Unruly spirits with wide eyes and dancing bodies: the shetani leap from Makonde ebony into a riot of colour.
George Lilanga (1934, Kikwetu, Tanzania - 2005, Dar es Salaam) is Tanzania's most internationally celebrated artist and one of the essential figures of contemporary African art. A member of the Makonde people, trained in ebony carving from an early age, he transformed the shetani, the unruly spirits of Makonde cosmology, into a two-dimensional universe of vividly coloured, dancing, caricatural figures, moving across painting on masonite, goatskin, batik, etching and sculpture. His encounter with the Tingatinga school gave his palette its brilliance; his wit gave African everyday life its sharpest mirror. Exhibited from "Africa Remix" to "African Art Now" and "100% Africa", he influenced artists including Keith Haring. His works are held in the Jean Pigozzi Contemporary African Art Collection and the Hamburg Mawingu Collection.