Paul Ndema (Ugandan, born 1979)
Jane the Baptist, 2014
Signed ‘NDEMA 2014’ lower right
Oil on canvas
100 x 100cm
Ksh 90,000-115,000
US$ 1,000-1,300
Sold Ksh 164,360
Provenance: direct from the artist
Ndema studied at the Margaret Trowell School of Industrial and Fine Arts, Makerere University from 1999-2002 where he obtained his Bachelors in Fine Arts. He has exhibited widely in Uganda mainly at Afriart Gallery in Kampala.
Ndema’s depictions of multifarious people, ornamental objects and expressive animals are at once comforting and ominous. He is influenced by a diverse heritage of art history from Gustav Klimt to contemporary East African artists; his works on paper, paintings and assemblages are infused with potent symbolism and a sense of mystery and magic.
This painting is from the series “Sex, Drugs and Christianity”.
It is a depiction of the weaknesses of some members of the clergy, to the vices of alcohol and sex; the indulgence in these pleasures often leading to hypocrisy and deception.