Michael Armitage’s paintings weave multiple narratives that are drawn from historical and current news media, internet gossip, and his own ongoing recollections of Kenya, his country of birth. Living and working between London and Nairobi, Armitage paints with oil on Lubugo, a traditional bark cloth from Uganda, which is beaten over a period of days creating a natural material which when stretched taut has occasional holes and coarse indents. As noted by the artist, the use of Lubugo is at once an attempt to locate and destabilise the subject of his paintings.
In our lecture, the artist also explained that he would find various intriguing materials in markets – this included a cloth that was being sold as a coaster, however, it felt very much like a canvas so the artist used it in that way. Throughout the lecture, I have noticed that the artist will adapt to any material he chooses to work with.
When he explained his process when working with Lubugo, he explained that the pokers and holes within the material were incorporated within the paintings.
The main area that interested me when the artist was talking about his practice was the ability to adapt to a particular material and admiring their uniqueness. I feel as though this is very relevant for me within this unit as I too am experimenting with new objects and materials – seeing how I can work with them to create something new. This lecture will be carried throughout this project and hopefully I can experiment using some of the same techniques the artist shared.
My surreal world 