SILENT ART AUCTION AT PAA YA PAA TODAY

By Margaretta wa gacheru (posted 8 June 2018)

Paa ya Paa Art Centre has been hosting African and international artists ever since it opened back in 1965. The Centre has been organizing workshops and artist residencies as well as mounting exhibitions for them.

                                                  Roses by the late Florian Lloyd part of Paa ya Paa's Silent Auction

In the course of all those years, many artists have left behind works which they either meant for the gallery to keep. Or they simply left town before they could give a second thought to collecting their art.

“We’ve often invited artists to come collect their work,” says Phillda Njau, co-curator at Paa ya Paa with her spouse, the acclaimed East African artist Elimo Njau, who’s also one of the cofounders of the Centre.

                                                                                        Art by Salah Ammar 

“When they haven’t come to pick their art, we’ve kept it in storage. But we recently had help to sort and catalogue those works from several student interns,” Phillda adds.

That is how Paa ya Paa is now prepared to hold its first Silent Auction, filled with all the paintings left behind over the decades.

“We haven’t set a deadline date for the Silent Auction as yet, but we’ve just put up all the artworks on our Facebook page for people to see,” says Phillda.

The bidding process has already begun and the actual results of the Auction will be announced at Paa ya Paa, probably sometime in July. At that time, the public will be invited to have one last chance to bid on their favorite artwork, after which people will be able to take their winning bids home.

“The artists may also come and claim their share of the sale of their art,” adds Phillda who says she welcomes the artists back to Paa ya Paa.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the auction is that much of the art is by artists who were just starting out in their careers when they arrived at Paa ya Paa. Some came and stayed at the Centre for several weeks, like a number of Sudanese artists. Others were students who came to display their works during feted events like the Daniel Pearl Day, which the Centre celebrated with the American Embassy to remember the fallen journalist who died in Karachi, Pakistan.

Either way, it meant that in many instances, the artists’ styles as well as their skills were still incipient, in the process of becoming. In other cases, artists came through Paa ya Paa already having a keen sense of aesthetic direction and determination to become professional painters as quickly as possible.

One such artist is a young Sudanese artist named Abusharia Ahmed. Now a painter whose works are exhibited all over the world and sell for hundreds of thousands of shillings, Phillda has vivid memories of the young man.

                                                                          Early work by Abusharia Ahmed

“He came to us carrying gunny sacks and stayed in one of the rooms we had built for visiting artists like him,” she recalls. “He started selling his works for maybe KSh15,000. But gradually, we began getting visitors from various embassies who were specifically coming to see his art. Now he’s told me his smallest painting can’t sell for less than 100,000,” she says.

Abusharia’s painting may be the most valuable piece in the auction. But there are others by artists who are now well known in the Nairobi art world. 

                                                                                      Art by Uhuru Brown

They include painters like Yassir Ali, Joseph ‘Weche’ Waweru, Allan Githuka, Evans Maina Ngure, Salah Ammar, Caroline Mbirua, Nuru Bahati, Eric Manya, Esther Mukuhi, George Ngaruya and Lionel Njuguna. Even the graffiti artist, Uhuru Brown has paintings in the PYP gallery. So does the former Principal at Buru Buru Institute of Fine Art, Rix Butama. So there are any number of gems to be had.

                                                                                    by Joseph Weche Waweru

There are also works by a whole range of less known artists, such as Adam Massava, B. Chege, the late Florian Lloyd, Imma Juma, Allan Green, Eliud Ngugi and Ethiopian artist Michael Yejisaw. There are also pieces by Lawy Opiyo, Ezra Joab, Patrick Kariuki, B. Wangotho and J.K. Hassan. There is even one beaded work by Kibachi Gatu which is stretched out on goat skin that’s attached by leather laces to a frame made out of spear-like poles.

                                                                Art by Esther Mukuhi

Meanwhile, several shows opened this past week. At the Attic Art Space, an exhibition by Meshack Oiro, Leevans Linyererea and Wallace Juma opened last weekend. It will remain open until end of month, but it’s best to see on weekends. Then last Tuesday, Wallace Juma’s ‘Dumpster Series’ entitled Reflections opened at Alliance Francaise. And tomorrow at Polka dot Gallery, Anne Mwiti has an exhibition opening.

                                                                          Whimsical Art by Lionel Njuguna 

                                                                                                   Art by JD Hassan

                                                                                      Africa by Nuru Bahati