BY
Margaretta wa Gacheru (5 May for 10 May, 2019)
Anthony Okello
is not a politician. Far from it.
He is one of
Kenya’s finest painters whose artworks occupy space in some of the most notable
public and private collections in the world.
Yet while
Okello is no politician, he is certainly a social critic and visual satirist whose
sentiments on people’s bad behavior are expressed through salient symbols that camouflage
his covert assaults on foreigners and locals alike, with his attacks framed in
fascinating forms.
One might
not be charmed by all 15 of the oil paintings in his current exhibition at One
Off Gallery entitled ‘Fishy Business.’ For instance, a work like ‘Man in the
Middle’ might disturb a few visitors to the Gallery. After all, this bloated
blue man has no arms and the only clothing he has on is a long red tie.
Yet one can
never take an Okello artwork at face value. There is invariably something else
going on. For one thing, there is an element of humor that usually softens any
shock value his art might convey.
His works
require a bit of deciphering, but the title itself offers several suggestive
hints as to what he is getting at in this show. First, there’s the idiom ‘fishy
business’ that connotes a situation that’s underhanded or suspicious. So Okello
is most likely critiquing something or someone that’s corrupt.
Then too,
there is the image of fish which appears in a number of his paintings,
suggesting these works are part of a series associated with the title and theme
of the exhibition.
As a bit of
background, it may be significant to note that Okello’s people are historically
from the Lake region of Kenya where many people’s livelihood depends on fish.
Fish could then be seen as a symbol of abundance or wealth. So when one sees a
series of paintings in which fish are floating through and in one instance, (‘Bowl
Head 1’), the fish is actually inside a man’s head (which itself is shaped like
a fish bowl), one has to ask what kind of relationship is this?
Four
paintings in this one series depict men who are Chinese, according to the
artist who BDLife spoke to briefly at the exhibition opening. All four have
heads just as pudgy and bloated as the ‘man in the middle’. Yet these men have shirts to go with their
ties. One of them looks like he’s already swallowed the fish, while another, entitled
‘The Intake’, is just about to consume one.
There is a
third head that looks like he is either under water with the fish or observing
them through a transparent fish bowl and aiming to decide ‘Which One’ to grab.
Lastly, the head of the fourth man literally looks like a fish bowl since the top
of the China-man’s head is cut off with the fish floating around in place of his
brain.
Yet these
four are not the only paintings in Okello’s show that contain fish. ‘Of Fish
and Men’ seems like one is looking into a giant fish bowl along with the three
African men on the other side of the tank. More than a dozen fish of various
types are visible inside the tank. Meanwhile, these men look like variations on
the ‘man in the middle’ theme since two out of the three Africans have their
hands in the tank, as if they’re preparing to grab the fish, either for the
foreigner or for themselves.
Okello may
need to narrate the full implications of his paintings since his symbolism is deep
and detailed. For if all these men are indulging in suspicious or fishy deals,
it would also seem they are doing shady ‘business’ aimed at robbing Kenya’s
natural wealth, (call it fish) on which millions of locals rely.
The one other
‘fish’ painting in Okello’s show is the ‘Prophetess, Rev, Dr, Bishop, Mrs’. She
stands erect dressed in a pearly white gown as multicolored fish float at her
side. By giving her all those fancy titles, the artist seems to suggest she too
is engaged in ‘fishy business’ but of a different kind. She’s a charlatan
prepared to claim multiple distinctions that ostensibly entitle her to whatever
free-floating wealth she can get, be it as a Mrs, a Bishop or a Prophetess.
Only one
artwork in his show seems not satirical but certainly surreal. It’s the “Nkobo Sisters”
whose natural beauty is symbolized in the green leaves growing out of their
sweet heads.
Anthony Okello's past stories by me:
https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Life/art/-Okello-paintings-carrying-Animal-Farm-messages/3815712-3923488-10g7hms/index.html.
https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Brothers-team-up-to-create-art-using-clothes-and-paint/-/1248928/2739940/-/bpha40z/-/index.html.
https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Okello-in-an-artistic-class-of-his-own/-/1248928/1874266/-/q5dcr6z/-/index.html
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