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See Deeper Exhibition: Rivetting sketches of women and animals

See Deeper Exhibition: Rivetting sketches of women and animals

The Omba Gallery this week opened its doors to its latest art exhibition, titled ‘See Deeper’ by Richard-Lee Shoombee and students. The exhibition runs until 17 July 2016 and showcases an array of rivetting paintings of women portraits and wildlife in mixed media art and sketches.
The exhibition was opened this week by Hans Leu, supervisor of the Arts Performance Centres (APC) in Namibia, a school of the arts in Tsumeb. See Deeper has been inspired by Shoombee’s interest in observing what others do, their culture and behaviour, as well as his general impression of life and even the weather, which oozes into his works of art. The paintings are mainly in blue and earthy tones and in a variety of mediums.
If one saunters into the gallery, one’s eye is captured by paintings of indigenous San, Himba and Damara women adorning the walls with their exotic features captured on acrylic paint canvases with shades of browns. Some of the works are done in soft pencil sketches.
Other unique works are the different shades of blue used to paint animals. The subtle application of blue conveys a deep sense of melancholy.
Shoombe said “Blue stands for everything that is passing away, blue stands for water, for air and for wind.” One of the signature blue paintings is titled “Revenge”, Shoombe uses a dark midnight blue and a somewhat darker shade of indigo to create a spacey picture of lions facing the starlit sky.
The exhibition also showcases some satirical forms of art, as artists such as Hameya make use of mixed media to paint vivid illustrations of the divide between the rich and poor, using discarded materials and pictures of cars and houses cut out from magazines.
Shoombe took a keen interest in art from the age of twelve. He registered with APC Tsumeb in 2003 with Issa Indongo as his mentor and teacher. He taught himself all techniques, across all mediums and after qualifying, he became a visual arts educator. He now teaches children, the youth and adults at the PAC centre. He believes that in teaching children art, he is able to inspire hope and bring change to their lives. In 2012 he won the Shining Light Award in the Namibian Diamond Competition, organised by NamDeb and NDTC. He participated in group exhibitions with APC artists in 2010 – 2012.

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