Mohalenyane Phakela
UP-AND-COMING artistes, poet Khosi Rajeke and visual artist Khosi Motloang, will on Saturday hold an exhibition at Victory Restaurant in Maseru.
The duo goes combined their two art forms in 2014 and come up with the name Khosiafines in a bid to make inroads into the local market.
Motloang told the Weekender this week he was optimistic the exhibition would launch their “spoken poetry through art” to a wider audience, adding that joining hands with Rajeke had complemented his art form.
“I used to work alone and drew inspiration from veteran visual artist Mokitimi Meshu,” he said.
“Back then, I focused on drawing portraits upon request or simply drew images from my imagination.”
Motloang said he was introduced to Rajeke by a friend and soon realized his drawings could benefit from collaboration since the poetry is based on African stories.
“The late Italian visual artist Leonardo Da Vinci once said: ‘Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen,’” he said.
“And this explains the essence of combining our art forms. To see what I have drawn and to hear his poetry is akin to experiencing a back and forth journey between two powerful emotional fields. It is not a question of understanding the paintings, but of picking up their vibes and more like playing in a band.”
Motloang also said there was nothing new about collaborations like theirs as “poets and artists have bummed around together for years”.
“One other thing is that visual art is not yet recognised in the country, so I brought Rajeke on board so that he could give people a wider understanding of my pictures through poems,” he said.
“In other words, people can expect poems that explain most of the paintings that will be exhibited on Saturday.”
The duo will be supported by such local poets as Verbal Reigns, TDy and Montšo Molotsi. The exhibitions will be held twice a year on an annual basis with the next earmarked for December.
