The winning art of a Cape Town barman

28 April 2017 - 14:51 By Petru Saal
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Image: Gallo Images/iStockphoto

“Drawing is a sacred calling‚” says Cape Town barman Bombetu Dyanti.

When he is not serving drinks to guests at the five star Table Bay Hotel‚ he spends his free time drawing and studying.

Dyanti’s drawings - especially those of rhino - have impressed many guests. The irony is he hasn’t seen the animal in the wild or in a zoo. The other is that he is yet to sell one of his works.

After striking up a conversation his art often becomes the main topic. "Guests are delighted by his hand drawn representation of his art‚" says the hotel’s public relations co-ordinator‚ Nina Tomlinson.

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Dyanti‚ who grew up in a small town in the Eastern Cape‚ is particularly touched by the fact that rhinos‚ which are on the endangered list of species‚ are being killed for their horns.

“I worry that poachers will rob our children and their children of the opportunity to see his amazing species. If we do not stop the carnage‚ rhinos will be extinct in a few years‚” he says.

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“I’ve never seen animals in the wild or in a zoo. But I have studied them on visual media to see the way they move and their proportion‚” said Dyanti.

Dyanti is studying graphic design‚ photography‚ drawing and printmaking‚ which he credits for improving his understanding of perspective‚ composition and the use of colour.

And his master? It is Pablo Picasso because “his work is unparalleled”.

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