Notes

George Pemba’s Portrait of a Young Man is one of the most exciting paintings by this artist to come to market in recent years. The young man has clearly donned this splendid shirt for a special occasion. Pemba confirms this by drawing attention to it through his use of brisk brushstrokes loaded with jazzy colours that give the whole a syncopated rhythm. With his jacket over his arm and his dandy trilby precariously poised on nimble fingers, we might almost think this is a mapantsula.

Only his grave face betrays anxiety. His eyes that gaze into the distance are surrounded by lines that suggest apprehension. What is it that he anticipates? Is he is on his way to apply for a job?

Pemba has created an astonishing portrait that is full of ambiguity. Walking beneath an overhanging balcony, his face is shaded but backlit by a glorious bright blue sky. We can read both optimism and concern into the image. No simple answer is provided and we are left to ponder its significance.

It is this degree of complexity in a painting that has made Pemba the celebrated artist that he is today. Ivor Powell describes the ‘poignant humanity’ of his earlier works and ascribes this intensity to the artist’s admiration for life in both its simpler events and its more significant moments.ⁱ

ⁱ Ivor Powell, ‘Art be Remote Control’ Vryeweekblad, 3 July, 1992, page 35.

Provenance

The Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg.