Gare returns as a sculptor
Dumisani Ncube | Friday January 15, 2016 14:46
Having achieved many things as a painter the artist evolved and grew his craft to become contemporary sculptures artist who has exhibited his works in different parts of the world. The self-taught artist is one of the first residence artists at Thapong Visual Centre. He explained that his art came as a calling while he was still majoring in painting then decided to try a hand out and the rest is history.He said his calling took place during his last years in the country as most of his paintings were jumping out of the canvas meaning that he would add three-dimensional objects on his paintings.
“I got tired with the form of painting that I was practising and decided to work on three dimensional arts full time,” he said.
He explained that in Australia he is known as a sculptor while back home he is known as a painter.
The 38-year-old believed that the evolvement he went through is a growth that any artists can come across in the industry, especially if they are not scared of trying out and experimenting something new. “I feel more at home with sculpturing than painting even though it’s a bit challenging because it’s all about taking drawings into a three- dimensional object.” Unlike the sculptors that we come across everyday that are made from wood or stone, Gare majors in bricolage sculptoring. He uses different forms of material such as wood, metal and ready-made objects such as bicycles to come up with some of his artwork. About concepts, he said social issues such as politics drive him; the media also influence him. “My concepts are influenced by poetic words and metaphysics. It’s a personal evolution,” he enthuses.
He is now an established sculptor whose works have appeared in a number of solo and group exhibitions such as in Australia, United States of America and Botswana. Great-More studios in South Africa have also collected some of his work. Gare would facilitate an exhibition next month in Gaborone at Sanitas titled Imaginary Line where he has called a number of his art friends to also come and exhibit their work. “The exhibition will mainly focus on sculpting and paintings, it will also be a good learning platform for young artists.”
As someone who started their craft at Thapong Visual Arts Centre in 1998 when there were only tents as the only form of buildings, Gare is not impressed by the current state of the arts centre2.
“It has lost its mandate as it now looks like a crafts centre. It is full of craft staff. The main mandate was to develop artists by making them independent artists at the same time holding cultural exchange workshops with foreign artists.” In his opinion, the centre has instilled a mind of commercialising artwork in artists. “Do not take art as a business. The important thing is to show the meaning of art through art,” was his cryptic remonstration .
Gare also stated that he is still into painting although it is only as a hobby. He also does cartoons.