The Robbery Revival (Matthew 21:13)
Huile · 2018 566 vues
Fait par un humain
O. Yemi Tubi certifie avoir créé cette œuvre à la main, sans image générée par intelligence artificielle.
“It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’[a] but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’[b]” Matt. 21:13 O. Yemi Tubi had spoken about African colonial masters robbing African people through their evil practices. This painting is about African religious leaders holding up and robbing African people using the Holy Bible as their weapons of armed robbery. Hence the painting is titled "The Robbery Revival.” Africans are very religious and they are devoted to God Almighty. They have strong belief that God is the solution to every problem and this strong belief makes them a prey to false religious leaders, both men and women. These "Archbishop U. K. Sterling and Rev. (Mrs) Easy Money are using the Bible to rob my fellow Africans of their God-given resources. Africans longing to be free from poverty, will do anything and this leads some of them to the den of ferocious blood-sucking prosperity preachers. Our Lord Jesus Christ while physically on earth didn't collect money from His followers. He fed them freely and healed them freely. Many missionaries left Europe and America to win souls for God around the world. David Livingstone’s cry was "Lord, give me the souls of Africans" He served God and African people and died in Africa. The modern day prosperity preachers are not after the souls of Africans; they are after the wealth of Africans. They are not soul winners but cash winners. At the background of the painting is a banner which is one of the mediums that prosperity preachers use to advertise their business. In it the artist uses the currencies of some nations to name these prosperity preachers. In the middle ground are their preys and in the foreground is one of the prosperity preachers and the Tithe Box. The artist puts a bandit’s mask on the face of the property preacher for two reasons. First to show him as a robber that he is really is and second, to show that he puts on the mask of “The man of God” to hide who he is really what the Holy Bible says he is - “A wolf in the sheep cloth” The artist of this painting is a Christian. The aim of the artist is to admonish people not to follow fake men and women of God. They should read the Bible to know the truth and the truth will set them free.
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
