Artist Khomela destined for artistic greatness

This past weekend, The Venue located in Mokolodi hosted the inaugural Wine & Art Picnic event. One of the visual artists who showcased his works at the event was none other than Thato Khomela, a talented young man who is destined for greatness.

Like most visual artists, Khomela who is a member of Thapong Visual Arts Centre, is not a man of many words. Instead he opts to let his work do the talking. And one of the pieces that he displayed at the event was a beautiful piece titled Lesego.

Narrating the story behind the painting, he explains that one evening while he was working overnight alongside friends, a South African artist found them working. Impressed by the painting, the unnamed artist wrote a poem about this beautiful piece of work. He points out that the poem will form part of an exhibition where he will showcase Lesego and his other works. “It is not easy for an artist to communicate verbally about our work,” he says.

Khomela fell in love with art at Primary school, and his first piece of work was that of a fountain. Soon everyone was marvelling at his talent, and the rest as they say is history. “Back in the day, I used to recreate pictures from magazines,” he explains. His new passion right now, he says is conceptual art as it allows him to create works with hidden meanings.

Khomela says that he has slowly moved away from recreating pictures to showcasing his other talents. “I conceptualise ideas and bring them to life,” he explains adding that art is no longer a hobby but something that can put food on the table for him.

His biggest focus is finding a scholarship that will help him sharpen his technical skills as well as ensure that he acquires new skills.“I want to learn the practical and theoretical part of Art. I strongly believe in formal education,” he says.

Khomela says that those who wish to see his portfolio can do so in different parts of the country including at Sefalana in Kasane. “I have done some work on public art, as well as created pieces for government departments,” he says