African guitars

S.E. Rogie (unfinished)
46" x 40"
oil on canvas, 2012

The biggest top 100 canvas of the year so far was supposed to have three musicians on it, all guitarists from Africa. S.E. Rogie (1926–1994) from Sierra Leone, Francis Bebey (1929–2001) from Cameroon, and Ilunga Patrice (rec. 1957) from the Congo. They were all on there, in various sizes, and in various places, laid out with white and pink chalk. S.E. Rogie was the only one that earned a permanent spot in the painting. For the second Francis Bebey song/painting I used a small piece of plywood, while I stretched a medium sized canvas for the Patrice painting to be. The S.E. Rogie song in the list is Please Go Easy With Me from the record Twist with the Morning Stars, the song was in the top 100 before some 25 years ago. It was the first Afro-pop record I ever bought. Francis Bebey's second song this year is called La Condition Masculine from a record with the same title. Next week more on Ilunga Patrice. By not putting the three together in one painting, the projected total number of paintings for the Top 100 2011 is back to one hundred (in stead of 98). Only 60 of them are done and I have just under two months to finish the last 40. Here's the the announcement for the Top 100 2011:

March 26–April 12, 2012, Swing Space Gallery, Columbus, Ohio. Reception and countdown: Monday 3/26/2012.

Francis Bebey
5.5" x 5.25"
oil on wood, 2012