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| 'My Dream' by upcoming fine artists Happy Robert exhibited inside Mlimani City Mall last month in DSM |
The skin takes on different shades perfumed by
moods from the analysis of thought; I am looking at a painting by Happy Robert
titled ‘the dream’. It’s captivating though simple a portrait of a modern
African woman, this painting glides past cheesy with its realist tailored chaos
of acrylic on canvas.
This end of year new year season, there was a
riot of orchestrated colors inside one of the biggest shopping centers in Dar
es Salaam, namely Mlimani City Mall.
“The country still doesn’t give enough support
for fine artists; we don’t have enough galleries and or museums that regularly
allow fine artists to showcase their works to the public. We then thought to join forces, ‘14 artists +’ was established early last year as a band of more than 14 Tanzanian fine artists, ranging from veterans with over 25 years experience like Raza Mohammed to new comers like Happy Robert. We’ve been to Kenya and other parts of Africa, in these two days we’re bringing our artworks to a bigger Tanzanian audience. So far the response has been good, audiences are asking questions on how we do it, where they can find us, they are even commissioning for new artworks.”
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| mixed media on canvas the 'origami like birds' by Masoud Kibwana shown at Mlimani City Mall exhibited by 14 Artists + recently |
Lutengano Mwakisopile shares, as chairman of ‘14
Artists +’, which hosted this Art Fair that saw more than 10 artists from
Tanzania showcase their works.
Walking down the mid isle of the mall you’re
stopped mid stride, as you keep noticing scintillating pieces on canvas. Among
these was the origami like birds shown on canvas by Masoud Kibwana. This man’s
star has been rising, currently having showcased his works in the Comoros,
Seychelles, China, Kenya among others with artworks sold in the US through the
UN. I was taken by the painting of birds in this exhibit, they looked to be
flying out of the canvas.
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| Artwork by Muzu Sulemanji exhbited inside Mlimani City Mall recently |
His use of mixed media to include glue, canvas
paper, acrylics was very clever. The painting has great contrast nuanced
expertly in texture and color. https://www.masoudkibwanaarts.com/the-artist/ Talking with him he added “You know
much of our work don’t end up with the local market, as our citizens don’t have
the habit of seeing artworks in public spaces for appreciation analysis or
critique. This was becoming a challenge, so we saw it’s necessary to combat
this by trying to penetrate the local market...”
One can attest to his views as much of the local
fine art exhibitions in the city are held inside cultural foreign embassy
spaces, ensuring many of the consumers are foreign expatriates.
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| Painting by Evarist Chiakawe exhbited at Mlimani City this month under the '14 Artists +' exhibit in DSM |
It looks like 14 Artists + intention of reaching
more of Tanzania’s local audience was working as according to this Tanzanian
man, “It’s a strategic move; I can see how they will attract the attention of
millennials like me. Who often frequent M City and have never seen this. I am
amazed by the extensive use of color and detail in these paintings. Like this
one (pointing to a Vita Malulu), it looks like this guy hasn’t sold fish since
morning.” adds Stefan Mgina.
Another onlooker going about her business had
this to say “It’s exciting to see actually people very interested in these
paintings. I can see people thinking, mmmh maybe I can put this in the new
house I am moving into, I can see people thinking maybe if I move my furniture
this will dad a da. It’s always great to meet the artists themselves like the
legendary Raza Mohammed who I just bumped into.” Miss Tunu.
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| Realist paintings by Johnson Mnjindo exhibited inside Mlimani City Mall in DSM |
“It’s not like something we’re used to but art
has always been here in the country, we have incredible artists. It was a
coincidence for me to be here today, I normally don’t come to Mlimani City but
I’m glad to just pop up here and find this amazing art. I have a great passion
for art so I am very inspired we should encourage more of stuff like this… My
favorite has been an artwork done by Haji chilonga, it’s a painting of a lady
and a man called ‘zawadi’...” Brian Mushi another local onlooker shared his thoughts
on this exhibition.
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| Artwork by Haji Chilonga exhibited inside Mlimani City Mall under 14 artists +'recently |
It’s commendable that these artists are forging a
market on their own, still they’re challenges they should consider tackling
like ensuring gender balance. There was only one female fine artist in this
exhibit. Another challenge is the qualm of ‘artist becoming curator’, for
instance the pricing for these artworks averaged 600,000 Tshs, with a few in
the thousand dollar range.
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| 'Expectations' by Happy Robert exhibited inside Mlimani City Mall in DSM recently by '14 artists +' |
Now some paintings were underpriced and some
priced due to the name but not necessarily worthy in standard. You see if we
had competent curators and the sponsors behind the business of art exhibiting
properly incentivizing and critiquing these artists. Well perhaps we would have
seen a theme explored by all the artworks present, which would further aid the
audience in appreciating fine art by seeing a subject explored so diversely.
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| Painting by fine artist Thobias Minzi, \ mixed media on canvas with acrylic in his cubist realist style as shown at Mlimani City Mall recently |
Second we wouldn’t be met with the subtle but in
my opinion real tragedy of having great experienced fine artists, showcasing
artworks that are rushed or just short of the artists afore records. We also
may not have seen repetitive now glaring off points in some artworks with
tremendous effort given the scale of the paintings; a factor that a curator
could have stopped midway. Well overall this was a super showcase given the
circumstances, this exhibit was for two days 14th-15th Dec you can find out
more from the 14 artists + by visiting https://www.facebook.com/The-14-PLUS-1912055682360749/
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| A realist impressionist artwork by Moses Luhanga exhibited inside Mlimani City Mall recently Picha hizi ni za kazi za wasanii na vivyo zina hatimiliki ya wasanii wa kazi hizo kama zilivyoandkwa kwenye maelezo. ALl these photos are of artworks which are copyrighted |
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