Wande George: The Awakening

Wande George’s painting, “The Awakening,” , we see a slender figure painted in all white, standing motionless and surrounded by other slender figures painted in colors that complement the environment around them. Uniquely, every figure but the center of attention faces a direction to either side of the canvas. Our center of attraction is facing the audience.

In this painting, George modishly employs this dissimilitude to allude to the figure realizing the banality of life and the world around it. Using bright, striking colors, George tells us that within this absurdity called existence, there is a purpose to discarding ignorance and setting yourself out to see things for what they indeed are. At its core, “The Awakening” is a human piece. A call for self-reflection and freedom from
the bondage of living just because.