Self Identity 1: Affandi

Affandi, Self-Portrait, 1975, oil on canvas

1. Describe this painting.

The artwork is a self-portrait of Affandi. In this artwork, Affandi is depicted as an elderly man with a head of thinning and unkempt hair. His eyes are downcast and has a set of broken teeth. The painting is mostly abstract, one can vaguely make out Affandi's facial features, probably to capture his emotion rather than his facial features. Warm, primary colours such as red, yellow and orange are used to paint his face while cool colours like green are used for the background and the lower part of the painting. The contrast of the warm, vibrant colours against a cool colour background helps to draw emphasis to his face as well as to create depth in the painting. Paint is applied directly from the tube onto the canvas, creating thick, swirly and wavy lines.

2. How does the artist create movement in this artwork?

By applying paint directly from the tube onto the canvas, Affandi creates directional and dynamic lines that help to create movement in his artwork. The wavy lines in his artwork creates a rhythmic movement, showing his personality as well as the expressive freedom of Affandi.

3. What is your interpretation of this artwork and why? (use the artwork and the artist's history as supporting evidence).

With his thinning head of hair, broken teeth and downcast eyes, all of which are signs of aging, Affandi still grins widely despite it all. The use of strong, vibrant and bright colours illustrates his emotional state, that Affandi is still young at heart and full of vitality even though he may be physicall growing old. Through this artwork, Affandi is trying to show how the mortality of growing old is not important, but it is the confidence and passion that the artist exudes through his artworks that is the most important.