A Painted Book of Life, Time and Feelings Lincoln Mwangi
Peaceful veils, crying veils, happy veils, tired veils, still veils, pleasant veils, scared veils, indecisive veils, absorbed veils… not faces, just veils…
Using detailed black-and-white female figures painted in oil and charcoal characterizes Lincoln’s work. Focusing his interest in the action of the daily life narratives, he covers the faces of his characters to imbue them just with feelings and emotions.
Lincoln’s interest goes beyond history, seeking to explore the untold micro-histories. It is almost a thoughtful exercise of contemplation. This exhibition includes a body of work that assembles altogether as storytelling, creating a narrative of existentialism. Through the correlations between different archetypes, the drama comes from the subtle tensions inside the cycles of life, and the unconscious feelings that arise from them.
Lincoln’s body of work is drenched in pure symbolism; the characters and elements in the paintings do not have an identity. They are but archetypes that embody the fundamental characteristics of a concept representing many of them. We have human, animals, plants, food and color characters, acting as metaphors that embody multiple concepts. All these elements together form a personal code that gives hints to many interpretations. Lincoln masterfully creates his language through painting, colors, and symbolism. All of this makes this original exhibition an endless painted book of life, time, and feelings.
The inspiration for painting emotions came to Lincoln after watching some videos of waterboarded torture, it fascinated him that he could not see the identity of the person being tortured, but could still see, through the veil, a range of emotions. Lincoln is also deeply inspired by the symbolism of the Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, and the capacity to compress complex actions in a few characters as in the paintings of the Belgian artist Jan van Eyck.
The drama lives in the life cycles, in the dualities, the day and the night, the light and the shadows, the sun and the moon. It is also present in the time, in the silence, in the indecision, in the sacrifice, in the transitions, in the constant changes. Sometimes we are not aware of it. It is an unconscious discomfort or pleasure. There are many possibilities, many principles, many resolutions, some impossible choices, and multiple ends.
Media Coverage
The Chaotic energy of Nairobi’s Artworld
ArtReview 2021
Media Coverage
Visual vocabulary translates into striking solo art show Business Daily 2021