Artist Studio Review

Mesmerized in Ronex

By Gorreth Nagajja

Saturday 7th December 2024 saw us taking a walk in an alternate reality. At Art Writing Kampala, more than a dozen writers and artists strolled through the home studio of one of Uganda’s most successful art practitioners, while he followed his mesmerized visitors, calmly but proudly explaining the technique and meaning behind hundreds of art works on display and even hundreds more carefully shelved away.

“I did not cleanup. I wanted you to see the art in the mess from which it comes.” Not a man of many words, each statement is filled with much wisdom, and “I am not limited by identity, rather I am driven by the process that transforms...”

Ronnex is that once in a generation artisan whose hand can mold all media to his will. A wood sculpture here; and there, a mysterious female gaze peeking from a world beyond the canvas; and at the edge of your vision a column of metal sculptures glaring at you as they would in an Egyptian revival art museum. He confesses to having ventured beyond wood sculpture when his dominant hand developed an uncontrollable tremor and refers to himself as ‘a sculptor attempting to paint’. Without this knowledge, one would never guess that he struggles from the sheer perfection of every work in his studio.

          Writers encounter multidisciplinary art at Ronex Studio, located in Kikioni, Makerere. image                   courtesy of KAT.

Art could easily turn to a burden and every successful artist eventually runs into the storage problem. What does one do with these precious extensions of self when they are no longer hanging in gallery spaces. Ronnex has shaped this space into one where his art is not only protected from damage and deterioration but has successfully preserved its aesthetic appeal as well. Here, each piece supplements the next creating a powerful whole.

He spoke about other hardships confronting even the most seasoned of artists such as himself and the loss he feels that the best of Ugandan art is not found in Uganda, a fact he mentions with no self-pity but rather a wise understanding of the community within which he works. He helped us understand the part of every artwork that cannot be captured in gallery lights no matter how bright, and in the process, stretched our perspective in ways that enhanced our individual practices as creatives.