By margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 24 may 2017)
Three vintage Kenyan artists will be exhibiting tomorrow for
one day only at the courtesy of the Dusit D2 Hotel and the Google Kenya CEO
Charles Murito.
Jak Katakikawe, Sane Wadu and Wanyu Brush haven’t an
exhibition together since 2008 when the manager of the now defunct Gallery
Watutu, Osei Kofi, brought back these pioneering artists to the venue that made
them renowned. All three had been nurtured and their artworks taken abroad and
sold everywhere from Frankfurt to Los Angeles by the late Ruth Schaffner who’d
run Watatu from 1985 till 1996.
Mr Murito responded to our call to assist Jak who despite
some of his best works still available for sale, hasn’t had the assistance
required to make that exhibition possible. So we are grateful to this local art
lover who has a heart for Kenyan art and artists. He also invited the other two
share the Dusit Den this coming Saturday.
Meanwhile, one other vintage artists has been exhibiting at the
Sankara Hotel since early last week. Timothy Brooke is also in a class of his
own. Having come to Kenya at age 3, he grew up along ‘Herds, Flocks and
Migrations’ of local wildlife, the kind that populate his current show.
Mr Brooke’s art is neither a clone of the late David
Shephard whose realistic animals in the wild attracted visitors from all over
the world. But nor is it a clone of all the local copyists who emulate
Shephard’s style. Instead, Brooke paints in a more impressionistic style. His
strokes are looser and more relaxed. His lifelong familiarity with the
elephants, zebra and impala are painted with an affection that makes this show
at Sankara quite special.
And having grown up with flocks and herd, Brooke is
especially conscious of the crisis affecting the wildlife and potentially the
tourist industry. “If things don’t change, I foresee that in 50 years, there
won’t be any Kenyan wildlife,” he said pessimistically. This could mean his art
is even more valuable since he’ll have recorded the life and demise of Kenya’s
most precious living resource.
Meanwhile, there are also youthful Kenyans exhibiting
currently. For example, Jesie Otumba has a show on at the British Institute of
East Africa. It opened last week, entitled ‘Kingdom Within.” Otumba who is currently doing a short
residency at the Brush tu Art Studio is one to watch since we’ll surely be
seeing more of him as his visual repertoire expands. This show is all about
chess boards and dark chess metaphors.
Finally, the other up and coming artist who is currently
exhibiting Goethe Institute is Kawira Mwirichia. Her show entitled To
Revolutionary Type Love opened last week and will run through June 3th.
Upcoming from early June is Circle Art’s innovative show
entitled Young Guns which will feature of slew of so=called emerging Kenyan
artists. More to come on that story.
And at the Polkadot Gallery in Karen, ’Shades of Gray: the
Art of Monochrome (with just a hint of color will up until June 4.
Meanwhile, ongoing shows include Anthony Okello at One Off
Gallery and Boniface Maina’s
‘Transition’ at Nairobi Gallery.
On another front, we want to congratulate those Kenyan
artists who worked assiduously to make it to the Venice Biennale, especially as
they got there after not receiving the funds they’d been promised to set up the
Kenya Pavilion by the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Sports.
Some artists have disputed the idea that what’s been set up
in Venice is not the Kenya Pavilion since Kenya is not even listed on the
docket of countries exhibiting in a pavilion this year. But whether a pavilion
or an exhibition of Kenyan art, we’re happy Kenyan artists got to Venice
irrespective.
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