Ian Mwesiga (b.1988, living and working in Kampala, Uganda) graduated with a BA in Industrial Fine Art & Design from Makerere University, Uganda in 2014. He has participated in residencies and including Asiko Art School in 2015 facilitated by Bisi Silva and CCA Lagos. Mwesiga has exhibited his works in both local and international exhibitions. 

 

The paintings reflect a perpetual obsession with defying perspectives by either replicating or creating his own ratio/composition while preserving a level of lyricism and literacy. The influences are noteworthy, they allude to classical paintings as well as contemporary practices. Mwesiga’s practice is built around inert topography: the psychological world of his figures, and their placement within the architecture. 

 

Surprising dimensionality springs from the artist’s application of vibrant colors such that ordinary perspective is masterfully skewed. The foreground defines a sense of balance and the backdrop submerges the viewer into an infinite gardenscape. The figure stands strong, boldly absorbing the viewer’s gaze, as the obsidian of his skin absorbs light moving the eye meticulously.  The artist’s rich panorama color is his stylistic signature.

 

Smooth and vibrant paint application invites us into a romantic realm. Mwesiga's world impenetrable access is granted; subjects are rendered like snapshots on the field of memory. Boundaries between the self and the other melts away, leaving intimate impressions between reality and what we want it to become. His art is preserved in mesmerizing nature.