05 Oct 2016

It is not every day that one gets to meet an artist who paints music.
Born in Kwa-Thema, South Africa, Nico Phooko says he grew up like an ordinary township boy but he was quite restless.
“My frustration as a boy was coming across people who always discouraged me from pursuing art as a career. Many said there was no money in art but because of my love of creativity and the call from my ancestors to communicate with people through art, I could not give it up. I always knew that in the long run it would pay,” he explains.
With him doing a month long art residency at Thapong Visual Arts Centre, he indicates that he is all about travelling through Africa to work with artists in those areas.
“We should be striving for unity as artists and work together in the process,” he says, adding that he decided to travel to Botswana because it is a reputable country which boasts of its stability and wealth.
Phooko says he has also travelled to countries such as Uganda, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
The kind of art that Phooko does is classified as abstract art and he takes pride in the fact that it is a unique kind of art.
Nico Phooko is a versatile man who is also a musician.
Although his focus is on art, one cannot separate his artistic output from his professional skills and insight as a musician.
“If I find difficulties in singing a song, then I take a paintbrush and depict the emotions that go with the rhythm,” he says.
Phooko’s art and music have won him a unique position in South Africa and even abroad.
He has had his art exhibited in Germany, New York and Amsterdam and also had his vocals on the airwaves with Ray Phiri and Joe Nina.  “Initially I started off with a band called Black Sunshine and that is when I started working on painting music. I designed their first and second CD covers and all this I did while they were playing,” he says.
Further speaking on his art, Phooko says he wanted to break the monotonous and repetitive stereotype that artists have been facing for centuries.
“Realism art is something that has been done for years and I wanted to be unique and different to everyone. I came with a concept of painting music and other artists can come up with other concepts as well. Show that we are developing with art, follow your heart,” he says.
He indicates that artists should step away from drawing objects, nature and push the threshold.
“Uniqueness is talent on its own and one has to develop that and master it throughout the years,” says Phooko.
Phooko was inspired as a teenager by the works of prominent artists in his hometown.
He took to art not only as a hobby but a noble career to flourish and nourish and upon an arty advice, he enrolled at the Bill Ainsle Found Private Art College and the Johannesburg Art Foundation where he studied for Graphic Design basics and a three year fine art diploma course respectively.
“My works spring from my passion for music, the politics of challenging the lampooning power of ancestral feasts that have been a part of my mother’s family life, the sensations of romantic engagements and the solace of domestic and social love, peace and harmony.
There are mysterious forces that prompt us all to find relief in music, the very powerful strength that accelerates the confidence of accepting that we are what we are because of the incomparable and the ordinary people who saw the earth prior to our life form.
 In view of the fact that we are not the end of human evolution, we are for that reason indebted to pass on to future generations’ sound aspirations of loving our immediate families, be in awe of our friends and value our neighbours and communities as a general rule,” says Phooko.
When he speaks of art, he becomes a bit philosophical and like a man in a trance of creativity.
He says when it comes to art, the mind of man should not be limited and that man’s wisdom can go beyond what it is currently offered.
“Art is a spiritual journey for me. Spirituality keeps me sane and helps me get along with other human beings. It is the source of my inspiration,” he says.
He exploits various mediums including collage, acrylics oils, inks, and found objects.
For his part, coordinator of Thapong VisualArts Centre Reginald Bakwena says Thapong has a residency programme that encourages artists from outside to visit the centre.
“With their own funding they get to come here for a month or two to experience how we do things here and also for them to share with us their talent,” he says.
He indicates that Phooko approached them for a residency and they were glad to have an artist of his calibre visiting Thapong.
“This will go a long way in uplifting the standard of our artists and he already has a detailed programme on what he plans to do here,” says Bakwena, adding that Phooko would host a presentation for artists with focus on the art in Botswana and how he has managed to make a living himself. ENDS