Benon Lutaaya’s art shows a deep understanding of the human psyche, the layers to his art not just physical but emotional as well. He truly inserted himself. Lutaaya’s thought process and techniques make his work instantly identifiable from any other mixed-media collage. His understanding of form and the intricacies of shade and depth, produce even with a small section of an image – a whole personality.
Lutaaya first came to use mixed-media material (that he would later become famous for), when faced with financial difficulties that prevented him from being able to afford the paint he needed. Instead of being overcome by such an obstacle, he triumphed in his pursuit of art and self-expression by using discarded papers found on the streets of his home town and using these as replacements for paint, with the local children even helping him to collect them, which may be part of the reason why they feature so often within Lutaaya’s art.
Unfinished Life. Benon Lutaaya. Image is courtesy of Saatchi Art
There’s a youthfulness in Lutaaya’s art, whilst also providing a commentary on the more serious difficulties faced in the models’ everyday lives, such as poverty. However, the first thing you’ll notice and the last thing you’ll take away from Lutaaya’s art, is how alive these models are, and in the portraits of children – how their innocence shines through their eyes.
No matter the individual or collection of people held within Lutayaa’s art, they all possess and carry forward to the viewer a sense of strength and fragility in human life, one that has existed for many years and still does, Lutaaya’s collages holding the viewer’s attention because they resonate on some level to everyone.
Troubled, 2017, Benon Lutaaya. Image is courtesy of Eclectica Contemporary
Lutaaya was also a philanthropist, repeatedly showing his desire to help others through such kind acts as donating over UGX 270 million (USD $70,000) predominantly to children’s charities throughout Africa, and through co-supporting an award to help emerging artists; the Reinhold Cassirer Award. In addition he also set up ‘The Project Space’ which provides spaces in Johannesburg for female artists to produce their artwork. He also mentored/collaborated with a young teenager under the Anstey’s Kids Project – to encourage and expand children’s knowledge of art and the collective artworld; producing three artworks together. In summary, Lutaaya appreciated the difficulties that arise in peoples’ lives, his work reflecting his great sense of empathy and compassion, as well as his hope in it all.
b. 1985 – d. 2019
