Creating canvas for others
[caption id="attachment_37024" align="alignright" width="300"] LARGER VISION: Bay artist Usen Obot at his Galerie NOKU in Russell Road, which opens next week with an exhibition by some of the Bay's prominent artists[/caption]
THE opening of Nelson Mandela Bay's latest art gallery is set to breathe new life into the region's art community, according to the artist behind the project.
Nelson Mandela Bay-based artist Usen Obot's passion for using art to tackle major social issues is set to receive a major boost with the opening of Galerie NOKO in Russell Road next week.
The gallery, which is owned and run by Obot from the former Denton Properties offices, will kick off with an inaugural exhibit titled "Redefinition of the status quo – collector's edition".
The opening of Galerie NOKO next Thursday will feature prominent Bay art patron and businessman Phil Gutsche as the guest speaker.
Local artists who are to be featured include Duncan Stewart, Charmaine Haines, Michael Barry, David Jones, Mbongeni Buthelezi, Phumla Matolo, Delphine Niez and Wehrner Lemmer, among others.
Obot's aim is to use art to spark conversation, both within the art fraternity, as well as the broader community.
"This is not just art for art's sake.
"I want to use the gallery to also address various functions, whether they are socio-political or HIV/Aids- related. We want to create a dialogue."
One of Obot's first projects will be to engage with underprivileged Bay schools that cannot afford either the finance or personnel for art classes, offering pupils free art lessons at the gallery, where they will be taught by local artists keen to give back to the community.
"We want to take art to the people; to places where art has been overlooked," Obot said. "The practise of art can offer an education for the mind and also provide an escape for youngsters who are angry and frustrated."
The gallery will also offer a year-round exhibit of work by up to 20 artists – an attempt by Obot to become more encompassing and offer more deserving artists a platform for their work.
Other initiatives include lauding the role of women in society in a women's-only exhibition in August, titled "Silk and Steel", "to hear and see them speak to us via visual metaphor, and draw society's attention to the importance, relevance and integral contributions of women".
Local artists such as Barry, who heads NMMU's arts and culture programme, have voiced their support for Obot's bold community-minded plans.
"Usen is creating an alternative space for alternative voices," Barry said. "We need that in the Bay because as the city grows, our artwork needs to grow."
Barry said too much Eastern Cape art talent had been "exported" to cities boasting a bigger art industry, but that was about to change because "there is something new happening to our art here with public art projects by MBDA and other new developments".
"My hope is this gallery will encourage young artists to come and exhibit; a space encouraging them and mentoring them; a space for young talent.
"My hope is that this gallery can give a voice to people who need it, and establish a strong market for Eastern Cape art," he said.
Part of the gallery would also be used as "a conference venue with a difference", in-between various artworks, Obot said. The gallery's trading hours will be weekdays from 10am to 6pm, and on Saturdays between 9am and 4pm.
Since relocating to the Bay in 2003 after a brief stay in the US, Obot, who studied art and design, as well as fine and applied arts at the Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic in Nigeria, where he grew up, has worked with many local artists. In 2006, he co-initiated a travelling exhibition titled "Transition" that took exhibits to previously disadvantaged areas in the Bay.
He also initiated the "NEWNOWNEXT" emerging artist project in 2008, which created a platform for emerging artists to exhibit their work.
His own work, which includes abstract oil paintings, sketches and relief sculpture, has been exhibited in galleries in Chicago, Memphis, Massachusetts, Nigeria, Johannesburg and in the Bay.
He has also been the Eastern Cape coordinator for the 2010 Spier Contemporary art competition, as well as a regional selector for the prestigious Absa L'Atelier competition, South Africa's largest art biennial. He also participated in the Nando's Worldwide Art Project, which saw artworks become part of the franchise's restaurants across the globe.
• The gallery opening on June 26 is open to the public.
Interested parties must RSVP via e-mail at or call 084-250-2932. - Weekend Post reporter
