Revisiting culture with Mukiibi
Sep 30, 2004
ENOCH Mukiibi may not be your typical lively character, but his first solo exhibition, which opened last week at the Uganda German Cultural Society in Ntinda, reveals an interesting side to this self-taught visual artist.
By Stephen Ssenkaaba
ENOCH Mukiibi may not be your typical lively character, but his first solo exhibition, which opened last week at the Uganda German Cultural Society in Ntinda, reveals an interesting side to this self-taught visual artist.
Better known for his “defiant†approach and larger than life paintings, Mukiibi’s work this time round stretches the viewer’s imagination further than the canvas.
Mukiibi warmly embraces life with his expressive images, flirts with colour and manipulates forms in a way that brings life to his paintings. His huge oil on canvas paintings create an enormous sense of presence and a dominance that is hard to ignore.
Such is the enormity of most of Mukiibi’s paintings that it could easily take away one’s attention from every other detail.
His palate is hefty, presenting a cocktail of different colours and themes. With symbolic images, Mukiibi’s paintings cry out loud for the African culture.
He uses human forms to praise and pamper the African woman in a way that enhances her social position; even though society has always looked down upon her.
“They are the mothers, they are the caretakers at home; they are every thing,†he insists.
Yellow in Mukiibi’s work is not just any colour, but a representation of life itself; a sign for a brighter tomorrow and reason for Africa to rise up to its massive potential and rich heritage.
He uses the African pot to symbolise the delicate African culture you and I have always neglected.
His work may lack the peace and quiet that reigns the surrounding of his studio in wandegeya but that more than anything else strengthens his repertoire.
In a style so free and unconventional, Mukiibi vents out all his passion and pride without spearing the canvas. He then varies his thick glazes of oil paint with violent and screaming shades of paint that create a contrasting effect on the canvas.
His glass-framed print enjoy the tranquillity, illumination and protection of the mirror, in which they appear. With a receding effect, the framed images tend to shy away from the human eye. The subtle browns, blues and reds that caress the paper surface on which they sit create warmth and a sense of relaxation.
Its not just the prints that are relaxing, his entire work is.
Ends
ENOCH Mukiibi may not be your typical lively character, but his first solo exhibition, which opened last week at the Uganda German Cultural Society in Ntinda, reveals an interesting side to this self-taught visual artist.
Better known for his “defiant†approach and larger than life paintings, Mukiibi’s work this time round stretches the viewer’s imagination further than the canvas.
Mukiibi warmly embraces life with his expressive images, flirts with colour and manipulates forms in a way that brings life to his paintings. His huge oil on canvas paintings create an enormous sense of presence and a dominance that is hard to ignore.
Such is the enormity of most of Mukiibi’s paintings that it could easily take away one’s attention from every other detail.
His palate is hefty, presenting a cocktail of different colours and themes. With symbolic images, Mukiibi’s paintings cry out loud for the African culture.
He uses human forms to praise and pamper the African woman in a way that enhances her social position; even though society has always looked down upon her.
“They are the mothers, they are the caretakers at home; they are every thing,†he insists.
Yellow in Mukiibi’s work is not just any colour, but a representation of life itself; a sign for a brighter tomorrow and reason for Africa to rise up to its massive potential and rich heritage.
He uses the African pot to symbolise the delicate African culture you and I have always neglected.
His work may lack the peace and quiet that reigns the surrounding of his studio in wandegeya but that more than anything else strengthens his repertoire.
In a style so free and unconventional, Mukiibi vents out all his passion and pride without spearing the canvas. He then varies his thick glazes of oil paint with violent and screaming shades of paint that create a contrasting effect on the canvas.
His glass-framed print enjoy the tranquillity, illumination and protection of the mirror, in which they appear. With a receding effect, the framed images tend to shy away from the human eye. The subtle browns, blues and reds that caress the paper surface on which they sit create warmth and a sense of relaxation.
Its not just the prints that are relaxing, his entire work is.
Ends