Page 88 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 23

Art & Culture
Painting by Wanyama Ogutu
n admirable car in
the showroom draws
Aattention, but it serves
no purpose if it is on display.
Even though it is attractive
and perfectly constructed with
tonnes of gold and silver, it
stalls at the car yard. I learned
from a mechanic that a good
car has a perfect engine.
The mechanic ensures that
the vehicle’s qualities are
considered in the assembly
process. An engine comprises
fitting pistons and is clothed
with attractive tonnes of metal.
The car will not move if the
right axle is placed in a socket
88 | we tell the true afrikan story
without space, reducing it to
motionless tonnes of metal.
However, for the vehicle to
move, the axle and socket in
the engine must shake to allow
the movement of the tonnes of
metal. The mechanic details
how the pistons of the engine
knock, open the cylinder, and
move on the axle in the engine
socket, leading to the motion of
the lifeless tonnes of metal.
A perfect design is well
executed by adequately
considering the elements and
principles of art and design.
A critical examination of the
design displays an excellent
and attractive design in the
eyes of the viewer; however,
design critics have complained
that such designs tend to be
static and restless. The analogy
of a car is an excellent example
of a perfect but lifeless design.
Old masters such as Jan
Vermeer, Peter Paul Rubens,
and Rembrandt van Rijn
understood the analogy of the
design of a good car. If you
examine the masters’ painting
designs, they are perfect and,
at the same time, eye-catching
to the admirers in galleries and
exhibition halls at prestigious