Uganda

_{Posted on Monday 30-7-2007}

One on one with Ronex Ahimbisibwe
By AfricanColours



_{Ronex Ahimbisibwe}

_{Visionary painter, printmaker and sculpture.  With controversial thoughts on women’s rights, what is erotic and who supports African Art in Uganda.  He terms his work “Contemporary Indigenous Art”, bypassing the Tradional v. Modernity and Western v. Eastern art debate, but in doing so, Ronex presents new topics for deliberation.} 

_{AC. Please introduce yourself}

_{RA. I am called RONEX AHIMBISIBWE and use Ronex as my artist name.  I am a sculpture, painter and printmaker and use a variety of materials because each material has its own quality and effects and thus its limiting if I stuck to one material.}

_{At first I thought I would live on sculptures but over the year’s people prefer my paintings to the sculptures.  But I love my sculptures more and still have most of my sculptures. I have moved from wood carving to casting bronze and brass and - people are attracted to them.}

_{In sculpture I use the materials, wood, - bronze, brass, aluminum, steel, clay and fiber glass.}

_{Sculpture takes time and requires a lot of patience. I sculpt in the day and paint at night, art is not just a profession to me but also my refugee and comfort, without it I seem lost - it’s the only thing I do to express my self.}

_{AC. Describe your paintings, what is your technique in applying the paint to canvas?}

_{RA. My paintings are a combination of printmaking techniques and sculptures so I term my paintings “SCULPRI”.  I mainly paint with a roller used in printmaking and if you look closely my paintings look like low sculpture reliefs.}

_{In painting I prefer acrylics more to oil because they are user friendly. They dry faster helping me to add more layers after layers - this is my way of working.  Painting is more flexible and I try to do what I can’t do with sculpture.}

_{Art as a whole is challenging but I love challenges because they make life worth living.}

_{AC. Your work is very edgy, urban and modern.  Each portrait and image seems to be looking out at the viewer, they also seem questioning and in some cases angry. Where does this come from?}

_{RA. What inspires me mainly - has been the cave paintings and the effect weather has created on them over time this is an effect I have desired in my works.  To achieve that effect is a reason why I start with a black background and use a roller to apply paint.  This is due to experimentation over years and provides more possibilities.}

_{The image looking at the viewer is more revealing than someone’s profile. A face never lies; one can tell a lot by critically looking at ones face .I want the viewer to get involved with my works, the viewer to be moved; be tempted to touch and more.}

_{Some of the faces are angry this is due to my frustration about life, love and relationships.}

_{We living in a chaotic world thus there is nothing to be happy about.}

_{This may also indicate something about you, the viewer - if you see a sad face as happy or vice versa.} 

_{AC. In one piece of sculpture on the AfricanColours site there is a couple in profile but while the man has a complete body, the woman has only head, half arms and breasts.  It has an aesthetically it is very beautiful but also is it possibly a commentary on modern relationships or women?}

_{RA. I have too much respect for woman maybe it’s due to many sacrifices my mother had to endure for our sake, her children and as an artist 99 % support and appreciation come from women and I feel obliged to represent them in my creations.  Showing their roles in our societies and the unfairness they have suffered in the name of our cultures.}

_{But more importantly for women in Uganda and Africa as a whole to raise up their standards in society mainly depends entirely upon them.  Women need to be proud of their sex -not see it as a curse and stop depending on men for anything.  Try harder to accomplish for themselves.  That’s how men will treat them as a people who came to find refugee in a man’s home and do a favor to him and mother his children.}

_{Today’s Ugandan man needs a challenging woman, with ideals and goals in life, the relationship should be symbiotic not parasitic and then women will get the respect they deserve.  On the brighter side more women are getting educated and fighting their way to the top and their voices are being heard and if they tried harder- women who are regarded as a weaker sex will be history.}

_{AC. How of you represent nudity and the human body in your work?}

_{RA. Some think my sculptures are erotic but they are simply nude. Nudity deals with appreciating our own physical beauty with no other attachments.  A woman’s body represents fertility in Ugandan perceptive so I think it shouldn’t be ignored but noted as characteristic of a modern society.}

_{It can also symbolize the desire to stay youthful and sometime represent lust which leads to death.}

_{The only question I ask myself is why is it okay to look at a woman’s face but when it comes to other parts of the body it is considered erotic?  I think the face is the most detailed part of the human figure, the most erotic. In my artwork, I treat all parts the same, no part to me is private or whatever I see them as a total summing up to a form that inspires me the most.  It maybe what people see as eroticism is my desire for moral justification?} 

_{AC. Is your vision of art for yourself or for others?}

_{RA. As an artist I try to visualize my perceptions and try to bridge them with the real world.  So my works shows what I love to see not what people desire to see or expect me to do.} 

_{I can describe my works as a research to the unknown – trying to find my own capabilities. I don’t want to be limited by what I know because in the first place - how did I get to know what I know.}

_{My technique in painting started from scratch which am perfecting till to date, so it has nothing to do with peoples tastes.  People are always looking for something different and this to a larger extent stretches ones imagination but this has nothing to do with their tastes.}

_{AC. How do you describe your creative inspiration?}

_{RA. For my painting and prints - what inspired me was the time I was staying in one of the slums Kalerwe in Kampala.  The chaos, the drama, people’s way of life, cracks which inspired me to make scribbles in my works and the earthy palate in my works is got from these unplanned and dirty shelters.  If you look closely to my works, they are chaotic but as a whole they look clear and organized, my desire is to create that mystery like the way most people wonder how people survive in a slum, so I try to create order in chaos.}

_{Also what inspires me is -- women, love them or hate them - you can’t ignore them.}

_{No wonder most men hide their lust in the name of polygamy; imagine seeing some better than the one you have - what would you do.}

<sub>I hate polygamy because it’s unfair to women that’s why I prefer seeing and appreciating and transform what I have seen into my works.

AC. How has your work evolved over the years?</sub>

_{RA. My works are becoming simpler and more emphasis is on technique, color and composition.}

_{AC. Describe your art training?  Did you study formally or are you self-taught?}

_{RA. I graduated at the school of industrial and fine arts, Makerere University in 2001 with Hon {BIFA} Bachelor of industrial and fine arts, Second upper class [ been practicing art since then]}

_{AC. What are the challenges and benefits of being an artist?  In Uganda?  In Africa?}

_{RA. First, the best thing of being artist is—there is nothing so priceless than being the first to see something. We may be the authors of what we do but we are honored to be the first to see our creations before anyone else and surprise ourselves in the process.}

_{One starts with an idea but can’t always tell the outcome, and we have the right to show it or not.}

_{Artists are the true ambassadors a country can have. The majority of the people who appreciate and buy our art works are tourists and expatriates. Art works act as souvenirs which remind of the country they visited and in an art piece is like taking part of the country’s spirit.  An artist is inspired by his culture, what surrounds him plus his\her perceptions and dreams or illusions.  An art piece engulfs all that, thus exporting and promoting our cultures to other Countries.}

_{IN Uganda a group of artists created a group called, Index Mashariki, it was started by 5 artists in 2003 referring to our wish to a revival of INDigenous artistic EXpression in the Eastern Regions [= mashariki] of Africa.}

_{In brief with a three fold mission:}

_{1. Reach out to the local public}

_{2. Synergize efforts to rethink, revive and modernize African visual art}

_{3. Co-operate with production and marketing of art products}

_{AC. Can the Internet be a viable marketplace for Contemporary African Art?} 

_{RA. I thought about that and that’s why I thought it was important to have a website, my site is called:  ronexart.com.  This way people have access to my works anytime especially those who can’t access my studio or the gallery that represents me in Uganda.}

_{AC. Is contemporary art encouraged in Uganda?  Africa?}

_{RA. The government cares less about the arts and ordinary Ugandans have other worries than think about contemporary art or not.  Realistically an average Ugandan cannot afford our works, the fact is- art isn’t a basic need and they can do without, its people who have extra to spend that they think that their walls are empty. The people I know always ask me, paint me something or give me a painting for free I know you are talented you will paint others. Such statements are weakening but I end up giving free painting to Ugandans for one reason-at least my works stay home on Ugandan walls.}

_{That’s one the reasons why we had to start a group called index mashariki to show the role of art to the society and its contributions through conducting workshops, mainly with street kids and orphans and giving back to society.   We have worked with Sanyu Babies home, AIDCHILD, former street kids housed at corner stone, Nzinunura omunaku primary school in Kyebado and charity projects in Ssese Island and individually I worked individually with acid victims giving 50% of each sale exhibition held at Sheraton hotel in 2004.}

_{AC. Where do you stand on contemporary v. 'traditional' art in Africa?}

_{RA. I term my works = contemporary indigenous}

_{AC. Is art for art sake an African or Western philosophy?  Does it matter?}

_{RA. To me what is more important is - the role of art and artists.  People develop philosophies and will try hard to support them whether right or wrong. Like the way critics created “isms” trying to place some artists some where.  Some artists are termed abstract artists while to them they feel they are realist.  What people see as abstract – to the artist in question it is real to him the only difference he might use symbols - so is he a realistic artist or an abstract artist?}

_{AC. Have you made your best work yet?}

_{RA. Each year I have my favorites.}

_{AC. If you have any other comments please add here:}

_{RA. When one talks of African art - one’s mind runs to West Africa because there is less documentation on arts of other regions in Africa. At AfricanColors.net you can help create awareness of art especially in East Africa which has been greatly neglected.}

<sub>Great works are being created in this region but with no documentation.  This is where AfricanColours comes in for example making art books on this region, catalogues and planning exhibitions at least once a year and having African artists representing each country on the continent. This would create more awareness on what is African Art not the definition biased on one region.



View RONEX AHIMBISIBWE's portfolio

To comment on this article click here</sub>