MOLTENO-born artist Asanda Kupa was recently named the 2013 Reinhold Cassirer Award winner for his outstanding painting depicting the Marikana massacre.
The Reinhold Cassirer Award, supported by Nadine Gordimer and Strauss & Co auction house, is aimed at recognising talented young painters and drawers whose work shows great potential, but who have had limited access to artistic opportunities.
Kupa said his love for art started when he was in primary school but back then he only drew pictures for himself and friends.
After matric, Kupa did some odd jobs around Molteno and in 2004 he and a friend started an initiative to make artwork.
“A friend of mine who was also an artist approached me and said we could revive our love for art. We found a room and started doing some art,” he said.
Kupa said it was during those days in 2004 that his love for art was resurrected.
In 2005 he went to study visual arts at Walter Sisulu University (WSU) and after completing his diploma, he moved to Pretoria for a year.
“While I was in Pretoria I learnt a lot of stuff about art from Aleta Michaletos, who allowed me to use her studio,” he said.
In 2009 Kupa returned to Molteno. “When I arrived back home I approached the local municipality to give me a chance to reopen the museum. I told them I didn’t want to get paid and they allowed me to do so,” he said.
Kupa said after three years of working at the museum, eventually the municipality paid him for his work.
In 2011 he attended an artists’ bootcamp coordinated by Churchill Madikida, a lecturer from WSU.
Kupa said his love for art was revived during that six- week programme. “I realised art was my calling and I could not run away from it,” he said.
Last year he moved to Johannesburg to follow his dream in visual art.
On his painting about the Marikana tragedy, Kupa said he felt he could not create beautiful paintings when people were suffering.
He said while watching the news last year, he saw what was happening in the mines and felt he needed to paint a picture.
“As an artist I feel it is my duty to record and showcase the victims and these unfortunate events for the coming generations. I use the media to feed my expression, which I transfer to canvas.
“Situations like Marikana are highly emotional, where individuals disappear into crowds, into a confused emotional haze where their individual identities are blurred in a mist of madness,” he said.
Kupa will be spending time over the next three months at the Bag Factory studios learning and painting.
“This is an opportunity of a lifetime for me. I will learn a lot of stuff around artists who have been doing art longer than me.” —
Molteno artist wins award for painting
The Reinhold Cassirer Award, supported by Nadine Gordimer and Strauss & Co auction house, is aimed at recognising talented young painters and drawers whose work shows great potential, but who have had limited access to artistic opportunities.
Kupa said his love for art started when he was in primary school but back then he only drew pictures for himself and friends.
After matric, Kupa did some odd jobs around Molteno and in 2004 he and a friend started an initiative to make artwork.
“A friend of mine who was also an artist approached me and said we could revive our love for art. We found a room and started doing some art,” he said.
Kupa said it was during those days in 2004 that his love for art was resurrected.
In 2005 he went to study visual arts at Walter Sisulu University (WSU) and after completing his diploma, he moved to Pretoria for a year.
“While I was in Pretoria I learnt a lot of stuff about art from Aleta Michaletos, who allowed me to use her studio,” he said.
In 2009 Kupa returned to Molteno. “When I arrived back home I approached the local municipality to give me a chance to reopen the museum. I told them I didn’t want to get paid and they allowed me to do so,” he said.
Kupa said after three years of working at the museum, eventually the municipality paid him for his work.
In 2011 he attended an artists’ bootcamp coordinated by Churchill Madikida, a lecturer from WSU.
Kupa said his love for art was revived during that six- week programme. “I realised art was my calling and I could not run away from it,” he said.
Last year he moved to Johannesburg to follow his dream in visual art.
On his painting about the Marikana tragedy, Kupa said he felt he could not create beautiful paintings when people were suffering.
He said while watching the news last year, he saw what was happening in the mines and felt he needed to paint a picture.
“As an artist I feel it is my duty to record and showcase the victims and these unfortunate events for the coming generations. I use the media to feed my expression, which I transfer to canvas.
“Situations like Marikana are highly emotional, where individuals disappear into crowds, into a confused emotional haze where their individual identities are blurred in a mist of madness,” he said.
Kupa will be spending time over the next three months at the Bag Factory studios learning and painting.
“This is an opportunity of a lifetime for me. I will learn a lot of stuff around artists who have been doing art longer than me.” —
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