Kateregga’s Art 18

Artist celebrates his maturity on canvas with a solo show reflecting on his past, present and future

ART | DOMINIC MUWANGUZI | Eighteen is the age of adulthood and artist Ismael Kateregga uses this as a metaphor for his maturity in the visual arts industry. The celebrated figurative artist whose forte is painting urban sceneries and waterscapes with the bustling life in these spaces, is celebrating his 18 years on the Uganda Contemporary art scene with a solo show Art 18 reflecting on the past, present and future of his career. Kateregga’s paintings in the show, depict his consistency in subject matter and elements of experimental processes that have defined his artistry over the years. It is through this ingenious approach to his work that his name has become fully etched in the local art industry as one of those to look out for on any given day.

The paintings on showcase provide an intriguing outlook to his creativity through the choice of media, subject matter and dimension. The artist has over the years worked with oils something that infuse his work with vibrancy and elegance. Equally, his subject matter and large or mid-sized canvases have not change. Yet in all this, the artist’s consistency on canvas is a bold statement to originality and self-confidence. He is not swayed by the new trends in the visual arts where artists create what is trending on the global art market. Otherwise, he’s firmly focused on what fulfills him inside as both artist and individual. As such, his production is largely inspired by his personal experiences and immediate surrounding. The scenes of landing sites like Kiyindi landing site with boats docked in the morning hours or the open markets on the road side, suggest his ardent love for work and how such toil contributes to the economic- social livelihood of the citizens.

A discerning observer will quickly notice a certain transition in his compositions. Here, the artist has re-visited some of the scenes captured on canvas yesterday as a gesture to emphasize his maturity. “It is difficult to paint the way I was painting several years ago. I have now evolved in the way I express myself on canvas,” he says. This evolution is particularly evident in the details he applies in his compositions for example while previously he painted the Kibuye Market mainly concentrating on the makeshift open stalls, in the presents the artist creates a dramatic atmosphere in the market scene by adding traders who’re a jostling for a day -to-day’s living. Similarly, the artist takes on a laser focus on the subject of the train that meanders through the partly vandalized rail way line. He suggests that the locomotive engine was introduced not necessarily a means of transport to ease movement from one destination to another, but as a tool for western civilization on the continent. As such, he argues, there’s a part of African heritage that was destroyed with the advent of this machine.

Equally, the artist takes a leap in his work by painting night sceneries captured in slummy neighbourhoods like Kibera Slums, one of the largest slums in the East African region. The novel undertaking depicted in Kibera Apartments at dusk is an experimentation of how tiny light illuminates such compacted settlements while at the same time, the artist figuratively explores the constraints of living in dingy abodes in the city. It is obvious such settlements have dismal access to public utilities like electricity and the tiny light peering through the small windows or narrow corridors of these shanty structures is a reflection of such scarcity that gnaws the social and economic wellbeing of the citizenry.

The exhibition Art 18 provides deeper conversations about Kateregga’s 18 years’ artistic journey on the Uganda contemporary art scene. His paintings have always offered a social economic commentary on the life of the urbanites and in this particular showcase, he makes attempts to shed more light on the topics he has always explored in his work. With this technique, he demonstrates his innate desire to use his art to communicate with his audience but also to prove his maturity on canvas.

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The exhibition Art 18 is showing in Mbuya plot 23 Ismael Road, Kampala until 18 December