Mandela Birthday Art

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — With giant portraits of Nelson Mandela and colorful posters, South African artists are celebrating the 95th birthday Thursday of the anti-apartheid leader, who remains hospitalized although his condition has improved . . .

In this Monday, July 15, 2013 file photo, South African artist John Adams works on a giant acrylic-on-canvas painting of Nelson Mandela in the driveway of his house in a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)




FILE - In this Tuesday, July 16, 2013 file photo, South African artist Paul Blomkamp explains the meaning behind the giant acrylic-on-canvas painting he has made of former South African President Nelson Mandela, at his studio in Johannesburg, South Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)




In this Saturday, June 29, 2013 file photo, a child looks at paintings of President Barack Obama, right, and former South African President Nelson Mandela, left, outside the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where Nelson Mandela is being treated in Pretoria, South Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)




In this Tuesday, July 9, 2013 file photo, artist Stallone paints a portrait of former South African President Nelson Mandela at a shopping mall near Nelson Mandela Square in Johannesburg, South Africa..(AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)




In this Saturday, June 29, 2013 file photo, visitors observe a sculpture depicting former South African President Nelson Mandela, by artist Marco Cianfanelli, near Howick in South Africa, where Mandela was arrested in 1962 and subsequently jailed for 27 years. (AP Photo)




Well-wishers carry a large banner of Nelson Mandela as they march up and down outside the gates of the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where former South African President Nelson Mandela is being treated in Pretoria, South Africa Thursday, July 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)




A child passes a container bearing a portrait of former president Nelson Mandela set up to collect books for underprivileged children, at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, July 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Masixole Feni)


more pics: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/artists-celebrate-mandela-paintings-0