Gasebalwe Seretse
6 November 2009
Art students from Molepolole College of Education (MCE) are currently displaying their artworks at the National Museum's Octagon Gallery in an exhibition dubbed Phualerole 7 Exhibition, 2009.
One of the things worth highlighting about the exhibition is that it features raw talent and given the quality of works on display, one can safely say that a number of the artists who took part have potential to go places.
According to the organisers of the exhibition, the college sees some aspiring artists enter the programme each year and observes their creative progress as they engage with different techniques and material over the three years of study.
It can be said that the students were all out to outdo one another in that they came up with some interesting concepts and approaches typical of professionals.
One of the artists, who is going to greatly impress visitors, is Moilwa Ratanang whose two untitled mix media pieces are simply exquisite.
Instead of going for the usual rectangular or square shapes, the painter went for an irregular shape infusing some 3D elements in his works. Both pieces have musical instruments and traditional settings as themes, making them even more pleasing to the eye. There is no doubt that Ratanang is going to be one of the leading local visual artist in the future.
Another piece worth checking out at the exhibition is Kehumile Mackenzie's mixed media Parental Love that features hands of a woman holding a child. This piece also has a 3D feel to it, making it one of the most outstanding artworks at the exhibition.
Both Mackenzie and Ratanang played with colour making their pieces breathtaking, but the latter leaned more towards earth colours.
Sculptor Charles Kakomee seems use his artworks to advocate for women's rights and highlight the fairer sex's positive contribution to society.
His metal piece Women on Top features a woman, whose head is interestingly made of a metal nut holding a metal placard. Is she an activist of some sort?
His other metal sculpture African Mother showcases a female figure pushing a loaded wheelbarrow, while on the other hand she has a bundle of firewood on her head. This work says much about the daily struggles of many African women who apart from mothering their children and doing wifely duties for their husbands are burdened with going an extra mile by slaving away in order to support their families.
Rosinah Motlotlegi's Cutting Edge of Modernity is also likely to draw attention because the artist went all out to make it a catchy piece. It depicts a couple of women wearing jeremane/leteise (German-print) dresses. Motlotlegi actually used patches of leteisi to create the 'dresses' in the painting making it a mixed media piece in the process.
Another student, Ipotseng Die, came up with a thought-provoking artwork called The Struggle Must Continue. While the mixed media piece is not a likely candidate for adorning the walls of art-lover's houses, there is no doubt that Die is creative and that he or she used the piece to relay a message about the ongoing struggle against HIV/AIDS.
Keletso Mpe's After Michelangelo will go down well with those art-lovers who go for artworks inspired by European artists. Barack Obama, the president of the United States of America also made his way into the gallery in a piece titled After The Struggle.
One can safely assume that with this piece, the artist, Gaofenngwe Samoyanara celebrates the struggle of the black people from being slaves to being leaders in different persuasion including Obama who is the first African-American US president.
One of the unique things about the Phualerole 7 exhibition is that there is a number of sculptures on display. Closely looking at some of the sculptures, one can assume that some of the students have been influenced by one of the art lecturers at the college, Abednico Sechaba, who is a reputable sculptor.
The sculptures are made of different media including wood, metal and ceramic. There are also a number of screen print pieces on display.
All-in-all, the gallery houses over a hundred pieces and there is no doubt that art-lovers are going to have enough pieces to feast their eyes on.
While most of the students are going to get into the teaching field at the end of their study, one can only hope that this will not distract their endeavour to explore their artistic talents and as one visitor from Europe observed, they did a splendid job and that there is potential for some of them to go international.
One of the challenges that our artists face is the fact that they are not properly marketed, which stand on their way of becoming international.
While the exhibition is impressive, it is disappointing that the works are not properly labelled, which is most certainly going to discourage potential buyers. This also makes it hard to review and critic their works, which is an integral part of any exhibition.
Although the organisers came up with a 'catalogue' (which sadly looks more like a pricelist) art-lovers still have to crosscheck numbers allotted to the pieces before they can know the name of the artist, the title of the artwork, their media used and the price. Currently, there are no catalogues available at the gallery, which means some visitors are going to leave without knowing some important details about the artworks.
The three-week exhibition ends November 22.
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