Chronicle Editor
Mbulelo Mpofu, [email protected]
THE fear of not being able to pursue one’s craft due to a lack of resources is a recurring nightmare that haunts artists. This predicament can be both perplexing and disheartening, and it’s a reality that has cast a shadow over the aspirations of one talented visual artist, Timothy Nkomo, a Bulawayo resident from Nkulumane suburb.
23-year-old Timothy finds himself standing at a crossroads, contemplating the abandonment of his dreams of making a profound impact in the visual art and aesthetics industry. The culprit? A scarcity of essential materials, the lifeblood of any artist.
Timothy seeks assistance to achieve his life-long dream.
“I’m a self-taught artist who was inspired to venture into art when I saw my brother doing it back in the day. This was until, one day, in 2018, I took a pencil and a paper, started to sketch vehicles and some cartoon characters from Dragon Ball-Z and before long, I was hooked.
“My job requires me to have a set of specialised pencils including graphite, mechanical and charcoal, a blending brush, a mono, kneaded and non-dust eraser as well as a sketching board and these things are costly. Their unavailability threaten the very existence of my talent and I’m asking for sponsorship or donations in order to acquire these,” he told Chronicle Showbiz.
In his career, Nkomo has been able to draw portraits of popular figures like former wrestling royalty, and now actor, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as well as South African Amapiano sensation, Young Stunna.
Such an endeavour has permeated into the showbiz scene with a nascent trend of artists gifting musicians portraits of themselves to appreciate the work they put in in advancing the local arts sector.
The artist alluded that all things being equal, drawing a portrait will only take six hours of his time to come to life.
There is more to Nkomo than meets the eye as the multi-talented fellow dabbles it up with customising denim wear as well as designing clothes. — @MbuleloMpofu
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