AFFORDABLE ART SHOW A STUNNING SUCCESS
There is
hardly a single event that Kenyan artists look forward to with greater
anticipation than the annual Affordable Art Show. Organized by the Kenya Museum
Society to, among other things, raise funds to contribute to the maintenance
and improvement of the National Museums of Kenya, the Art Show attracts
literally hundreds of artists from all over Kenya as well as a few from neighboring
states.
It’s a small
cadre of committed workers, mainly volunteers who make the whole show happen,
as it is doing this weekend (October 29-31) in the open-air courtyard of
Nairobi National Museum.
“I’ve been
doing the show for the past ten years,” says its executive director, Dr Marla
Stone just a few hours before its Friday night opening. In fact, an annual KMS
art exhibition had been running in the 1990s, but there had been a hiatus that
required art lovers like Dr. Stone and her colleague, Wendy Karmali to revive
the showcase for the sake of the both the artists and the Museum.
Working
closely with the National Museum’s curator, Lydia Galavu, Stone and Karmali run
a tight ship. They have to do so since the response from local artists is
overwhelming. By now, they all know the drill: they can bring several artworks
for screening but only a maximum of two will be accepted.
Everyone is
invited on one specific day to bring their art to the Museum where artists line
up in an orderly style and patiently wait their turn when their art is
considered for inclusion or rejection in the show.
There’s one
critical factor that both artists and organizers must agree on. And that is the
price tag of each piece. With the a priori agreement that no artwork will sell
for over Sh150,000, (which is why the show is called ‘affordable’) each artist
can propose his or her price, but that tag is finally negotiated between the
two parties.
“One reason
artists love bringing their art to the Affordable Art Show is because they are
practically assured their artwork will sell,” says Samuel Njuguna Njoroge.
Naturally,
not all the artworks displayed on every inch of wall and panel space available
gets sold. In fact, according to Dr Stone, a little less than half the works exhibited
during the previous AA Show sold when KMS organized an extraordinary Affordable
Art Show earlier this year.
“We decided
to hold that show in April because we seriously wanted to raise funds for the
Museum, and our usual fundraisers, such as our weekend safaris, had been hit by
the lockdown,” recalls Stone.
She
considers that show a success, and KMS was able to make their contribution to
the National Museums. But she expects this show to be even more successful.
Why? For one
thing, the April show had only 280 artworks selected, while the jurists, Stone,
Karmali, and Galavu, selected no less than 300 mainly paintings this time
round.
“There were
very few pieces that we rejected,” says Lydia Galavu. “There were quite a few ‘emerging’
artists who’d recently come out of art school, and that also made a big
difference. The calabre of work was higher we generally felt,” she adds.
What’s more,
there are many more women in this year’s Show. We can still see familiar names
of established female artists like Mary Ogembo, Patricia Njeri, Geraldine Robarts,
and Leena Shah on display this weekend. But then, there are also newer names
like Nadia Wamunyu, Naitiemu Nyanjom, Chela Chelagat, Sheila Bayley, Daisy
Buyanzi, Marilyn Abwao, Yvonne Nzilani, and Fridah Ijai, few of whom have
exhibited at the AA Show before.
What is also
fun to see is how many established artists who have absented themselves from public
displays in recent years have come out this year. They include artists like
Hosea Muchugu (aka Giko), Kahara Miano, Sebastian Kiarie, and Chain Muhandi.
Then again,
the rest of the show is a rich mix of familiar styles featuring everyone from
Adrian Nduma, George Ngaruya, Evans Yegon, Adam Masava, and Leonard Ngure to
Samuel Githui, Gomba Otieno, Jimmy Kitheka, Mike Kyalo and Njogu Kuria.
The
organizers tried their best to classify the artworks according to their focus
on either women, land- or seascapes, animals, or ‘large paintings’. But it
seems there were more miscellaneous paintings revealing the wide range of
imaginative approaches that many Kenyans explore.
Some of the
works didn’t thrill me. But one artist who seems to come out every year with an
award-winning work is Dickson Nedia. This year was no exception. His Black
Beauty is a stunning work of portraiture.
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