The portrait of the artist’s wife when ‘distracted’ by something on the telly, this is a noteworthy achievement in technique and form: the rather shapeless sofa, the woman’s extended coiffure, the problematic orange boundary that seems to lead us into the sitter’s head. Ssuuna, a planning officer with the local government in the central Ugandan district of Masaka, never went to art school, which explains his freedom as a painter. Because he is not burdened by the formalism of those familiar with art historical isms, he is able to create pictures with a brilliance to take your breath away. He paints the woman’s skirt as if he knows what Renoir would do, and he paints limbs in a style vaguely reminiscent of Soutine.
