Longing to train in art from Africa

[sdembel]

The great Robert Henri, whose words in his magnum opus The Art Spirit ignited my own flames in opening up the African continent to the possibilities of interpreting the western style of picture-making, unfortunately, I lacked the opportunities to get a proper education in that style of art Bouguereau, Jean Léon-Gerome, Sargeant, Ilya Repin… all inspired me, both by the depth of their techniques, and the idea they were expressing.

Making art is hard. Like life, it requires tremendous passion and attention. It also requires solid relationships built on respect. the more admiration you have for your master, the more you are elevated into greatness. In my opinion, the revival of the atelier teaching method is only the beginning of the rebirth of art. Soon enough, the world will get rid of the impostors and liars that call themselves modern artists.

I still fail to explain, why I’m not an artist, even though most conditions were met for me to become one, I drew from an early age, my parents were supportive, and I received art supplies as a gift, yet, to this day, aged 32 years old, the only thing that resonates with me is a deep and immense frustration born out of my inabilities to clearly communicate my ideas and feelings.

I only recently started to understand why things turned out that way, and the obvious answer is a lack of training. I spent my whole life reading about art, but very little time doing art which led to this disastrous situation, as Da Vinci once said “The supreme misfortune is when theory outstrips performance”, there is really no place for theory in an artist training.

Most of my peers, here in my country, in Senegal, fake it. They go onto adopting the Dada style of art, doing abstract art, just because they lack the skills and artistic vision to make proper art. I consider most contemporary artists to be impostor and liar, they ignore that Picasso could draw as well as Michelangelo at age 12, I think an artist should make creative decisions based on choice, and not because he lacks fundamentals skills.

“There is no pleasure in this world without skill.” — Alan Watts, Philosopher

Skill is the foundation by which we bridge our understanding of things. Without it, there is no way of comprehending our craft and therefore no way of achieving clarity or expressing our vision at its fullest creative potential.

skills-based training in realist art is what brought tears to my eye when I discovered your online school a few years ago, i even managed to subscribe for a while.

I’m often reminded by Vincent Van Gogh story that everything is possible if you work hard enough, despite his lack of talent, he relentlessly worked at learning to draw and paint, even going through the Bargue drawing course three times in his life, he was a real source of inspiration into pursuing a serious art training.

Fortunately for me, discovering the academy found me in the doing, being jobless at the moment, I draw on average 15 hours a day, following the deliberate practice method, getting used to doing the exact same thing for hours without getting bored, like drawing a straight line, or circles, and completing the Bargue plate in sequential order using the sight-size method.

My ultimate dream is to make the best of what the west has to offer in art and bring it to my country where pictorial art is almost nonexistent, I’m sure my peoples have great stories to tell. Even more, than being an artist myself, my aim is to be a teacher. I want to learn to paint as realistically as possible, without making any judgment about my subjects.

This way I will be able to teach people the skills and leave to them the choice of what they want to express.

I really hope through this essay to have proven the fact, that if given the chance, I plead to become an ambassador of the ideas promoted by New Masters Academy, to fully support the mission of spreading representational art in the world, especially in Africa, to train with the utmost rigor, to respect my teachers, and dedicate all my time and brainpower to improving while aware that progress will be incremental and slow.

I would like to apply for a scholarship as the cost of training is way too expensive for me, given my conditions, being an artist is the last chance I have to make a great impact on the world, and I really hope you help me get a scholarship, in the light of the recent events in the US, it been made clear that black people of the world need their voice to be heard, I hope in the future to spearhead those ideas through the revival of classical art and it’s diffusion in Africa, where African’s have never been given the chance to tell their story pictorially, I believe we need to take the best of what the west has to offer, and painting is one those treasure.

Cordially.

Hussein Dembel Sow

An aspiring artist from Senegal, West-Africa

[Birgith Schei]

Good luck

[sdembel]

Some of my work

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by sdembel.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by sdembel.

[MargrietAssink]

Good luck with your art. You work so hard and passionately on your dream. I wish you the best.

[Author]

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