FOTA ART SHOW GOES DIGITAL

 By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted April 17, 2021)

This year’s Friends of the Arts (FOTA) art exhibition, held this past weekend online courtesy of the International School of Kenya, was the most well-organized online exhibition that I have seen since the pandemic began.

Like all art venues (and other businesses for that matter), FOTA was hit hard by COVID-19 concerns which compelled them to take their annual show online.

An event that local artists look forward to with high expectations, this year attracted more than 70 artists, painters, photographers, and sculptors who shared a platform that was exceedingly well designed and easy to follow. That is, if you had the patience to not just ‘browse’ as you were helpfully advised to do at the outset of the show, but to see that there were tabs available to click on to simplify your online viewing.

The tabs were simple and clear: You could filter your search of artworks either by price, type, or artist. Otherwise, you could plow through all 222 pieces which just displayed the title and price of a piece if you didn’t personally interact with it. If you wanted to know more about the work, you had to know to click onto the title and behold! The artist’s name and other valuable details about the work would be there. And if you decided you wanted to buy the piece, you either clicked on the centre of the artwork, see a red heart pop up and confirm. You wanted it in your cart! Then when you were all done, you headed to the checkout and finally, there were various convenient ways of payment.

Otherwise, the exhibition was a bit overwhelming for having over 200 paintings to view as well as 16 sculptures and four amazing photographs (all provided by professional Usha Harish). It was definitely an exercise in online navigation, and the webmaster deserves extra credits for making the show exceptional.

But this exhibition definitely required patience to get through all 222 artworks which were as varied, colorful, fascinating as they come. Unlike the past FOTA shows which were also overwhelming for their rich content, one could not simply breeze casually through the painterly partitions or speed swiftly through the whole lot at one fast and furious full sweep, this online show required study.

No longer a social event as in past years, a big part of previous FOTA exhibitions had been the pleasure of meeting friends as well as the artists who flocked to the show and freely spoke to the prospective buyers.

Apart from all those challenges, East African artists turned out in full force by sending in their art in response to an online call. Most were Kenyans, of course, but several Tanzanian and Ugandan artists also had their paintings in the show. What was skewed was the enormous price range in paintings. One work sold for Sh6,000 while the average range was around Sh100,000. But one artist who was billed as a painter but whose work was actually a sculpture was selling for Sh325,000.

The joy this year was seeing the diversity of topics included in the exhibition. There were themes frequently seen such as portraits, wildlife and cityscapes. But there were also skyscapes and landscapes that reminded one of Kenya’s exquisite natural beauty.

Mobility was also a major topic with everything from matatus and motorbikes to bicycles, solo walkers and rickshaw-like mkokoteni carrying heavy loads of water, chicken, and sugar cane being featured. Portraits of ordinary working people were less in evidence this year, although there were several market scenes, one of women doing laundry, two village boys milking a goat, and a surprisingly picturesque painting by Ismael Kateregga of refugees standing in line waiting to be ‘processed’.

Among the more widely represented topic seen at the show was that of wildlife. Artists painted everything from rhino, elephant, ostrich and hippo to zebra, water buffalo, and an array of beautiful birds including a Golden breasted bunting and two Black-headed weaver birds by Fayid Mahfudh.

Some of the most aesthetically pleasing paintings were of local landscapes like John Kariuki’s Nyeri, Coster Ojwang’s Karai Tea Farm, Patrick Kinuthia’s Noonday at Narok, and Arnold Birungi’s view of Mount Kilimanjaro.

What was most disappointing about FOTA 2021 was seeing how few women artists were represented. No more than six women apparently took part. Who knows why East African women stayed away, especially at a time when FOTA opened doors wide open for them to take part. Hopefully, they’ll be better represented next year.