Let art beautify your home

Many people are turning to visual arts to style up their rooms, houses or hotels, writes Dennis D. Muhumuza

That age when individuals would liven their rooms with newspaper cuttings of beautiful women, cars, or their favourite actors, writers, and musicians, is quickly fizzling out. many people are turning to visual arts to style up their rooms, houses or hotels.
Ugandan fine artists have risen to the occasion not only by creating more stunning works (as seen at exhibitions and in their studios), but have also reached out to find market for their artistic works in homes and restaurants, and among individuals whose sense of style continues to advance with modernity. As a result, art pieces of all forms and designs are the decorative accessories that have become part and parcel of living rooms, the interior of banks, schools, and offices.

You need to visit such places like the Kampala SerenaHotel, Antonio’s Grill on Pioneer Mall or a friend you haven’t visited in a long while, to get the picture.
Hanging on the walls of Speak Out Restaurant in Nakulabye are little but very beautiful abstract pieces that absorbed me as I waited to be served. Baker Matovu, the proprietor, said many of his customers love the pieces and often ask him where he bought them.

Ugandan painter Juma Lubega, who has created many of the art pieces that colour the interior of Antonio’s Grill, says he gets many people asking him to visit and paint walls of their rooms.
Oh yes, art on walls can be beautiful. You must know this if you have seen ‘Vertebrates and Invertebrates’ – the pair of mosaic panes on the façade of the Zoology Department at Makerere University, or the bright decorations on the face of Tropical Bank in the city centre.

“The rising popularity of art as décor lies in its uniqueness of beauty and the lovely ambience it adds to a room or place,” says interior designer Lillian Asiimwe.

She however says to be careful to rhyme the artworks with the wall colour and the place one wants to decorate – be it the living room or the bedroom. Asiimwe says using art as décor tells a great deal about the personality or style of the individual.

Some prefer intricate designs, others landscapes or paintings of animals or plants on their walls; depending on one’s taste and style. She advises against putting so many pieces put up lest you turn your beautiful place into an art gallery of sorts. Whatever the case, no longer should your room look boring in this age.

Go ahead and turn to decorative arts, but don’t forget to strike a balance in the range of the artworks used, and the colour. Therein is the secret to having a vividly attractive and romantic place.

--Sunday Monitor, April 5, 2009