The Chickens' Fight
Oil · 2017 529 views
Made by a human
O. Yemi Tubi certifies having made this artwork by hand, with no AI-generated imagery.
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"He will settle disputes among great nations. They will hammer their swords into ploughs and their spears into pruning knives. Nations will never again go to war, never prepare for battle again." Isaiah 2:4(GNB) This painting was influenced by the exchange of missiles of words between the president of USA, Donald Trump and North Korea’s president Kim Jong Un. Since World War II, America and Russia have been dancing around each other and shadow-boxing each other; too chicken to attack each other, they influence wars in other nations by being on the opposing sides of the conflict causing death and destruction. North Korea now enters the ring; frantically testing and trying their long range nuclear missiles to reach American cities. In the boxing ring, are three chickens painted with the flags of America, North Korea and Russia with nuclear missiles on their backs exchanging missiles of words. Within the boxing ring is the iconic Syrian boy dug out of the rubble of his house; too numbed to cry. He represents the many victims of wars influenced by the so called Super powers. Waiting on the ropes are two vultures with Kalashnikov rifles representing Islamic State terrorists. Islamic State terrorists are not strong enough to bring down a government. They are only scavenging on the nations that have already been destroyed by the super powers as they did in Iraq, Libya, and Syria. In the background of this painting, is the iCAN banner; “No More War” to commemorate the Nobel Peace Prize that was awarded to iCAN in 2017. The dream of the artist, of this painting is that there will be no more wars. That the nations will no longer rise up against each other and that the weapons of war will be turned to agricultural equipments.
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
