Art collecting supports art

ART | DOMINIC MUWANGUZI | Art cannot exist without money. This makes art buyers and collectors vital components of an art industry because of their consistent purchase of art. Art collectors will determine the price of art because of their demand of a particular type of art or artist. The business of art buying also creates a local patronage for art, especially if the buyers are home-based. Local patronage, definitely leads to local ownership of art produced and consequently this leads to preservation of a community’s cultural heritage.

Ugandan art collectors are professionals in different sectors including lawyers, bankers, academics and businessmen. In the past decade, there has been a surge in the buying of art because of an increased number of artists on the local art scene, an influx of art galleries and organizations opening around Kampala, heightened exposure to the global art market and last but not least, political stability.

Some of the known art collectors in Uganda include, Tio Stephen Kauma, Barbara Barungi, Abu Mukasa, Linda Umutesi, Winnie Byanyima, Kaddu Sebunya, Ambassador Wasswa Birigwa and William Kalema. These either purchase art directly from artists (from their own studios) or deal with art galleries like Afriart gallery, Makerere Art gallery and Umoja Art gallery. There’re also individuals who purchase commissioned art works from artists.

Most collected artists include Fabian Mpagi, Joseph Ntesibe, Ian Mwesiga, Mona Taha, Prof. George Kyeyune, Lilian Nabulime, Ismael Kateregga and Xenson Ssekaaba

Why they collect art

Passion and investment influence art collecting by many individuals and organizations. For Sebunya who has a huge collection of Fabian Mpagi, Dr. Kizito Maria Kasule, Ismael Kateregga and Maria Naita works, he says that his purchase of art is driven by the passion to preserve Uganda’s cultural heritage. As an emphasis to his support to the industry, Sebunya always spares time off his busy schedule to visit artists’ studios and galleries around Kampala in search of something unique and intimate. It is also an opportunity for him to interact with artists.

But while some collectors may purchase art as a gesture to cultural conservation, others purchase to invest their money. Many such collectors are business people who perceive art buying as a lucrative investment that will give them attractive dividends in the long run. The target market for such holdings is usually the secondary market like art auctions where the resale value is often enormously high.

Myths and hurdles in art collecting

The stereotype attached to art as a preserve of the rich and elite by many Ugandans has influenced the numbers of Ugandans buying art. This label partly holds some truth, especially since in the past, the biggest patronage of Ugandan art were white expatriates who worked at foreign missions and popular galleries like Tulifanya and Gallery Café where run by the Mzungu. This inevitably influenced many artists to make art targeting this type of audience because they dictated what type of art sold and what did not. More so, the pricing of art in dollars in galleries continues to create a perception among a certain section of the public that art is exclusively for rich people.

A visit to the art galleries around Kampala attests to this trend as art pieces are labeled with prices in US Dollars. A first-time visitor to these spaces will probably think the art is sold only to those who can afford foreign currencies and not those who trade in shillings.

The absence of an art museum or gallery that holds a permanent exhibit of the art collector (s) collection, affects also the discipline of art collecting. A permanent exhibition serves the purpose of documenting the art collected over a period of time and establishing the whereabouts of a particular artist’s work.

A Museum of Art

Art organizations in Uganda have the mandate to spearhead this cultural initiative to promote the art industry to international standards. The project can be funded by art collectors in a bid to create a national archive for Ugadan art. Working with a particular curator eases the job and makes the work accessible to a larger audience of art scholars, international art collectors and critics

A similar idea was executed with the Joseph Murumbi art collection that was donated to the Nairobi National gallery in the early 2000s. The collection now famously known as Murumbi African Heritage Collections, is a national treasure to Kenya and the art fraternity on the continent.

Murumbi the first Vice- President of Kenya during the post- colonial government had amassed a large collection of Pan-African artifacts during his travel to different African countries. Afraid that his collection would go to waste, his family working with international curator, Allan Donovan, secured a permanent space for it in the national gallery.

An emerging middle-class in Uganda with a disposable income and international exposure to the art industry and market will provide solution to this vacuum of art collecting and the necessary infrastructure mentioned above. Once this happens, a vibrant art scene will be registered. A gap in preserving and documenting local art will be bridged leading to better pricing of art and ownership of the industry by Ugandans.

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This article first appeared in Startjournal.org but has been updated by the writer to respond to the current trends on the local art scene. Ntensibe painting courtesy of Startjournal.org