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By Funke Osae- Brown
Goodluck Janes work at the Circle Art Gallery in Nairobi from When Fabric Becomes Language, was held between January 18 to 22 2021.
The feeling you get from it is not loud or showy. In this picture, we can see a woman holding a glass of wine, her eyes are closed while her chin is resting on her hand.
She appears to be thinking. This image is not trying to sell you something, it is simply an honest moment captured by an artist. The artists’ classification of this work as a drawing is quite interesting.
The term “drawing” does not do justice to the craft, the surface of the drawing well worked on, treated with an obsession that the artist has for this material or medium. Line after line is drawn not just to create the form of the figure it also to create an atmosphere, a form of rhythm that can only be visually appreciated.
The patterned background behind the figure looks like it is a part of the visual language of the drawing. The fabric, is wrapped around the figure in a way that tells us about her. The drawing is speaking to us through the fabric, it is telling us where the figure comes from without actually explaining it to people who do not know what to look for. Janes drawing is using the fabric to create a kind of visual language that is unique.
The woman’s jewellery, those coloured beads matches the wine in her glass and the warmth of her skin. This is not art that fights against things, it does not make arguments.
The woman’s jewellery and the wine in her glass is the point of attraction for the viewer, it is how the viewer is called in and attention is sustained. The coloured beads and the wine play a role here. Jane thinks about how the woman’s jewellery and the wine, in her glass they work together to create a feeling.
The woman in the picture does not have any trauma showing, there is no lesson that the picture is trying to teach us. The woman is not posing for us to like her. The woman is lost in her own thoughts. Her eyes are closed, this picture of the woman does not need us to look at it to be complete. That is called confidence. The woman in the picture has power. The power of the woman, in the picture is what makes it special. The picture of the woman is strong because it does not need our approval.
This drawing understands something many contemporary works forget—that beauty is not the enemy of seriousness. Beauty is how seriousness gets remembered. And in Jane’s hands, it’s also how autonomy looks when it’s finally at ease with itself.
