Alexander "Skunder" Boghossian, (Ethiopian, 1937-2003)

Juju Celebrates 30 1/8 x 22 1/16in (76.5 x 56cm) unframed, with remnant of old frame attached to top edge.

Juju Celebrates
signed and dated 'SKUNDER 64' (lower right)
acrylic on board
30 1/8 x 22 1/16in (76.5 x 56cm)
unframed, with remnant of old frame attached to top edge.

Provenance
The collection of the artist's family.

In 1964, Skunder Boghossian had his first solo exhibition at the Galerie Lambert in Paris and his friend Solomon Deressa who also lived in Paris during this time reported that the Paris critics were almost unanimous in their positive appraisal. His works from 1964 (JuJu's Night Flight of Dread and Delight, JuJu's Wedding, JuJu's Wedding Feast and JuJu Celebrates) not only invoked his ancestral spirits but also asserted his difference. While JuJu's Night Flight of Dread and Delight depicted the prominence of creation and destruction, JuJu's Wedding, JuJu's Wedding Feast and JuJu Celebrates portray Skunder's early experimentations with the 'magical scrolls.' Certainly, the most critical element of the scroll which also prevails in the iconographies of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the representation of the impressive gazing eye, as is seen in the image, which are captivating as they are deceptive.

Clearly, the viewer unconditionally submits to their gaze. The miracles of the Virgin Mary (Ta'amere Maryam), a legendary narrative of the Virgin Mary's miracles is often painted on a whole wall in one side of the Ethiopian Orthodox church.

JuJu Celebrates observes this piety as a central feature while embodying the Virgin Mary in a most remarkable illustration of West African spirituality. Fascinatingly too, the interlacing of lines and textures that symbolizes the Ethiopian scrolls, which depict the struggles between good and evil is also juxtaposed on the West African iconography that embodies the Virgin Mary. Skunder's fundamental respect for the ancestral powers were prevalent in his works because he saw their significance, whether it was the Virgin Mary or the West African JuJu, as the ultimate bearers of justice.

We are grateful to Professor Elizabeth Giorgis for her compilation of the above footnote.