Born and bred in Mahalapye, Dipetela stated that visual art has been a part of his life since he was at a tender age.
The 26-year-old recalled that as he continued maturing, he realised that he had something special. “I am a self-driven individual who started drawing at primary school. As I got older, I realised that this is my God-given gift,” Dipetela said. For these reasons, Dipetela revealed that he saw it fit to use his God-given talent as a means of survival in this difficult economic conditions.
“Therefore, I started using it for my survival and also to create awareness about nature through it, and other socio-economic aspects of life that most of us face,” he said. Dipetela stated that in 2021, he established Visual Arts by Laone, which he envisions to reach the pinnacle in the visual arts industry.
He highlighted that his vision is to one day have an open art gallery artwork of different mediums that can be used both for therapeutic reasons and recreation as a way for people to deal with mental health. Since the establishment of Visual Arts by Laone, Dipetela remarked that he has also found a niche in mural paintings, which is what has been his great source of income in visual arts. “Business has its ups and downs. However, I would say currently most of my customers are pre-schools and day care centres. I do murals for them, the pay is much better compared to artworks and portraits,” Dipetela revealed. Despite his niche being in mural arts, he reiterated that he does not restrict himself to only mural arts as he can always make money from different kinds of artworks. “I do mural arts, but my heart is in painting portraits,” he said.
Furthermore, the talented artist stated that in his journey as a visual artist, he has explored many kinds of art. He mentioned that he is an artist who is besotted with learning new skills and spreading his wings. “I work with various mediums, which include charcoal, pastels, and coloured pencils. I do coloured drawings, paintings and also mural works.
I can’t say my art is all about something specific currently because I draw, paint, about anything to be honest. If you ask me to do something artistic, I will do it, I love exploring my potential in art,” he boldly said. Regarding the highs and lows, he said that his proudest moment was being roped in to do mural painting for a private clinic in Gabane, which was new to him. He says his let down has been in acquiring art materials, which tend to impede his productivity and ability to perform his commissioned work and perform in artistic competitions.
