MAKAMO FINALLY GETS WHAT HE DESERVES

CREATIVE

ART

MAKAMO FINALLY GETS WHAT HE DESERVES

Words by Kojo Baffoe

Beauty and value are such subjective concepts. Throw ‘power’ into the equation and the exploration of these concepts can descend into an endless, often heated, debate. The discussion around beauty and what is deemed ‘aesthetically pleasing’ cannot be had, especially in this day and age, in isolation of a history that is fraught with oppression, exploitation and an extremely one-sided manifestation of power.

The artworld is not immune to this and it could be argued that history, within the context of politics, capitalism, and power, has been especially harsh when it comes to African art, specifically. The language that was used for a long time centred around the words ‘crafts’ and ‘curios’, while much of what was stolen from the continent were often deemed ‘artefacts’ that only have a place in European or Western museums.

As a side note, I still cannot get my head around the argument from European institutions, they will not repatriate these stolen works. They say that African institutions do not have the necessary resources and capacity to be able to adequately store these cultural materials, but that is a conversation for another day. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines curios as “something (such as a decorative object) considered novel, rare, or bizarre” while on the website key differences, it states that “Art is described as an unstructured and open-ended form of work; that expresses emotions, feelings, and vision. Craft denotes a form of work, involving the creation of physical objects, by the use of hands and brain. Art relies on artistic merit whereas craft is based on learned skills and technique.” Of course, these are not the ultimate authorities on definition but do easily reflect the general, read Western, consensus. As a layperson, it is my understanding that one of the tools used to separate African art from Western art is functionality and the idea that if something is functional – say a mask, for a traditional ceremony – then it cannot be art. And yet, the influence of African art on European art and the work of artists like Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani and Constantin Brancusi, amongst others, is well documented. The narrative is changing, albeit slower than is ideal, but we do need to keep having the conversations and ensuring that it does not continue to be an extremely one-sided one.

THE ARTIST

When it comes to the artist as an individual, there also, sadly, seems to be a great deal of ‘delayed acknowledgement’. You have a Vincent van Gogh whose artworks are included on many a list of the most expensive sold at an auction and yet, while he was alive, he was said to often exchange art for money, food, and art supplies.

Closer to home, there was Gerard Sekoto, considered by many to be ‘the pioneer of Black South African art.’ Having gone into exile in France in the late 1940s and despite some success with his art, he spent the last years of his life as a ward of the French state, living in old age homes where he died in 1993. In 2018, his painting The Donkey Water Carrier sold for R1.079 million.

Lastly, Dumile Feni who spent the last decade of his life living in New York, where he died in 1991. His income has been said to have not come from his art but ‘mainly from designing record covers, posters, calendars and illustrations in books.’ (Source: www. sahistory.org.za)

Acknowledgement and celebration as an artist can be an extremely slow burn and as far from an overnight success as you can possibly get. Yet we still try to push that idea of overnight success when celebrating people, especially in these fickle, social media times. And even how we measure success is flawed. Danish programmer, racing driver and entrepreneur David Heinemeier Hansson is quoted as having said, “Nobody is an overnight success. Most overnight successes you see have been working at it for ten years.” Nelson Makamo, in his own way, epitomises this, even with the seemingly sudden attention on him and his work in the last two to three years.

PRE-OPRAH MAKAMO

In 2017, American filmmaker Ava DuVernay bought a Nelson Makamo artwork at an auction. In 2018, she visited Makamo at his studio in Johannesburg and bought another piece. She brought along Oprah Winfrey, at some stage, who also bought a Makamo artwork. In 2019, as guest editor of TIME magazine’s Optimism issue, DuVernay asked Makamo to create an image for the cover which led to him being interviewed by fellow South African Trevor Noah on The Daily Show.

Extremely heady times. Headlines for many publications included words like ‘new superstar’, ‘global sensation’, and the like and most of the articles stem from the period 2018 to 2020. Yet Nelson Makamo has been both creating and making an impact on the South African and international art landscape for many years, before and after he made the 190-kilometre trek from his hometown of Modimolle, Limpopo to the bright lights of Johannesburg.

A critical chapter in his journey was in January 2003 when he joined the Artist Proof Studio in Johannesburg. In his time there, he received a Johnson and Johnson bursary (for his first two years) and the Pinpointone Human Resources Scholarship and went on to complete his Certificate in Advanced Professional Printmaking in 2005, even though, during his childhood, his background was more drawing and painting. Printmaking gave him a different perspective on the world and, therefore, creativity and art.

Upon completion of his studies, he continued to work at the Artist Proof Studios during which he also exhibited in many print exhibitions including the Ten Years of Printmaking, Student and Staff Artists Proof Studio Exhibition and Print Marathon in Johannesburg and the Print Marathon in Boston, USA. From an art perspective, he exhibited in Obert Contemporary Art Gallery’s Walk with Me (2005), The Thompson Gallery’s Making Identity (2007) and at the Cultural and Business Art Exhibition in Somma Lombardo, Italy.

In 2008, when he made the leap into life as a full-time artist focused primarily on portraiture and working in various media including charcoal, watercolour, oil paints, silkscreen, monotype printing and pen and ink. To date, he has exhibited extensively in South Africa and globally, as part of group and individual exhibitions, from Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban to the United Kingdom, Germany, Scotland, and the Netherlands. He also did residencies in Italy and France.

THE THRONE MAG

THE THRONE MAG

THE THRONE MAG In the 2018 Timeslive article Globally celebrated artist, Nelson Makamo returns to SA with the latest exhibition, written by Rea Khoabane, at the time of the opening of his exhibition The Re-Awakening in Cape Town, Makamo is quoted as saying, “I was born in the '80s and I've found that certain structures restricted our options on who we wanted to be or where we wanted to go. We are the generation that says 'F**k institutions'. It is about developing our growth without the influence of politics, and we should no longer make apartheid an excuse for not going after our dreams."

He goes on to say, "People understand the concept of freedom in various ways and we have moved past [having] a single perspective. This body of work depicts today's youth in a re-imagined future. One where the perspective of black youth is no longer that of disadvantage or despair, but that of bright lights that will illuminate the future of the continent. I reflect on the things that our forefathers did not have and look at how kids are now able to enjoy things like ice cream and walking around wearing earphones. We are the generation that is resourceful but we're also the generation that is overly excited and overly bored and we're not able to maintain our excitement."

Makamo has been able to maintain a level head amidst the excitement. Prior to the attention from people such as DuVernay, Winfrey, Swizz Beats and the like, there was Annie Lennox and Giorgio Armani, as well as the countless prominent South Africans like Black Coffee who have embraced his work. Amidst the commissioned work that includes portraits of Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela, he has continued to stay true to himself, his art and the environment that birthed him, recognising that art is not just a pretty thing that sits on our walls but is also an integral part of the narratives and transformation of the lives of Africans.

It is also this that has probably prompted his involvement in the Fashion, Art and Music Academy, F.A.M. Academy with Black Coffee, and designer Laduma Ngxokolo to provide young creatives with the knowledge, the skills, and the support to build their careers in their chosen sector. Nelson Makamo is finally getting all the flowers he deserves, not just from South Africa, but globally, on his terms, which is what is most important while continuing to stay rooted in who he is and where he is from.