Ketshotseng sells dreams
Dumisani Ncube | Friday October 9, 2015 18:00
Artistic painter Kenny Ketshotseng has managed to draw inspiration to work on his various paintings and artwork from dreams that take place during his sleep.
“When I wake up I write down what transpired in my dreams so that I will not forget then I work on the paintings coming up with what I dreamt off,” he said. He has a number of artwork paintings that were inspired by his dreams. Some of them are at the National Museum while some are at Sophie Lalonde Art gallery.
One notable artwork that was inspired by his dreams is a huge painting titled Through the rain. The painting consists of a man on a horse cart that has two horses in the rain. The piece is painted with a blue painting.
“Before working on Through the rain I had a dream of a man who was on go horse drawn cart and was caught in the rain.
The man and his mode of transport turned into clay and they were washed away by the rain that’s you see them fading away in the painting”. The Molepolole born artist who trades at Thapong Visual Arts center says he believes in dreams regardless of his Christianity beliefs. He shared that most artists believe in dreams, “Its spiritual,” he added.
Ketshotseng believes that his dreams work as a guideline when he is working. He added: “Sometimes after I finish doing a painting I ask myself if it is really me that did the work because I would not recall doing it.”
However he told Arts and Culture that he also gets inspiration from other subjects such as research, experiences and state of the nation.
On one of his work there is a piece called ‘No water’ which has a painting of a young depressed woman holding a clay pot that has cracks. The inspiration of the painting was derived from the ongoing water shortages that the capital city is currently facing.
His arts work touches different issues just by taking a look one can easily notice the different situations and emotions that it interprets. He plays around with a variety of colours in his work.
He has also done portraits from pictures that he took previously with one of the an award-winning rapper Zeus. At some point the rapper was pleased by Ketshotseng’s paintings to the extent that he had to buy one piece on the spot.
He boasts that he is a talented artist who did not require to go to school of art to learn the craft, “it came natural when I was young I used to make cars from clay till I mastered art”.
Ketshotseng who is leaving on art believes that for one to be on top of their game in art they should practice time and again.
“In every painting or drawing you notice a mistake and you also learn something new,” he said.
Due to his love and passion the artist is trying by all means to promote different forms of art apart from his drawing and painting craft. In a bid to promote the arts he established an open mic session called Motswarapoetry a platform where rappers, singers, dancers and poets exhibit their craft.