The Sunday News
Tafadzwa Gwetai
“Traditional African Religions” have been extremely influential on African art forms across the continent. African art often stems from the themes of religious symbolism, functionalism and utilitarianism, and many pieces of art are created for spiritual rather than purely creative purposes.
Many African cultures emphasise the importance of ancestors as intermediaries between the living, the gods, and the supreme creator.
Art is seen as a way to contact the spirits of ancestors. Art may also be used to depict gods, and is valued for its functional purposes.
However, it is important to note that the arrival of both Christianity and Islam have also greatly influenced art of the African continent, and traditions of both have been integrated within in the beliefs and artwork of traditional African religion.
A significant body of African art could be said to represent the theme of power while others were simply created to show off the wealth of some of Africa’s royal dynasties or represent marked epochs with certain rulers. Aside from rock art, sculpture, and masks, art forms like beadwork and textiles have played important roles in Africa’s collective arts. Masks are important elements in the art of many peoples, along with human figures, often highly stylised.
Stories, emotions, and feelings are also communicated through art. Art may seek to bring about a particular emotion or mood, for the purpose of relaxing or entertaining the viewer. This is often the function of the art industries such as motion pictures, theatre, spoken word and dance.
The origins of African art lie long before recorded history. African rock art and surviving cave paintings give us the opportunity to observe what “their” purpose and meanings were. In these modern times we are faced with an even greater challenge where “art can be anything”. Conceptual art in these contemporary times has given rise to a whole unending and unlimited number of ideas and forms that we call “Art”. We find ourselves asking “what is art?”.
The question arises as a result of what people have declared to be “fine art”, “true art”, “authentic art” versus what is merely for show and driven by monetary gain, fame and fortune or driven by Eurocentric markets. This is a debate that occasionally arises from within the art circles where artists can question the validity of another artist or artist creation.
The question then is what is Art? Art is a highly diverse range of human activities engaged in creating visual, auditory, or performed events, artworks/ publications that express the author’s imaginative or technical skill, and are intended to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power. Art has the intention of either arousing emotion or instilling a state of thought or idea in the viewer.
The oldest documented forms of art are visual arts, which include images or objects in fields like painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, and other visual media. Architecture is often included as one of the visual arts. Art may be characterised in terms of mimicry (its representation of reality), expression, communication of emotion, or other qualities. Though the definition of what constitutes art is disputed and has changed over time, general descriptions centre on the idea of imaginative or technical skill stemming from human agency and creation. Formalism is a concept in art theory in which an artwork’s artistic value is determined solely by its form, or how it is made. Formalism evaluates works on a purely visual level, considering medium and compositional elements as opposed to any reference to realism, context, or content.
A fundamental purpose common to most art forms is the underlying intention to appeal to, and connect with, human emotion. However, the term is incredibly broad and is broken up into numerous sub-categories that lead to utilitarian, decorative, therapeutic, communicative, and intellectual ends. In its broadest form, art may be considered an exploration of the human condition, or a product of the human experience.
The decorative arts add aesthetic and design values to everyday objects, such as a glass or a chair, transforming them from a mere utilitarian object to something aesthetically beautiful. Entire schools of thought exist based on the concepts of design theory intended for the physical world.
Art can function therapeutically as well, an idea that is explored in art therapy. While definitions and practices vary, art therapy is generally understood as a form of therapy that uses art media as its primary mode of communication.
Zimbabwean artists continue to make their mark both locally and internationally.
The vision is to experience the power of their work at home as much as they are appreciated and experienced abroad. Historically, the fine arts were meant to appeal to the human intellect, though currently there are no true boundaries. Typically, fine art movements have reacted to each other both intellectually and aesthetically throughout the ages. With the introduction of conceptual art and postmodern theory, practically anything can be termed art. In general terms, the fine arts represent an exploration of the human condition and the attempt to experience a deeper understanding of life.
