VIEW IN MY ROOM
United Kingdom
Painting, Paper on Paper
Size: 11.7 W x 16.5 H x 0 D in
Ships in a Crate
‘‘Gold Leaf River’ is about the passage of time,’ says Diriye. ‘I lost my mother and many members of my family when I was young and it was a heartbreaking experience. But I wanted to focus on the silent stage between mourning and acceptance.’ In the painting, the Angel of Death is re-imagined as a benevolent afro-futuristic figure that watches over the dead as they float down a golden river. The background, which was created with denim dye, gold leaf, 3D paint and acrylics, symbolizes a utopian view of nature. ‘Technically it was the easiest painting to make,’ says Diriye. ‘It took two weeks but it encapsulates all the themes I’ve ever been interested in: mother figures, death, the use of aesthetics to mask trauma. It isn’t about whitewashing sorrow but looking at it from a different angle. Unfiltered pain is best left in a private journal. Distilled pain, however, can be an affecting form of public expression.’
Painting:Paper on Paper
Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork
Size:11.7 W x 16.5 H x 0 D in
Frame:Not Framed
Ready to Hang:Not applicable
Packaging:Ships in a Crate
Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.
Handling:Ships in a wooden crate for additional protection of heavy or oversized artworks. Crated works are subject to an $80 care and handling fee. Artists are responsible for packaging and adhering to Saatchi Art’s packaging guidelines.
Ships From:United Kingdom.
Customs:Shipments from United Kingdom may experience delays due to country's regulations for exporting valuable artworks.
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United Kingdom
THE GODDESS COMPLEX Culturally, Diriye Osman is Somali-British. Creatively, he's an artist-writer. Born in 1983 in Mogadishu, he was encouraged as a child to draw. When the civil war broke out in Somalia, Diriye and his family fled the country for Kenya. Traumatized by the experiences of war and immigration, the then eight-year-old Diriye found refuge in art. He would spend hours in solitude creating fairytale-like fantasies. These fantasies were influenced by Disney and Miyazaki filtered through the Vogue ideal: beautiful, alien-like sylphs with stylised physiques and catwalk stances. "˜It was only after I grew up that I realized that my entire creative life had always been about repression,' says Diriye. "˜I was a gay kid growing up in a society that had no tolerance for homosexuality. I sensed this hostility and it fed into my work. The women, who were goddess-like creatures, became the acceptable, alluring face of what was a dangerous transgression.' Even after coming to terms with his own sexuality and celebrating it in his fiction, Diriye didn't change his artistic subject matter. "˜Art is about compulsion,' he says. "˜These female characters are a huge part of my identity and I relish their strange beauty. As an artist, I hope there's enough mystery, detail and joie de vivre in this ongoing series for the casual observer and the seasoned aesthete.
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