Contemplating dreams and the ideal vs reality
Friday January 25 2019
Artwork by Ronex Ahimbisibwe. PHOTO | BAMUTURAKI MUSINGUZI
Ugandan artist Ronex Ahimbisibwe has created new multimedia artworks about his interpretation of dreams, contradictions, possibilities, thoughts and the ideal versus reality at the exhibition titled Contemplation.
The exhibition is on at the Afriart Gallery on 7th Street, Industrial Area in Kampala.
Ronex’s works include mixed media on board, canvas and bark cloth, aluminium cuts and cast, cast iron and hardened paper. It opened on January 11 and will run up to February 28.
One of the paintings is a young boy holding an AK47 gun, with a mathematical set in his trouser pocket. “Most child soldiers are forced to hold guns and trained to kill... meaning they miss their childhood and innocence, or miss a foundation that is vital when they grow up,” Ronex says. “The art work shows two scenes…one that he was forced into and one he wished he was participating in.”
Empty Pockets depicts a mother feeding her child, next to a pair of trousers with empty pockets. “In this capitalist economy,” Ronex says, “the main reason for divorce is financial. This was inspired by the Luganda phrase atayina sente tafumita lidazi (he who does not have money can’t eat a doughnut).”
Contemplation 2 shows a Catholic nun at prayer, with a rosary hanging from the right hand corner of the piece. Ronex says this installation poses the question: What if God were Muslim?
Contemplation 8 carries a caution: “Potholes ahead.” Ronex says the sign post should be adopted by the Kampala Capital City Authority.
Born in 1977 in Mbarara district in western Uganda, Ronex’s artworks include paintings, sculptures, woodcut prints, digital art, photography, furniture and mixed media installations.
Ronex graduated from the Margaret Trowel School of Fine Art at Makerere University in 2001, and has been working in Kampala since 2012.
He has held solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group shows in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Egypt, Germany, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Norway, Bulgaria, Belgium, England, Slovenia and Australia.