TINGATINGA ART

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Tingatinga Art is a unique style of painting which is commonly known as airport art. People will not see this type of African art anywhere else in the world. Tingatinga is a painting style that developed in the second half of the 20th century in the Oyster Bay area in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and later spread to most East Africa. Tingatinga paintings are one of the most widely represented forms of tourist oriented art in Tanzania, Kenya and neighboring countries. The genre is named after its founder, Tanzanian painter Edward Said Tingatinga. He was born in 1932 in a Namochelia village Eduardo Saidi Tingatinga was a self taught painter, with only 4 years of primary school education. He was just starting to receive recognition for his square board-paintings, when his life was cut short in 1972; he was mistaken for a fleeing thief and fatally shot by the police. Before he died he started to attracted young followers wanting to imitate his style. Today Tingatinga thrives. You will never see massed produced Tingatinga Art. Traditional Tingatinga African Art can be described as folk art or abstract art. Often painting the Maasai in their bright colored cloth. African artwork is truly a unique style of painting. No two paintings will ever be the same. Tingatinga paintings are traditionally made on Masonite, using several layers of bicycle paint, which makes for brilliant and highly saturated colors. Many elements of the style are related to requirements of the tourist-oriented market; for example, the paintings are usually small so they can be easily transported, and subjects are intended to appeal to the Europeans and Americans .In this sense, Tingatinga paintings can be considered a form of airport art. The drawings themselves can be described as both naïve and caricatural, and humor and sarcasm are often explicit. From the very first painting, Tingatinga art has used strong colors and simplified figures with distinguished contours. Over the years, however, the style has developed, becoming more elaborate and featuring several figures in each work.