Barkcloth panel c. 1930

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textile

african-art

organic

textile

abstraction

natural texture

mixed medium

organic texture

Dimensions 23 3/4 × 11 1/4 in. (60.33 × 28.58 cm)

This barkcloth panel, made by the Mbuti people, has these incredible dark lines that feel like they've emerged slowly. You can almost feel the artist making the drawing in a state of openness, responding to the material as they go. I imagine the artist thinking about how the lines play against the ground, not quite representational, not quite abstract, but somewhere in between. I wonder if they were thinking about the way the lines create depth and movement on the surface. It’s easy to imagine how the material would push back. Like, what if I draw here? And then here? Responding to the pull, and give of the material. There’s an intimacy to this piece, a connection to process, to place. It’s like a conversation between the artist, the material, and the world around them. The artist’s voice, through the work, opens up a space for us to respond.

Comments

minneapolisinstituteofart over 1 year ago

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Mbuti men collect pieces of the inner layer of tree bark, soak them in water, and pound them until they are thin and pliable. Mbuti women then use twigs or their fingers to decorate these canvases with intricate designs that show repetitions of a single element or various groups of motifs. The Mbuti people live in the Ituri rainforest in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and the abstract imagery in their art expresses the shapes and motions of their natural environment. The barkcloth paintings can be seen as maps of the forest, invoking trails and webs, insects and animals, leaves and shelters. Yet these visual compositions also refer to the language of Mbuti music, characterized by syncope, free improvisation, and polyrhythm. As such, the painted barkcloths become graphic soundscapes, rendering a multitude of sonic events in conjunction with silence, captured by the paintings’ negative space.