Geoffrey Mukasa (Ugandan, 1954–2009)
Celebrations, circa 2006/07
signed ‘Mukasa’ (lower right)
oil on canvas
180 x 150cm
Ksh 1,000,000 –1,400,000
US$ 11,360–15,910
Sold Ksh 1,761,000
Provenance: Acquired direct from the Estate by Red Hill Art Gallery
Mukasa spent part of his childhood in the King’s palace in Buganda and left during the time of Idi Amin to study at Lucknow
College of Arts and Crafts, India. This was a period when experimentation in formal content and subject mattered. Informed by both Indian and European aesthetics, Mukasa flourished. He was deeply influenced by celebrated Indian artist, M.F. Hussain. Mukasa returned to Uganda with a style that was distinctly different from that of his peers from Makerere School of Fine Art. His works retained a raw energy and luminosity.
A concise draughtsman, his work – deeply symbolic – frequently focuses on man’s relationship with the environment and the interaction between humans, flora, and fauna. Mukasa’s work is widely collected, and frequently exhibited, both in Uganda and internationally. Publications include the recent – ‘Mukasa Geoffrey – the artist’s life in Uganda’, AKA Gallery Kampala/Uganda published by Maria Fischer, Rose Kirumira, Paul Lubowa and Josephine Mukasa (2011).