Broken Images of my 1970 something village
by
Lesego Moncho
31 May 2024
"My canvas is a space in which to act, what is on the canvas is not a picture but an event"
The work was inspired by old memories of my childhood village of Batswana, which was full of colour thanks to the rich and unique murals on each homestead. Memories of traditional dances and the display of traditionally crafted face masks and functional artifacts, poetry, and night stories around the bonfire to the heavy rich beat sound of the Nguni skin drums.
The red oxide, yellow ochres, the yellowish white and the grey soil pigments were harvested by elders from the village riverbank, with the green from the cow dung that was spread on the home floors.
The work looks one dimensional in some parts, reflecting a phase in my life where anxiety, loneliness and depression ultimately brought the flatness to the work, the result of the many times that one lived without being pleasant, but the feeling positively awakened the artist inside me.
A curious young mind and the love for experimenting inspired the love for impasto and because the figures and symbols used in the work are integrated with the background, the application of impasto is used to lift the mood and the spirit, complemented by earthy colours to add harmony and energy.
Lesego Brian Moncho (b.1966), a self-taught Cubist abstract oil painter, studied Arts and Culture Administration & Management, and Arts Environment and Entrepreneurship in Arts at the Faculty of Arts of the University of the North West, Computer literacy at the Taung Education Enrichment Centre, and Entrepreneurship Skills Training (short course) at the Centre for Business and Management Development, University of North West.
He participated in numerous exhibitions, some of which were: ‘Decade of Expression and Creativity' at the University of the North West (a solo, 2020), Aardklop National Arts Festival, 2019, ‘Retrospection' at Taung Guesthouse, Greater Taung, North West (a solo, 2019), FNB Jo’burg Art Fair (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018), Makhanda National Arts Festival (Formerly Grahamstown National Arts Festival, Eastern Cape), Gareep Kunst fees, Northern Cape, ‘Soul of Africa’ by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (SADEC Group Art Exhibition 2005), Rumba in the Jungle, Sun City, North West.
A selection of Moncho's was work acquired by the Art Bank South Africa and he was awarded a three month Greatmore Artist Residency in Woodstock, Cape Town, in 2007.
Moncho taught at North West Community Art Centres, Mmabana Matlosana Arts Foundation Satellite, Klerksdorp, Mmabana Taung Arts Foundation and Thate Molatlhwa Secondary School.
Lesego also created the self-constructed LMB Arts and Interiors Gallery in 2004 because of the need for an Art Making Facility in the rural village of Taung, Northwest Province, a conducive Art Making Facility for the rural art practitioners where Lesego mentors Visual Art Learners and Out of School Youth, acting as an informal Art Educator and Trainer. The LMB also aims at archiving, documenting and preserving local artists' work, sharing and disseminating art information, promoting and enhancing Art Therapy and working with institutions that promote Cultural Exchange programs and Social Cohesion.
LMB Arts and Interiors Gallery, Lesego's self-constructed Studio/Gallery
Visitors at LMB Arts and Interiors Gallery
Visual Arts Learners at LMB Arts and Interiors Gallery
Some of the articles about Lesego in local publications
PLEASE NOTE THAT BUYERS IN PRETORIA WILL ALSO NEED TO PAY A COURIER FEE AS LESEGO IS IN TAUNG
Thank you
for joining us,
we hope you
enjoyed
the work!
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