22 Aug 2021

Faced with uncertain future following the adverse effects of COVID-19 pandemic, one of Botswana’s finest visual artists, Frank Mabotowe fondly known as Frank De Painter in the world of painting, has launched an electronic catalogue of his artwork.

The creative sector has been inactive for over a year now and this resulted in loss of income for many sector players such as visual arts as they could not showcase their talent.

Just a few days after government through the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development announced interventions to support creative sector to avoid its total collapse in the context of the pandemic, Mabotowe has taken a step further and launched the e-catalogue for his work.

Dubbed the Unorthodox Collection Mabotowe considers the move as the simplest and most convenient form to take his art work to viewers globally as it is no longer possible to bring people together through exhibitions.

Though he has not travelled overseas to display his work Mabotowe has had some collectors as far as the United States, South Africa and London.

Inspired by the great Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, the 30-year-old Tlokweng-born contemporary visual artist fell in love with the canvass at an early age.

Unorthodox Collection is Mabotowe’s fifth official collection following Art of Monadilo, The Art of Painting, This is ART and SMART Collection.

Art of Monadilo, his first collections, are pieces of his old artworks created over teenage years and presented as an inaugural collection in 2009.

The Art of Painting series is Mabotowe’s second project, which was also a launch of his first ever solo exhibition.

The artwork became a launching pad of his professional art career as he featured in the flagship Botswana Television magazine programme Sedibeng.

This is A.R.T collection was Mobotowe’s second exhibition at the Alliance Francaise. He released the fourth piece SMART Collection, short form for Simply My Amazing Random Thoughts.

His latest offering consists of 24-original paintings, strictly acrylic on canvas. He said he had been conceptualising the collection since 2018 and did not start working on it until April last year.

“I guess all great things take time to create. I have made a few catalogues before but I feel this unorthodox catalogue is one of my greatest bodies of work to date.

I was in a different space both spiritually and physically when creating it,” he said

Mabotowe said the idea to put down his brush onto canvass was driven by what has been happening in the world lately including coronavirus, which had been ravaging lives and he used to pallet as a source of strength and inspiration.

“If you are not telling your story you are telling someone else’s story. I choose to tell my story through this catalogue because no one else can tell it better than me. I have always created my own path in the arts space because the only superpower I possess is being me,” he added.

He said he felt the catalogue was going to have a massive impact to the world because it was work which was closest to his heart.

Some of the outstanding art pieces include portraits in acrylic of President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi and cabinet minister Fidelis Molao, former Burkina Faso president and activist, Thomas Sankara, freedom fighter and former South African president, Nelson Mandela, lawyer and pan Africanist Professor, Lumumba among others. ENDS