A young man’s he(art) by Frans Uunona which started on 13 April to 27 April is currently on exhibition at Omba Gallery. The exhibition will be officially opened on 19 April by Nicky Marais, Head of the Visual Art Department, College of the Arts at 18:00 where all artworks are available for purchase.
The young man’s he(art) is an exhibition alternating the fluctuating moods of the artist. Ranging from composed line drawings and placid images to vivid and intense paintings.
Frans Uuona’s art and heart hark back to the romantic and symbolist European art movements of the late 19th century. Which is motivated by his own emotional repertoire and rich imagination, the Frans celebrates nature and beauty, and idealizes women, children and rural life.
The exhibition is a celebration of individual expressionism in which, for a brief moment, the artist puts the fear, doubts, despair and agony of our time away, and imagines another reality. In doing so he connects with humanity’s yearning for a simpler life and appreciation for nature.
Although firmly grounded in realism, the artist prefers feeling over intellectualism, hence the strong tendency towards abstract art. Through abstract symbols and meaningful colours, Frans alludes to a central symbolist belief, that life is mysterious. This awareness of a higher or unseen reality can be fund in the blurry paintings and interwoven lines, where the uncertainty of the dream and reality are merged. The cycles and crosses of birth and death, turmoil and relief, states the artist’s deep sense of concern for the planet and its people.
Frans Uunona was born in 1990 in a small village of Oshikushahipya, near Oshakati. At the age of four he visited a home filled with works of art which left a lasting impression on him and from that moment on the artist in him was born.
Partnered with his natural gift of drawing, Frans expresses his deepest emotions through visual imagery and sees art as his closest companion which has helped guide him through emotional confusion and moments of melancholy. It is in the cubist works of renowned artist, Pablo Picasso that Frans Uunona finds solace and stimulus amongst various other modernist artists.
A talented draftsmen and graduate of the College of the Arts, Frans is one of Namibia’s promising and upcoming artists
