NAIROBI ART
SCENE EXPLODES WITH SHOWS ALL OVER TOWN
By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted September 25, 2017)
The Nairobi
art scene is literally exploding as the number of exhibitions underway, just
ended or about to open is unprecedented.
All the way
from Kilileshwa, Kilimani and Karen over to Lavington, Banana Hill and Roslyn and
then back to Westlands, and the CBD, the visual arts are flourishing.
In part it’s
due to several new art spaces opening around the city including The Attic in
Nyari (showing works by Longinos Nagila and David Thuku), The Metta in
Westlands (with works by Drishti Vohra) and McKinsey’s in PWC House where artworks
by sculptors like Gakunju Kaigwa, Meshak Oiro and Kepha Mosoti as well as
painters like Mary Ogembo, Njogu Kuria and among others are on display.
It’s also
because hotels have increased their interest in exhibiting good Kenyan art. For
instance, Sankara Hotel just opened a new ‘First Generation’ exhibition
featuring paintings by Sane Wadu and Fitsum Berhe Woldelibanos. And tomorrow,
Dusit D2 Hotel will open its monthly Pop-Up Gallery including works by artists like
Mercy Kagia, Kipruto Rop, Njogu Kuria, Nadia Wamunyu and Deqa Abshir among
others.
Then there
are the art galleries and foreign cultural centres that have also stepped up
their game. For instance, One Off Gallery is revisiting the theme of Nudes due
to the positive response generated by the first Nude show last August. So
rather than turn down the heat, Carol Lees’s invited artists like Peterson
Kamwathi, Yony Waite, Tabitha wa Thuku and Leena Shah to join artists who’d
shown during the first Nudes show (Olivia Pendergast, Talal Cocker and Anthony
Russell). Come tomorrow afternoon and expect the unexpected!
Several
Kenyan men have complained about nudity invading the Kenyan art scene. But the
former anatomical art instructor, Dr Mercy Kagia says that without nude models
(be they men or women) art students especially would have difficulty learning
to accurately paint and draw the human body.
Meanwhile,
Circle Art just opened with paintings by the leading Wajukuu artist Shabu
Mwangi. Banana Hill Gallery is in its last days showing portraits by Nduta Kariuki
and Njogu Kuria. Thereafter, paintings by Uganda artist Herbert Kalule go up
tomorrow. And the Little Art Gallery just curated a three-man show at Village
Market featuring fabulous figurative artists, Peter Elungat, Patrick Kariuki
and Clavers Odhiambo. Described by show’s curator William Ndwiga as ‘a dreamer,
an observer and a [hyper] realist respectively, some critics argue that realistic
art is passe and out of fashion. But these artists don’t care. Neither do art
collectors who’ve amassed countless artworks by all three painters.
Then from
October 1st, an exhibition of art by award-winning artist, Elias Mongora opens
at Polka Dot Gallery. Just named among the top ten winners of the APSA-Barclays
L’Atelier Art Competition, Elias’s rise in public recognition has been meteoric.
The number
one winner of L’Atelier 2017 is Kenya’s Maral Bolouri for her installation,
‘Mothers and Others’. She’ll be exhibiting in a group show curated by Zihan Herr
from October 25 at Goethe Institute.
Three other
art centres working together to host the Nigerian Art Festival opening October
1st (coincidentally Nigeria’s National Day) are the Nairobi Gallery, National
Museum and Alliance Francaise. In all, over 20 Nigerian artists’ works will be displayed,
including original works by Nigeria’s most venerable visual art elder, Bruce
Onobrakpeya. All the art was shipped to African Heritage House director Alan
Donovan by the largest art centre in West Africa, run by the international
acclaimed Nigerian batik artist, Nike Okundaye (formerly Nike Seven Seven
Davies) who’ll be in Kenya by late October.
This will be
Mr Donovan’s 2nd Nigerian cultural festival in Nairobi. The first
was in the late Sixties after the former USAID worker had left Nigeria, having
been based in Biafra during the country’s civil war.
The other
local art centres exhibiting Kenyan and African art currently are BIEA showing
artworks by Leevans Linyerere, Kuona Trust featuring paintings by Samuel Githui,
Nairobi Museum displaying prints and paintings by John Silver Kimani and Kobo
Gallery showing artworks by three Pan-African artists who’ve been in residence at
the Brush tu Art Studio the last three months. They are Stacey Okparavera of Nigeria,
Timothy Wandulu of Rwanda and Lionel Yamadjako of Benin.
Finally, a
story about the exploding appreciation of Kenyan and African art wouldn’t be complete
without mentioning last Friday’s opening of the new Zeitz Museum of
Contemporary African Art (MOCAA) in Cape Town. Billed as the biggest African
Art museum in the world, Zeitz is showing two of Kenya’s most internationally-known
artists, Wangeci Mutu and Cyrus Kabiru.
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