The Ethiopian P1
An experiment of bringing to life the ancient Church drawing of Ethiopian which are known to have renounced the illusion of volume, depth and perspective.
Background
The iconography forms and principles of presentation in traditional Ethiopian church art were kept and passed from generation to generation. Painters knew how to draw in a flat style - not deceptive neither illusive, direct, objective and without a background and using only black, white, and the colors yellow, green, red and blue. At the height of its stylistic perfection, Ethiopian art renounced the illusion of volume, depth and perspective. The paintings were “conceptual” and composed of a series of image-signs according to spiritual considerations. These image-signs, arranged on a flat surface, are meant to give the impression of an idea or a narration. Human figures, the apotheosis of Ethiopian art, are characterized by non-realistic head and body proportions and usually static poses.
Within these paintings a human face had three forms; two-thirds, frontal and profile, and each format symbolized different concepts and personality. The saints were painted in reversal gaze so as to hypnotize the onlooker, which also used what is known as the frontal technique. To avoid the reversal gaze and to depict sinful and devilish people, the painters used the profile technique by drawing only one eye. Source
