This is not Home
Push Home to go Home
Press Cow to come here
Brandt Maina | RIOA wa RIOE, Dream with the Brontosauruses ( Sept 2022), No. 2/ 24 from "Prophetic Charcoal Dreams" (September 2022)
12 x 16 in
charcoal, oil and chalk pastel, ink on paper
Remember to forget
The goblin godling
Sprite
Sharper than McDonald’s
Ey Aye
Ey Aye
Oh, Wait
What did he do to the toe?
Okay, I’m done being hurt
I’m moving on
I am Hugging myself
Brandt Maina | RIOA wa RIOE, Untiled Sketch III, from The Birth of the Sun from the River ( Summer 2021),
8.5 x 5.5 in
graphite on paper
Perhaps, there’s a conversation today about primitivism
No, no, no
NOOOOOO!
*growls with the anger of several non-western continents
Discard that racist notion your Eurocentic art teacher taught you
You clown, you clown
The art of Black and Brown people could never be lesser
Come along, bestie, let’s unpack
WE ARE DIVINING
REFINING AND DIFINING
Primitivism
As an embrace of the simplicity the Inner Child
Primitivism
As a return to playing as Our most Nothing self
A baby
A bright little Light
Before the Knowledge of God and Evil
All that was left in our minds was our new born awareness
A baby
A living idea eager to fight playfully against the Chaos of Being
That’s what we do right
We answer the invitation
Yes Yes Yes
We pop into Life
And before we can handle thought…
They place a pencil into our minds and command,
Draw
“Tell us about yourself, Little One”
Primitivism
The brilliance of bathing into the Present moment with a fresh breath
*inhales slowly, exhales thereafter
*inhales more slowly, exhales thereafter
Brandt Maina | RIOA wa RIOE, whomst, from i tried to offer my Light but Sunless Darkness Sells ( June 21, 2021 11:02pm),
8 x 10 in
digital photograph
Blooming a concept we always knew we always knew
RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW
YOU ARE, WE ARE
I AM I AM
I AM, I AM
Primitivism
The toy of Unbridled Joy unbundled into a goy
Non-specific Scribbles of Expression
Storytelling abstracted by new born limbs
That said gOy btw
Primitivism
You’ve seen it before
Remember to forget
A toddler with a crayon
You used to draw yourself
You used to draw yourself
Over and over, squiggles with more meaning than less
Brandt Maina | RIOA wa RIOE, detail from Dream with the Brontosauruses ( Sept 2022), No. 2/ 24 from "Prophetic Charcoal Dreams" (September 2022)
12 x 16 in
charcoal, oil and chalk pastel, ink on paper
Primitivism
The Freedom you always knew you always knew
Chubby fingers staggering over colors, drunk with the desire to coerce lines into shape
Begging nubile neurons to form something out of Nothing
Retelling the story of how you came to Be Here
I AM HOME
Primitivism
A baby tells us Nothing and Everything all at the same time
Primitivism
As the broken child inside of you
As the broken child inside of me too
We grieve our loss of Eden by remembering to forget
All we ever wished to Be
I AM, I AM
Delighting in the Light of my Life
Giddy and gay
A child
Brandt Maina | RIOA wa RIOE, To Birth a Sunbetty, Protect Her in Pastel Purple ( Sept 2022), from "Sunberries, Moon Bluebs, and the Life and Death of Pastel Purple" (Summer 2021)
8.5 x 5.5 in
oil pastel on paper
We grieve our loss of Eden
A nude descending Her Mother’s Temple
We journey into Life
Primitivism
As a recollection of Valiant Tales and the Alliance against The Returning Night
Primitivism
Entropy is a comrade passed down genetically and extruded through thighs, sides
“Let there Be…”
Brandt Maina | RIOA wa RIOE, detail from Dream with the Brontosauruses ( Sept 2022), No. 2/ 24 from "Prophetic Charcoal Dreams" (September 2022)
12 x 16 in
charcoal, oil and chalk pastel, ink on paper
Primitivism
Oh, come on, remember to forget
Remember when We were there
Before there was
No One, No One
Nothing
And out of the fresh of your Father
Something
I AM, I AM
A squiggle with more meaning than less
Over and over
The greatest finesse: the crevice caress of human consciousness
Stick two fingers in
Remember to forget
You always knew you always knew
YOU ARE, YOU ARE
I AM, I AM
HERE
Brandt Maina | RIOA wa RIOE, breath plate, from The Birth of the Sun from the River ( Summer 2021),
8.5 x 5.5 in
oil pastel on paper
I was there before I came
I was here before, before…
I AM, I AM
The Light Before Time
Lift
Lift
Land
I AM HERE
Squiggling and diddling
I AM HOME
Primitivism We Enjoyed Simplicity Before They Taught It Out Of Us
Discard the Knowledge of God and Evil
Embrace Goof
We have come to play
Words are dom-b
“It is Good”
Primitivism
We had more fun when we babbled and rolled on our bums
“It all makes sense to me” we thought
A pudgy rolls polly
I AM HERE
I AM HERE
RIGHT HERE
RIGHT NOW
I AM HOME
Reach back into your memories
The cold moon dipped into sure-fire
An eclipse which reminds us of Our First Shadow
Whence once you came
Born out of Nothing
Remember to forget
The first time they placed you under the Sun
The skin at the edge of your kin babbling “Mommy”
And the Abyss of her Chaos, honest as No One can be,
“Listen to your heart guide you,” she said, “It whispers.” [3]
Brandt Maina | RIOA wa RIOE, detail from Little Foot, from The Birth of the Sun from the River ( Summer 2021),
8.5 x 5.5 in
oil pastel on paper
Primitivism
As the bravery of inviting Beauty into Life
Knitting Light within our body
And blessing it with it’s own unique unique…
Every child deserves to be as freely loved as love can be
And as for me…
Abstract and Absurd
A little more sense than less
A joyful, jubilant life-long quest
his Sword is Light
I AM HEALING MY INNER CHILD
while He Dreams with the Brontosauruses
He said “RAWR”
No reason, no rhyme
Smile like a little child
Just chuckle and laugh
You deserve to
Brandt Maina | RIOA wa RIOE, detail from Dream with the Brontosauruses ( Sept 2022), No. 2/ 24 from "Prophetic Charcoal Dreams" (September 2022)
12 x 16 in
charcoal, oil and chalk pastel, ink on paper
——————
The new Jurassic Park movie is propaganda
All prop art is Popu-ler…lar
Plop, an apple
The Newtonian plot thickens
The Wizened Kenyan of the West
Aye, Ye
Aye, Ye
No One cares for the worm within
I AM No One
RAWR
This is not Home
Push Home to go Home
Press Cow to come here
Remember to forget
Primitivism
Joy
The purest form of play
Brandt Maina | RIOA wa RIOE, i luh him so much, from Healing my Inner Child ( October 19, 2021 5:06pm),
3024 x 4032
digital photograph
"What we see before us is just one tiny part of the world. We get in the habit of thinking, this is the world, but that's not true at all. The real world is a much darker and deeper place than this, and much of it is occupied by jellyfish and things." - Haruki Murakami
Referees
Creation: A RIOA CURATION: Black Non-figurative Abstract Expressionists
Curated Selections from this incredible database: https://www.archives.gov/research/african-art