Saturday, June 01, 2013

Liberian Art for Sale

We will be coming back to the States for our vacation in the next couple weeks.  Over the years Jamie and I have made a habit of purchasing paintings when we go on vacations to remember our trips.  When we got to Liberia we were able to connect with a couple of remarkable young men who support themselves through painting.  Below I have taken pictures of paintings by Sam Hwisedeh and Wilson Fallah.

Sam is a self taught artist who started painting in 2005.  His paintings are colorful depictions of Liberian life.  If you came to our house while we were back in the US in 2010-2011 you probably saw some of his work on our walls.  All of his paintings are listed below with the price and sizes.

After Sam's paintings the next 10 are Wilson Fallah's.  You can read a little about Wilson in this Washington Times article from a few years back.  As the article mentions, Wilson was one of Liberia's many child soldiers.  At the age of 9 he was conscripted into fighting in Liberia's bloody civil war that ended in 2003.  So many former child soldiers can be seen around Monrovia begging (and worse), still hooked on the drugs that their warlords fed them during the war. Not Wilson though, today Wilson is an energetic young man who has taken to painting as a means of supporting himself.  

If you are interested in any of these paintings please either comment below or send me an email at rustylaird at gmail.com.  We will bring back with us any paintings that people would like to purchase and all the funds below go directly to the artists.  If you are interested in a painting please let me know as soon as possible.  There is an art show at the US Embassy on June 8th so Wilson and Sam will probably have most of these paintings at the art show if they are not already spoken for and may be sold there.

Jazz - $200 5'x2.5'

Sisters in Unity - $200 5'x2.5'

Market Day - $250 5'x2.5'

Evening Meal - $150 3'x3'

Dan Mask - $50 2.5'x2'

Basket Maker - $50 1.5'x2'

My Sister & I - $50 1.5'x2'

Musical Couple - $50 1.5'x2'

To the Farm - $50 15"x21"

Night Fall - $50 15"x21"

Liberian Music - $50 1.5'x2'

Fruit Sellers - $50 1.5'x2'

Fetching Water - $50 1.5'x2' 

Fish Market - $50 1.5'x2'

Sande Dancers - $50 1.5'x2' (I didn't write down the sizes for these last 4 but I'm pretty sure they were about 1.5'x2')

Liberian Instrumentalist - $50 1.5'x2'

Sande Dancer #2 - $50 1.5'x2'

Sande Graduate - $50 1.5'x2'

Sam with some of his paintings



Below are Wilson's paintings.  They are all about 18"x24" and $30 each.