Drawn always to magical moments, moments wrapped in splendour, Hugh Mbayiwa has found in the Karoo the perfect metaphor for his artistic and moral vision, writes Ashraf Jamal.
As Mbayiwa puts it, he chooses to ‘interpret Africa on her smiling day’.
This view tellingly reveals the artist’s focus, one which he shares with the Nigerian novelist and poet, Ben Okri. ‘Our time here is magic’, says Okri. ‘It’s the only space you have to realise whatever it is that is beautiful, whatever is true, whatever is great, whatever is potential, whatever is rare, whatever is unique. It’s the only space’.
For Mbayiwa the canvas is the space upon which to drip these rare moments where brevity is made eternal, where the gasp of amazement is enshrined, and where beauty – the beauty of a harsh dramatic landscape – is forever kindled. His ‘time’, his ‘country’ is immortal. And yet that immortal rendering of time and country must always be understood as a gift of moments as vividly alive as if wrung dripping.
WHERE: Christopher Moller Gallery 7 Kloofnek Road, Gardens, Cape Town 8001
WHEN: until 21 October 2016
PHOTO: “Rock Karoo” – oil on canvas – 165 x 125 cm
