Michael Armitage (b. 1984, Nairobi)

Mydas

2019, oil on lubugo bark cloth, 220 x 170 cm. 

Photo by White Cube. Courtesy of the artist and White Cube. ©Michael Armitage.

The subject of this painting is an African King Midas, a mythical figure from the 8th century poet Ovid’s famous epic, Metamorphoses, a collection of fantastical stories which have inspired many artists over the centuries. Midas was a king who prays to the gods that everything he touches will turn to gold. When his wish is granted, and he realises it is in fact a curse because even the food he picks up turns to gold, the king begs for the spell to be broken. 

Even if Midas has become shorthand for greed, Armitage feels that “he’s probably one of the most hopeful figures in the whole book”. He sets his own Mydas in Northern Kenya, an area which often experiences terrible drought and where day-to-day life is very difficult.  Here, he says, “you could almost imagine somebody trying to give up everything for a solution—no matter how complicated and problematic…” 

Armitage shows us the moment in Ovid’s story where the king, having been told he’ll get what he wants if he bathes in wine, is having the alcohol poured over him from a giant cup. In the background we see a dusty landscape by night, with ghostly figures sitting helplessly on the ground while cheetahs prowl. 

Applying the paint in layers, Armitage scrapes, revises and repaints his compositions, contrasting the rich colours of this context with the harsh realities of the life of many Kenyans. This creates beautiful but nightmarish images which, like Goya’s, blend the everyday with the absurd.