Ali paints his emotions
Ali’s paintings are attracting attention because of the fine detail in his work.
Art flows through Nyalisa Mandianju’s veins. Nyalisa, who is fondly called Ali turns his thoughts into paintings. Beautiful things fuel his creativity, and yet he admits that sometimes sadness also takes over the strokes of his paintbrush.
“Art is a reflection of what you feel. It is the language of the mind,” Ali (39) said as yellow strokes of colour made their way across a blank canvas.
Ali steps into his own world as he copies the image in his mind. Today his mind is filled with colourful yellow and red with a splash of blue.
“God is my first inspiration,” he softly said not taking his eyes off the canvas.
Ali’s parents discovered his talent at a very young age and encouraged him to live his passion.
“I started drawing Mickey Mouse in pencil when I was about seven or eight years old. I think I was about 10 years old when my parents send me to an art academy in the Congo,” he said.
When he was asked if anyone else in his family is artistic, Ali did not hesitate to say his talent is a gift from God.
“God uses my hand; I am just a palette on which He mixes colour. That colour in return I share with the world.”
The humble artist took a step back and critically looked at the wet canvas, “I often ask myself, is this art? Why is this good? How could it be technically not good, but still drawing me in? True, bold art can take several forms, but the question you need to ask is this, ‘Does it stir my soul?’”
Ali is an impressionist. He said impressionism was developed in France in the nineteenth century and is based on the practice of painting out of doors and spontaneously ‘on the spot’ rather than in a studio from sketches.
He has more than just the impressionist tie with France. His home language is French, and he gave a quick history lesson in-between the interview, “French is the official language of the Democratic Republic of Congo since its colonial period under Belgian rule.”
Ali touched on the craziness that Covid-19 bought along.
“It is so easy to get caught up in all the hustle and bustle of Covid-19. Everything seems to be negative and if I have to paint that I would have black canvasses. We forget the magic of nature that lies just outside, sometimes it is nice to just stop, catch a breath, and silently thank God for protecting us and giving us the sun, the moon, the stars, the trees and flowers, and everything beautiful.”
His advice to aspirant artists is to let their imagination loose.
He does not only paint on canvasses, but also paints murals, abstract art, portraits, banners, and as a bonus can also do sign writing.
If you want to get in touch with Ali, you can contact him on: 065 191 2626.
