Continuities

Portfolio by Ismael Kateregga / Introduction by TWR

                        

Uganda’s most consistent artist may very well be Ismael Kateregga, whose images of urban life are his – and his alone. He has long depicted fragments of the urban landscape in a way that doesn’t merely reaffirm what we already know. His paintings intensify our vision of what’s on the ground, of what’s critical in the things between and around us. Although his technique has changed, from impressionist brushstrokes when he started out in the mid-2000s to a vaguely expressionist style these days, the result is always unassuming yet dazzling. The paintings – whether they are pictures of fishermen and their boats or street life in Kampala – are always readily identifiable as Kateregga’s. At a time when many artists are easily distracted by contemporary trends as well as by what their curators want, Kateregga is his own man. He still paints largely the way he was painting a decade ago, earning the respect of his peers and the trust of his collectors. 

Kateregga told TWR that consistency is a personal decision, stemming from “the reasons why we choose to become artists.” Some artists change their imagery from time to time, he said, because they also want to remain commercially viable and perhaps because they want to accommodate capricious tastes in global demand for contemporary art. Kateregga has remained relevant by remaining Kateregga, by staying “good enough,” as he put it. He said that he paints first and foremost to satisfy himself, in the sense that he must approve of his work as a connoisseur before he starts to even think that someone else might want to collect his painting. “Once I achieve that,” he said, “then I am very sure that when it goes out to the market it will be perfect for anyone to look at.” 

TWR is pleased to present a portfolio of 12 works, some old and some relatively new, by Kateregga. Many of these paintings are in private and corporate collections, but a few may still be available for purchase. The works, curated with the help of Kateregga, represent only a small fraction of his immense body of work but capture what we admire in Kateregga. “Housework,” an oil painting once exhibited by Afriart Gallery, gives a bird’s-eye view of the space between rooftops in a typical slum dwelling. The clothes hanging on lines strung between roofs acquire humanly weight because we can start to imagine the lives of the people to whom they belong, who will put them on when they are dry, who will hang them to dry time and again. It’s a conceptual masterpiece of a painting, and it surely exudes abstraction when one beholds it without prior knowledge of the slum scene. Kateregga said that, in conceiving and making pictures, he is looking to nail down certain “continuities” in the spaces around us.

Kateregga, who is 44, graduated from the art school at Makerere University in 2004 and has been painting ever since. He’s had solo and joint exhibitions in Uganda and abroad, and his work has been valued at auctions by Bonhams in London. Members of the Buganda royal family, including Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi and Princess Agnes Nabaloga, are among his many collectors, who include Ugandan attorney Mukumbya Musoke, a devoted patron of the arts. Kateregga’s work is represented in the ARAK Collection, a large hoard of contemporary African art in Doha, Qatar. Kateregga pointed out that many of his Ugandan collectors first saw his work in the living rooms of their friends, confirming his belief that works of art, when they are technically successful, speak for themselves. 

These days Kateregga owns an exhibition space that he launched with fanfare last July in Mbuya, expanding the small but growing array of exhibition spaces available in Kampala today. He can be found there some days, painting or receiving visitors. Starting Abataka Art Gallery was a risky business move, given that the community of Ugandan art collectors remains small. But it was also a bold sign of his confidence as an artist who is true to himself and who trusts that times are changing. “There is more awareness of Ugandan art amongst Ugandans, so that the dependence on foreign buyers reduces,” Kateregga said.  ▪

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Evening Walk, 2021, oil on canvas, 66 x 54 cm
The Garbage Contractors, 2023, oil on canvas, 80 x 80 cm
The Coming of the Iron Snake, 2023, oil on canvas, 80 x 80 cm
Sixth Street Industrial Area, 2007, oil on canvas, 120 x 90 cm
Housework, 2011, oil on canvas, 66 x 54 cm
Kireka Railway Market, 2016, oil on canvas, 160 x 120 cm
Lamu Boats, 2018, oil on canvas, 200 x 150 cm
Nakasero Market, 2019, oil on canvas, 66 x 54 cm
Queueing Refugees, 2024, oil on canvas, 66 x 54 cm
Yellow Queue, 2021, oil on canvas, 120 x 90 cm
Fishing Boats at Kiyindi, 2023, oil on canvas, 200 x 150 cm
Kasenyi Fishing Village, 2017, oil on canvas, 120 x 90 cm
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