All posts by Rosalie van Deursen

Lezingenreeks ‘African Art is Booming!’ bij bonhams

Urban Africans presenteert in samenwerking met Bonhams : African Art is Booming!

Vergeet giraffen, zebra’s en houten maskers; Afrika moderniseert in een duizelingwekkend tempo! De megasteden zijn dynamisch en bruisen van technologie en innovaties. Kunsthistoricus Rosalie van Deursen leert je de Afrikaanse kunstscènes kennen. Aan de hand van kunstenaars, hun werk en visie krijg je inzicht in het leven in Afrikaanse steden.

 ‘Als deze kunstenaars een podium krijgen kan de wereld daar een beetje mooier van worden.’

Lezing (#1): African Art is Booming! Je krijgt antwoord op de vraag; wat is er momenteel gaande op het Afrikaanse continent en in de diaspora en maakt kennis met een verrassende diversiteit aan kunstwerken, kunstenaars, tentoonstellingen en biënnales. De tweede en derde lezing gaan over bruisende steden in Oost Afrika (#2) en West Afrika (#3).

Van Deursen licht kunstenaars uit waarbij allerhande kunstvormen de revue passeren. Hiermee onderzoeken kunstenaars een grote diversiteit aan thema’s en schuwen niet te willen breken met taboes.

Over Rosalie van Deursen 
Ze introduceerde ‘Global Art’ op kunstacademies en lanceerde in 2014 www.urbanafricans.com een internet platform gericht op het ontdekken van Afrika door de ogen van hedendaagse kunstenaars. Ze organiseert onder meer kunstreizen naar Afrikaanse steden en biënnales.

Wanneer:
Lezing 1: woensdag 10 november 2021

Lezing 2 & 3 Nog nader te bepalen datum. Schrijf je in voor de nieuwsbrief om op de hoogte te blijven.

Waar:
Bonhams Amsterdam

Programma:
19:00 inloop – drankje
19:30 uur presentatie Rosalie
21:00 uur tijd voor borrel

Prijs
€37,50 per lezing
Voor (reserveren) kaartjes graag mailen naar amsterdam@bonhams.com of rosalie@urbanafricans.com

column in Tableau Fine Art magazine: ART IN THE PEARL OF AFRICA

Exploring Kampala on the ‘boda boda’ motor taxi

Last summer I spent 6 weeks in Uganda and had the pleasure to meet artists in their studios in Kampala. I wrote a column about it in Tableau Fine Art Magazine, in Dutch… Read PDF of the article ‘Art in the Pearl of Africa’ here. The Ugandan artists and their work are described below.

Arim Andrew ‘What They Want’, oil-paint on canvas, 178 x 134 cm, 2019

Andrew Arim – Power, Status and Play
Andrew Arim makes large lifelike oil paintings with lion heads on human bodies. They are men who wear officer uniforms, fancy suits or papal clothing. Arim: “The lion is the king of the jungle, the head of the food chain. Mighty men behave exactly the same way. They want to control everything and often behave hypocritically.”In his work, he questions authority, power and control in Ugandan politics, religion and society. He is currently working on a new series What They Want about Ugandan children and their dreams. Arim explains that children are also concerned with power and status. They want to become a child soldier or star soccer player or emigrate to America; the beginning of the African brain drain. But of course they just want to play in the first place …

Ocom Adonias, Afro-Chinese affair, charcoal and watercolor on newspapers, 120 x 100 cm, 2019

Ocom Adonias works in the same studio. He is surrounded by sheets of newspaper on which he makes charcoal drawings. In the series Who is your Saint? he draws people who are often looked down upon or whose professions are taken for granted, such as street vendors, motor taxis and street musicians. He celebrates their existence and paints a picture of everyday life in Kampala. Adonias: “They are my saints.” In the same series, he examines the role of China in Africa. Adonias: “China seems to be Africa’s new husband. We worship China as if it were a saint, but China causes a slow death.”

Ian Mwesiga, Breakfast, oil-paint on canvas, 210 x 190 cm, 2019

Ian Mwesiga – Storytelling
On the greenest hill of Kampala, Ian Mwesiga is working on large figurative oil paintings. His mission is to tell stories that have not been shown so far. A narrative of a progressive black population in the spirit of today’s Uganda, after colonialism. His work is full of references to (art) history and contemporary life. In one of his works, for example, a casual dressed black man sits at the table with a thermos jug and a jar of Blueband butter next to him. Behind him a painting hangs on the wall, if you look closely you can see that it is a portrait of the late dictator Idi Amin.

Hellen Nabukenya, ‘Tuwaye’ (Let’s Talk), Textile Off-Cuts, 2016/2019

Hellen Nabukenya is trained as an artist and fashion designer. She makes large textile installations from textile off-cuts in Kampala that resemble tapestries. She works with underprivileged women and explains: “They learn a skill to earn money independently. It is also a place where they dare to talk freely, which is a taboo in Ugandan society.” The installations of Nabukenya are exhibited worldwide, with the audience sitting on the immense carpets and getting acquainted with the stories of Ugandan women through video and audio. Nabukenya wants to illustrate how much is required of a woman and that she can break easily and lose her identity.