Picasso has a lot to answer for.

The man who, with Braque, revolutionised art by inventing Cubism, inevitably spawned a host of imitators, some of whom actually understood what he was trying to do — to explain the experience of looking at an object rather than simply describe its appearance.

Many of them, however, and particularly the later wannabes unfortunately did not understand him, instead mistaking form for substance.

What passed them by was the significance of fragmenting an object and reassembling it like a jigsaw puzzle, often so you could see all of its parts at once, as a way of projecting and better understanding its presence.

What they did understand was that people on canvas presented from different viewpoints looked like spatchcocked chickens; and that noses could now be shown upside down while eyes could be lined up vertically.

Suddenly it was gloriously acceptable to draw bold lines across the canvas to separate and define brash fields of colour and to know that that people and objects could be exaggerated almost out of recognition.

Happily it was not only called art but hailed as the cutting edge of avant garde.

You want to be respected as an artist and maybe sell a few? Then paint a bit like Picasso, and the job’s a good-‘un.

These eager followers caught the cartoonist’s simplified view of the look but not always the reasons that underpinned it. The result was often vacuous, and as rowdy as a pea rattling in a tin.

It was also a huge fire escape for those who could neither draw nor think — “Oh, it’s like a Picasso,” they could airily say — and along the way Cubism gave rise to much entertainment among those with only a fleeting knowledge of modern art movements.

People like the schoolboy me in fact.

I remember how we used to amuse ourselves during the boring bits in lessons (and there were many) by putting our new-found knowledge of perspective to use by drawing two cubes side by side. “What are these?” we would ask our fellow idlers. They’re Picasso’s balls!

Uproarious, yes? And the lazy afternoons flew by….

So it is that a movement that began in 1907, and was pretty much worked through by 1918, captures the imagination of painters today and remains a powerful influence, not for far too many as something on which to build, as the basis for developing a personal lexicon, but as an end to itself — the look, it seems, is enough.

Which brings us with a horrible grinding of gears to the current exhibition at Banana Hill Art Gallery, home to many a Cubist manque, including one who actually bills himself The African Picasso.

The exhibition is not by him however, but by Congolese painter Bezalel Ngabo who shows that he too is a sucker for thick black lines, bold colours and a merry jigsaw of perspectives.

Because of this affectation, it is easy to overlook that he actually has considerable ability as a draughtsman.

One of the key paintings in the show, called Supremacy Contest, is a melding of the Big Five — elephant, buffalo, rhino, lion and leopard — and each is drawn well.

Buffalo Man III, — part buffalo, part human — is another work that owes everything to Ngabo’s drawing skill.

As for the other 32 paintings in this show, which runs until February 2, there is strong colour to admire, bold lines, confident composition and the fun of working out what each picture means, with the titles there to guide you.

I do wish Ngabo would use his fluency, eye for detail and obvious love of colour to produce something more original though. He has talent in spades to develop his own vocabulary.

From a Congolese in Nairobi, another clash of gears takes us to Kampala where the multi-disciplined Ugandan artist Ronex Ahimbisibwe has put on a sort of retrospective.

Sort of retrospective? Well, instead of showing a curated group of past works, his current show called Memories and… comprises new large-scale assemblages and sculptures based on his own past artworks. By taking stock of his previous works he is reinventing himself as an artist.

The exhibition provides an interesting insight into Uganda’s version of Renaissance Man; a prolific artist who produces paintings, sculptures, woodcuts, digital art and photography, furniture and mixed media installations.

It is on until February 5, at the Afriart gallery off Kira Road, Kamwokya.

Setting out his aims, Ronex said: “My art works have come to embody my joy, frustration, inspiration and my perception in tangible objects.”

And he added, “In short, my life’s journey as an artist has become a self-portrait.”

Now that really is like Picasso.