By Clemence Tashaya
EENHANA – As far as arts in Namibia is concerned, it is believed that up and coming young men are yet to get fully involved.
A spot check around artworks here shows that young men are conspicuously absent from serious arts business. However, there are a number of young men who have pursued their passion and succeeded in arts here in the north.One of them is the 26-year -old Erastus Kanime Lukas. The first thing that impresses and fascinates you when you see Lukas’s painting is how he manages to breathe life into his artworks. They are vividly alive, surreal and capture nature in its pristine form. Lukas says that though he hasn’t studies arts at school, his passion and adventure into arts is something that came to him naturally while he was still young.
A Bricklaying and Plastering trainee at the Eenhana Vocational Training Centre, Lukas is also making a name for himself in the arts industry, which combined with his studies is taking centre stage in his daily busy schedule. “I first got interested in arts when I was in primary school at Onambutu Combined School. I remember my love and passion for decoration, painting and drawing.” Lukas says when he joined secondary school, he didn’t immerse himself into arts so much since he was still gaining experience from established artists in the industry. “I felt that in order to harness my skills and become a complete product as far as arts is concerned, I had to learn from my veterans such as Sambisa here in Eenhana. And the fact that I was also studying for the secondary school education at the time,made it hard for me to solely concentrate on arts,” says Lukas
He decries how arts is not seriously taken as a profession among some of his age mates and youths here in the North, adding even in schools it’s not given much thought although it is among certain areas that people can actually earn a living from in these days of high unemployment. “In other countries like South Africa, arts is taught as a subject from primary school level and people get to develop young children’s skills. Other than developing their skills, it can be an opportunity for young people to discover what they are capable of doing. We don’t have such programmes in our curriculum in Namibia, except for the private schools and I feel it is an area the Ministry of Education and its curriculum developers should give much thought to,” he says
Lukas says that he will exhibit his art work during the upcoming trade fairs and exhibitions here in the North, not only to expose his works but also to market it. His arts is inspired by nature, trying to make images based on reality and looking straight into natural objects when he wants to paint. “When I want to paint, for example an image of a lion, I normally look for a lion on television and draw an image from it. My arts is the realism kind where I depict whatever I have seen.”
With regard to making a living from arts, Lukas says he cannot quantify what he makes from art because it depends on the customer he gets, which is not every day. “The problem with arts here is that Namibians themselves still don’t know the value of arts. Mostly young people don’t show interest in arts, even if we manage to paint the most beautiful of arts pieces.”
He thinks the disinterest people have in art is the reason a number of talented artists have steered clear of the profession. “We (artists) who are actively involved in arts as a profession do it because we believe that we should be at the forefront of changing people’s perceptions about visual arts. With time, we hope that things are going to change and most Namibian young people will eventually value the beautiful pieces that we make.”
As for what determines the price of his arts pieces, Lukas says that it depends on the size, beauty and idea behind any arts piece. There is no standard price. For such a talented and upcoming visual artist in Eenhana, he has now partnered his close friend, David Johannes, to help him with some of the works as he has been contracted by the Usko Nghaamwa Primary school, the only school for the deaf in the Ohangwena region, to do paintings for the school. “If you have passion for art, don’t surrender. We are all talented in different ways, so artist should be passionate about their talent and work hard,” he advises
Lastly, he encourages other visual artists to use their talents and seek training from established artists or institutions if Namibia is to have a generation of well-groomed artists.