The Bleeding Roses
Oil · 2014 568 views
Made by a human
O. Yemi Tubi certifies having made this artwork by hand, with no AI-generated imagery.
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I was horrified to see pictures of mutilated bodies of Christians killed because for their faith on television screen and online. It is even more sickening to see pictures of Christians literally nailed to crosses. Islamic State terrorist executed and crucified Christians in Iraq and Syria. Seen Churches being blowing up in Egypt, Kenya, Northern Nigeria and Christians being the victims of Pakistan abuse of blasphemy laws; Pastors and Church leaders are the target for kidnapping by South American guerrilla fighters and Church leaders jailed in Iran and China for their faith make me see Christians like roses growing in the midst of the thorns that is why this painting is titled The Bleeding Roses. Unlike many of renaissance paintings of Crucifixion, I chose to paint the body of Christ (the Church) as roses. I painted Roses in rainbow colours as persecution of Christians cut across every race. St Paul’s Cathedral among the buildings in the background is most noticeably Christian building in London the city where the painting was made. Pope Francis was included in the painting as the head of the persecuted church. In the foreground right side of the painting is an African King representing part of Africa where Christians are being persecuted. On the left side are an Indonesian woman and a Syrian woman praying for freedom of worship for Christians in their countries. This painting was done in oil paints. I love working with oil because it does not dry quickly and makes it easy for me to amend any error in the painting. I first sketched the image of the Christ on the cross on paper. I drew Christ head, hands and feet as roses; I drew rose stems and woven them together to form the human shape on the cross.
Like some of the old art masters Delacroix and Goya that spoke about social and political upheavals of their time in their works, O. Yemi uses some of his paintings to express himself about on-going political and social issues around the world. “A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art” so said Paul Cezanne; O. Yemi was deeply moved by the horrors of wars and the plight of immigrants drowning in the sea to pick up his brushes again. His first political painting was “ARAB REVOLUTION” influenced by Arab Spring that started in 2012. “THE EAGLE HAS LANDED” was done to speak about American led war on terror. His painting -“KABIYESI OBA OBAMA (Unquestionable King Obama)” was a political satire based on the love and hate relationship between President Obama and Donald Trump. “THE BLEEDING ROSE” was done in solidarity with Christians beheaded by ISIS in Iraq and Syria. “Hunger in the Land of Plenty” and “OIL: AFRICANS’ WEALTH and WOE” were about poverty and exploitation of African people. He also used his painting – “UKRINE: THE UNFORTUNATE BRIDE” to speak about how America and Russia influenced the war in Ukraine. “THE FISHERS OF MEN” was about immigrants drowning in the sea. When O. Yemi works on portrait paintings, he desires his portrait paintings to be uniquely creative. He often uses the paintings to tell stories about his subjects. In one of his commissioned paintings “Josanne of Trinidad”, he blended the images of the parents at the top background cloud and the main subject below the images of her parents. This is to indicate that the parents are in heaven looking down on Josanne. He often uses his subjects’ professions to create their paintings. He used artist materials to create his painting “PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST” and image of violin for the portrait of “THE VIOLINIST” He used books and flowing letters to create the portrait of Professor Wole Soyinka, 1986 Nobel Prize Winner in Literature in painting “SOYINKA: AN AFRICAN LITERARY ICON” O. Yemi has widely exhibited his works around the world in group and solo exhibitions. His works had featured in exhibitions in Bogota, Colombia; Vancouver, Canada; UN exhibition, Milan, Italy; Tokyo, Japan; USA and in many cities across the United Kingdom. O. Yemi has received many awards for his works across the world; his works have also been published in many art magazines and contemporary arts books. He is a member of the Fine Art America, the Society of All Artists, AERA –the Association Embracing Realistic Art and WCA- World Citizen Artists. O. Yemi paintings and awards can be seen on his website: www.o-yemi-tubi.pixels.com
