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Writer's pictureBrandt Maina

What is Primitivism: An Aesthetic Definition of a Divine Movement


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











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