Eking life through a pencil
Larona Makhaiza | Sunday November 6, 2022 06:00
And it did not take Otsile Rampadi also known as Oats De Artist much of a tussle to really know what he could do to make ends meet when he could not make it to tertiary upon completing his Form 5 in 2020.
Without despairing, Oats De Artist immediately ventured into visual arts in order to eke a living. He had just realised that he had talent and the passion to make a cut in the visual arts scene.
In an interview with Arts & Culture, Oats De Artist said he could see his destiny from the moment he held his working material in his hand.
He said his art form ranges from mural, painting and portrait. “I am a self-driven individual who started drawing back in 2021 to generate a bit of income for myself.
My art goes from being a mural artist, a painter and a portrait artist,” he said. He said that his first encounter with art was in his final year when he was doing Form 5. He developed a sudden love for it.
He said prior to that he was a Design and Technology student but decided he could not pursue it as he felt he was not that good at it. The artist said he will always be thankful to his former Art teacher who allowed him to change subjects. He said from that day, he never looked back.
Oats De Artist has worked on many face portraits ever since he started doing art. His art portfolio is impressive as he has worked on face drawings of many artist such as Makhadzi, Daliwonga and Boohle.
Locally, Oats De Artist has drawn portraits of artists like ATI, William Last KRM aka Motsetserepa, and former Miss Botswana, Palesa Molefe and many more. Oats De Artist is currently working on Vee Mampeezy’s portrait.
He went on to say what he deems as his biggest achievement ever was when he started doing art. 'My biggest achievement ever since I started doing art is when I managed to sell my portraits to Makhadzi, Boohle and Daliwonga and these artists went to share the work I have done for them in their social media pages and Makhadzi went on to even follow me on my Instagram page and this brought me international followers,' Oats De Artist said.
He revealed that his plan is to continue learning in order to enhance his talent in visual arts as creativity is something that one learns every day. He said he hopes to penetrate the international market and increase his fan base.
Oats De Artist can be contacted on his social media handles and he uses the same name for both Facebook and Instagram (Oats De Artist).