Time Cycle III

Time Cycle III
1981
Embossed bark cloth
122 x 122 cm. (48 x 48 in.)
Lent by Contemporary African Art Gallery, New York

During a trip to Uganda, Skunder collected bark that was used locally for burial. He worked the bark into a somber, totemic composition, one that derives its strength as much from the beauty of the materialĖs natural hues and textures as from the mysterious forms with which he endows it. One senses a profound narrative about the grandness of Mother Nature complete with volcanoes, lava flows and mountain formations (Solomon Deressa, "Skunder in Context", Ethiopian Bir, January/February 1997, p. 27). The artistĖs ongoing fascination with the cosmological is here given an abstract, lyrical form.