他们以卖画为生

                               --Tinga Tinga艺术合作社区

◎文/图 龙世界

 

欢迎来到Tinga Tinga艺术合作社区。

 

Tinga Tinga的创始人叫Edward Saidi Tingatinga，他1937年出生于坦桑尼亚南部一个农民家庭。1953年来到了达市找工作，一直在建筑工地上做力工的零活，直到1961年。当扎伊尔艺术家把带有西方风格的画不费力的卖给旅游者赚钱，这给了他非常深刻的印象，所以他也决定尝试要做一个油漆画家。刚开始的时候，他没有能力来购买画画所用的东西，他用*自行车油里的渣滓在别人扔的天花板上画画，用拣来的旧刷子在家里画画。不管这是一个多么没有希望的开始，但他很快发展成为一种新的并且独特的艺术风格。他的色彩、画布上画满了奇妙的动物和鸟，原始部落手舞足蹈的人们以及乡村生活。  

Tinga Tinga painting began with Edward Saidi Tingatinga, who was born in 1937 to a family of subsistence farmers in southern Tanzania. In 1953 he traveled to Dar-es-Salaam in search of work and labored at odd jobs in the construction industry until 1961. Impressed by the ease with which western style paintings by Zairian artists sold to tourists he decided to try his hand as a painter. Since he could not afford to purchase art supplies, he began with scavenged materials, painting on discarded ceiling boards using dregs of bicycle enamel, household paint and old paintbrushes. Despite this unpromising beginning, he quickly developed a new and unique artistic style. His colorful, crowded paintings depicted fantastic animals and birds, dancing tribe people and scenes of village life.

 

这草棚子是社区“付费食堂”。 

 

左侧红房顶下面、后面绿房顶里面，是社区艺术家们创作的摇篮。 

 

红房顶下的艺术家们，大家可以看到，画布就是用墙边上放着的木框撑起来。

 

已经画好的作品，挂在社区食堂的外墙上展示。

 

他没有经过正规的学习，但这却让他更简单、更直接的用最接近原始的方法来表现自然的东西，他缺少细节，但他却表现了丰富的生活、运用了独特的创意和色彩。 

His lack of formal training led to a simple, direct and naive approach to natural subjects, lacking in nuance and detail but bursting with exuberant life, whimsy and color.

 

Tinga Tinga的主创阵地。其中里面有一个叫Charinda的，最为有名。

 

门口怪异的图画。

 

Tingatinga的画卖很好，他开始让家里人也照着画。他的早期作品都是在一个平面的背景下表现一个二维的动物。每一幅画都和一个传说或者和Tingatinga的马库阿部落文化有关。虽然他表现的是乡村生活，但画面又很显然的呈现出一种城市风格，因为这种画法发展于达市街头，它的构思并不是一个人情感的表达，而是做为一种赚钱的方法。由于画所表现的都是愉悦的主题，Tingatinga的艺术被广大的旅游者们作为浪漫的非洲生活而持有。 

The paintings sold well and Tingatinga recruited members of his family to copy them. Early Tingatinga paintings show flat, two-dimensional animals painted against a plain background. Each is related to a legend or saying from Tingatinga's Makua tribal culture. Though the subject matter is rural, the painting is a distinctly urban art form, evolved on the streets of Dar-es-Salaam and conceived not as a means of personal expression_r, but as a method of earning money. With its cheerful subject matter, Tingatinga's art was calculated to appeal to the romantic notions of African life held by tourists.

 

俺好友Dr. Li，身后那个穿黄衣服的就是Charinda了，他收藏了N幅他的画。

 

画室内另一部分创作区。

 

作品展示。左面架子上是用木头刻的鸟，然后涂上油漆，作工比较粗糙。

 

我面前摆的盘子应该是铁的，里面画的也是油漆画。这样的东西用火烤了之后，是不是就是我们中国的搪瓷制品了呢？

 

1972年，在他艺术萌芽阶段的中期，在一次事件中由于一个警察认错了人，开抢把Tingatinga打死了。他在达市的这些作画的伙伴们，用他的名字组成了Tinga Tinga合作社区。他的画风，成为了从达市和桑岛来的油漆画家们学习的榜样。 

In 1972, in the midst of a burgeoning artistic career, Edward Tingatinga was shot dead by police in a case of mistaken identity. His fellow artists in Dar formed the Tinga Tinga cooperative in his name, and the style he originated became a school of painting for artists from Dar and Zanzibar.

 

院子中间的架子上，正在晾晒“油漆未干”的画。 

 

看着那图案一样的画，突然觉得他们这样整天的Copy，跟机器一样。哪里有那么多的艺术创作，这依然就是他们吃饭的行当。

 

和门口那张画是一个创意。

 

今天，工作在达市和桑岛的艺术家们，他们忠诚的延续着Tinga Tinga的大动物和鸟的主题。并且桑岛的艺术家们在传统的基础上，增加了鱼、猴子、椰子树、音乐原素和人。画布主要以薄棉布和帆布为主，有许多支持传统的人画画依然只用*自行车油里的渣滓。这些画在许多国家都很流行，比如日本、瑞典、丹麦、瑞士和美国。 

Today, the Tinga Tinga artists working in Dar and Zanzibar produce paintings faithful to the generic Tinga Tinga themes of big game and birds. Zanzibar artists have influenced traditional Tinga Tinga themes, adding fish, monkeys, coconut palms, musical instruments and people. Current Tinga Tinga artists paint on stretched muslin and canvas. Many uphold the tradition of painting only with bicycle enamel. The paintings are popular in Japan, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland as well as the USA.

 

我很喜欢这幅“马塞人”。  

 

2009年4月4日于达市