New and veteran visual artists exhibit side by side in the National Art Gallery of Namibia’s (NAGN) ‘Everyday Life’.
A diverse showcase exploring Namibia’s commonplace sights and scenes as interpreted by artists such as Tuli Mekondjo, Rudolf Seibeb, Barbara Pirron, Andre Du Pisani, Paul Kiddo and Peter Mwahalukange, the group exhibition features a host of shining talents loosely connected by an insipid and somewhat indolent theme.
Interspersing works from the NAGN’s permanent collection with familiar pieces from rising star Michelle Isaak, Bewise Tjonga and Gideon Megameno Kashile, ‘Everyday Life’ rehashes some of what you may have seen before as themes of alcoholism, gender based violence, conservation, the Covid-19 pandemic, Namibia’s natural beauty and the celebration of women and culture emerge to erratic effect.
While artists such as Helmut Lauschke, Kapanda Nangombe, Salinde Willem and Wayne Andy Goliath each offer a stylistic series, unfortunately, the NAGN’s collection seems thoroughly flung together and carelessly curated.
From missing artwork labels to its uninspired and unconvincing raison d’être plastered on the upper gallery wall, ‘Everyday Life’ which will be on display until 4 June is the NAGN phoning it in, filling space and not much else.
NAGN, I love you and I am rooting for you, but surely the national art gallery can and must do better?
Where are the rabble rousers, the risk takers and the artists driving conversation in this country? Where are the artists defying what we expect of form technique, material, motivation and installation?
Where are the worthy contemporary solos, the metaphors and where is the coherent contrasting and curation in group exhibitions? Please direct us to some sense of wow, wonder and enlightenment.
As a host of independent galleries diligently find and enable new and exciting talent, nurture promising, working professionals and reintroduce veterans, the Nagn bring us…this.
Dull to say the least and disappointing to say a little more, one can only hope that, for its next trick, the Nagn will do the work of elevating from the everyday to the extraordinary.
-martha@namibian.com.na; Martha Mukaiwa on Twitter and Instagram; marthamukaiwa.com
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