Ocom Adonias, b.1989
Street Disciple 9
About:
Ocom Adonias was born in 1989 in Kireka, on the outskirts of Kampala. Growing up in a city suburb that has meagre resources and a heavy population; a typical feature of many fast-growing African cities, coincidentally impacted his art career later on in life. Ocom went to Margaret Trowel School of Industrial and Fine Art, Makerere, (Uganda) and majored in Sculpture, Painting (watercolour) and Photography. After graduation in 2014, he spent one year and a half as a photographer with a local events company. This experience is still visible in his art.
Street Disciple 8
Ocom Adonias is a figurative artist working with drawing, painting, collage and stop- motion animation. His work engages in the realistic presentation of the lives of the common man, his daily space and his heritage. The underlying intention is to tell stories about his experiences and the lives of people that he has seen.
Saint Kifulugunyu
While interrogating his current theme “Who is your Saint?” the artist delves into aspects of day to day life of urbanites, prevailing political discourse, and sexuality that inspire the notion of Sainthood. Here Ocom uses newspapers not only as a drawing surface but also to symbolize what is in the news today. It seems to him that all that people know is what is in the news. The compositions in this series are of daily social activity that is taken for granted. The artist places these ignored saints in the news.
Saint kadongo Kamu, 2019
Ocom’s art career switched on when he featured in “Surface 2017” (a biannual conceptual development workshop at Afriart Gallery Kampala). This experience changed his art and challenged him to get back to something that defines him. The paintings he produces today evoke the personal struggles and challenges of his community entrenched in the political-social context of the present.
Saint Kifulugunyu, 2019
Ocom Adonias has participated in Cape town Art Fair 2019, FNB Johannesburg Art Fair 2018, Kampala Art Biennale 2018 – curated by Simon Njami, A solo Exhibition ‘Who’s your Saint?’ at Afriart gallery Kampala and was a top 10 finalist in the Absa L’Atelier Art Competition 2018, Johannesburg. (Afriart Gallery)