UBUNTU - I AM BECAUSE WE ARE by Tony Luza

Opens on Thursday the 3rd of February with a public opening event at 6pm and runs till the 4th of April 2022.

ABOUT THE ARTIST AND THE COLLECTION

Tony Luza is a multi-disciplined artist, Painter, Graphic designer, and musician from the DRC, currently living and working in Johannesburg South Africa. His work explores multiple themes, mediums, and styles with a focus on Expressionism. His inspiration is drawn from nature, culture, and intuitive process, and his love of music and performance art informs and inspires the works he creates. Tony performs African Rumba in French and Lingala (a language with originates from central Africa and the DRC specifically).

“My music and painting share similar principles such as pattern, rhythm, balance and feeling…..just by looking at my pictures you will see the majority of them are dynamic rather than static. I love finishing the continuity of my painting by music.”

Tony studied at the University of Fine Arts (ACADEMIE DES BEAUX-ART OF KINASHA) where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, has exhibited at the Grand Hotel and Alliance Belgo Congolaise, and works with interior designers and art consultants around Africa. Tony won an Award of Excellence in ‘Artists for Peace’ presented by the Union Europenne DRC Arts International.

‘Ubuntu – I am because we are.’, is an exhibition exploring the African philosophy of Ubuntu, a quality and way of life that includes our most important human virtues, the need for compassion and humanity. Ubuntu is about togetherness and community.

“…Africans believe in the bonds within a group, as more important than any individual arguments and division within it.”

All of Tony’s works are painted on Canvas with Acrylic, Oil paint and pigment. The design process of each work is complex and intricate, starting with sketching on Canvas 27, a touch screen workspace, and then converting them to silkscreen with stencil. Finally he paints by hand using Acrylic, Oil and pigment, and sometimes adds multi-media by creating texture on the canvas to create a different depth to certain artworks.