot be differentiated and they belong together as one.

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