TAHIR & MESHAK HIGHLIGHT HOT-BUTTON ISSUE WITH ART

Kuona exhibition highlights values of marginalised group

THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2014 16:59

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                                                Tahir Karmali & Meshak Oiro at Kuona Trust in 2014

There are few hot-button issues more explosive in Africa today than homosexuality.

Across the region, from Nigeria to Uganda and potentially in Kenya, laws are being changed to not just criminalise the condition (MPs) recently renamed ‘gayism’.

If accused and convicted of what’s now legally considered an offense against Nature and the State in some parts of the region, that person could be jailed for life or even worse: their offense could be punishable by death.

So an art installation like the one currently on at Kuona Trust is most timely.

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Tahir Karmali never assumed his photographic exhibition, filled with powerful black and white portraits of male sex workers would be anything less than provocative.

It was apparently only a coincidence that the art installation he co-created with Kuona sculptor Meshak Oiro, opened at the same moment when Africans across the region are asking themselves questions about what they value and hold sacred and what they see as anathema to African culture and tradition.

The focal topic of Tahir and Meshak’s art installation addresses a subject that forces the viewer to confront his/her own position on the larger, deeper issue of what they personally ‘value.’

That’s the same topic Tahir asked of all the men he interviewed before taking their photograph and confirming they’d be happy to feature in the current showcase of the photographer’s striking images and Meshak’s matching masks.

Value: Seeing through the eyes of someone else’ raises multiple issues, especially as Tahir didn’t just photograph the men; he also insisted they hold onto the thing (or symbol thereof) that best reflected what they cherish or value most highly.

What may be startling to some who visit Kuona over the next fortnight is that what they value is hardly any different from what the ordinary Kenyan (rich or poor) values as well.

Not all the items valued are different. One mentions money and clutches a fist full of shillings; another says he treasures education and holds an exercise book to give its symbolic representation.

And several showed how much they love their cell phone.

“To me, I think the cell phone symbolises communication and the desire for friendship and connectedness with others,” said Tahir whose ‘take’ on the cell phone was quite different from that of another viewer who was present at Kuona last Thursday’s Opening Night.

“The cell phone is essential for a sex worker’s business, especially as most of his clients don’t want to be seen at night in Nairobi’s CBD. Instead, they prefer calling the sex-worker of choice and designating a rendezvous point,” said the viewer who preferred to remain anonymous.

It was indeed touching to see one sex worker holding on to a keyboard because he’s studying music and dreams of one day becoming a professional musician.

For his part, Meshak welded together same-size diamond shaped metallic ‘masks’ which hang gratuitously from Kuona’s ceiling. Each is unique and distinct from the other in design, much like each male sex-worker.

The masks enhance the aesthetic value of the installation, but they also symbolize the idea that almost everyone wears a mask to conceal their true feelings.

The Star’s Managing Director William Pike attended the Kuona opening last Thursday night, and placed his own valuation on the show.

“The exhibition could easily go straight to London or New York and be very well received,” said the Briton who was born in Southern Rhodesia (Now Zimbabwe).

His view is shared by others, not only because of its timeliness, but also because of the philosophical and social, as well as economic, implications of the images.

What’s more, it was Tahir’s intention all along to highlight what’s of value to a marginalized group of people, like male sex-workers - be they gay or transsexual.

Meanwhile, the Circle Art Agency’s showcase of more than 40 works of art by contemporary mainly Kenyan artists was almost as stunning as CAA’s recent East African Art Auction.

Held in an ‘unoccupied’ mansion just behind the Zen Garden restaurant, the exhibition left one in no doubt that CAA is a major player in the Nairobi art scene and one to watch since it strategically arranges art shows that benefit not only the artists and the audiences but themselves as well.

MERCY'S WALKING PEN REVEALS KENYAN DAILY LIFE

https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/lifestyle/art/Mercy-s-walking-pen-reveals-Kenyan-life/3815712-4315804-gc7yiq/index.html.

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted february 2018)

                                                                                Sweet bananas by Mercy Kagia

Mercy Kagia is a rare sort of visual chronicler. She’s the kind that is so charmed by the ordinary everyday lives of regular people that her greatest delight seems to be in documenting their activities and accoutrement with pen and ink on plain paper.

More often than not, Mercy works quietly, surreptitiously in unobtrusive spaces. Sometimes she draws on paper made from rice. Other times she apparently works on paper specially made for water color.

Occasionally, she’ll use a brush to add a dab or two of color as she did when painting the ‘clean water’ tanker an aquatic shade of blue. Or when she gave her Kisumu Municipal Market a leafy green vine. Or touched the helmets of two motorcycle taxi drivers with a sunny yellow hue.

But more often than not, it would seem it’s the dark, thin lines, shapely swirling curves and contours of all that she sees in her own daily journeys that seem to interest Mercy the most.

In her one-woman exhibition that’s currently on at Polka Dot Gallery, the artist is to be found “Taking My Pen for a Walk.”

So while her pen is Mercy’s primary means of expression, it’s her walking all around Kenya, chronicling what she’s seen, that’s the biggest bonus in what she’s brought to this enchanting exhibition.

But it’s not only people and their daily practices that have appealed to Mercy in this show. Certainly she’s still intrigued with boda boda taxi drivers and mama mbogas selling their wares in the open air, be they fruits, vegetables or mitumba clothes. Nudes in tasteful poses also occupy one wall at Polka Dot, reflecting Mercy’s time teaching Life Drawing over the last many months.

But what’s equally intriguing about her ‘walking pen’ this time round is that she’s branched out spatially and drawn all the way from Diani Beach to Lake Naivasha and the Aberdares to Lake Victoria. Along the way, she’s drawn everything from whispering palms to water tankers, cattle obstructing traffic outside The Hub and camels trekking gracefully on Diani beach.

With her landscapes, she’s taken slightly more interest in water color as when she painting the Indian Ocean and the Galu? Beach at Diani. But personally, I’m happier with her detailed pen and ink drawings.

I particularly like Mercy’s Zebra series, including the singular young ones (who look like they’re grazing in high heels), the duo, trio and family drawings of these elegant and graceful creatures whose natural beauty Mercy captures in fine black lines.

But the fact that she features several colorful still life’s in her show, including fresh fruits (like apple, pear, bananas and pawpaw) and veggies (garlic and onion) is also a treat for their simplicity, fidelity to natural colors and look, as if they’d be good enough to eat.

Mercy also has a series focused on vehicles: the retired Chevrolet taxi, old-fashioned Volkswagon Beatle, water tanker, soil-moving crain and even a lorry transporting equipment being used to repair a transformer.

But as I have a special affinity for motorcycle taxis, I’m particularly partial to Mercy’s snapshot drawing of a family of four snuggling close to their boda boda driver. In real life, they might look like an accident waiting to happen. But the taxi man is also providing a life-affirming service to this family (the smallest might have been two) who otherwise would probably have had to walk long distances in the heat of the mid-day.

Mercy would have had to make a quick sketch of that image while the family was still in sight. But even so, she’s never at a loss for capturing the delicate details that make subtle statements about the characters in her drawings.

I don’t know if Mercy has ever been compared to Norman Rockwell, the great American artist and illustrator of ordinary everyday life among the people and places he walked with in his daily affairs.

Mercy might not find it a compliment to be compared to Rockwell. But he had a knack for drawing humble scenes that spoke louder than verbal chatter could do to reveal the secret lives of everyday people in his place and time.

To me, Mercy has a similar knack. So to have the opportunity to catch a glimpse of what she and her pen have witnessed in Kenya right now is a good reason to get to Polka Dot Gallery (across from the Hub in Karen) and meet Mercy through her art.

CENTRAL BANK OF KENYA CELEBRATES KENYAN ARTISTS

                                                        Samburu mamas by Eddie Ochieng

CBK CELEBRATES KENYAN ARTISTS IN 2018

BY Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 5 March 2018)

Central Bank of Kenya Governor Dr Patrick Njoroge is acclaimed for many things. He got his Ph.D from one of the leading Ivy League schools in America, Yale University. He was a senior economist with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 20 years before coming back home to Kenya to take up the top job of overseeing all the country’s economic affairs, and ideally cleaning them up to be corruption-free.

He’s also known for choosing not to live the so-called ‘high life’ by not moving into the CBK Governor’s mansion, not acquiring properties, fleets of cars and other conspicuous consumer items, status symbols and other materialistic paraphernalia.

Dr. Njoroge is a remarkable man for all of these reasons. But one thing about him that isn’t widely known is that he appreciates contemporary Kenyan art and artists.

                                                          Mike Kyalo in December

That is how and why the 2018 Central Bank of Kenya calendar is themed “Celebrating Kenyan Artists.”

The calendar itself celebrates 12 artists who were specially selected by a team that reached out to various art centres in Nairobi. Among them were The GoDown, Karen Village and Dust Depo. Then there were a few artists who simply received an invitation to submit their artwork for consideration. That was the case with Eddie Ochieng whose art became part of a pool of works that was then vetted by the CBK board. After that, the final approval came from Dr. Njoroge himself.

All the twelve artworks still belong to the artists, according to Mike Kyalo whose painting of githere-making mamas features for the month of December. A detail of it is also one of the twelve jigsaw painting pieces that appears on the front cover of the calendar.

                                                                                      Alex Mbevo in January

It may have been by accident but six of the twelve paintings portray sweet children at play. Starting in January with Alex Mbevo’s Boy on a bicycle, Andrew Otieno for March painted a little boy strumming a child-sized guitar. Then, in May Hannington Gwanzu used acrylics to create a scene with seven barefoot boys playing ball and other things. They’re right on the edge of a muddy field but they don’t seem to mind. Having rolled up their pants, they are obviously having fun.

                                                                                          Hannington Gwnzu in May  

Then in August, one will find Wilson Matunda’s babies on tricycles. One can’t tell their gender as they’re only wearing what looks like diapers. But one suspects they’re meant to be little boys. Two more little guys, by Michael Nyerere, are featured in September, only one has a bike while the other is walking behind. And finally, November has a sweet by sad-faced little boy painted by Harrison Ndungu who decks the boy out in two handsome necklaces.

Harrison Ndungu in November

The fact that none of the six paintings of kids includes young girls is conspicuous. But the apparent gender imbalance is slightly rectified with paintings of working women and one young girl (in October) painted by Eric Ombija and sporting her cell phone.

                                                                                       Eric Ombija in October

Then in February, Evans Yegon painted women weaving and carrying beautiful baskets. By June one will see Eddy Ochieng’s bejeweled Maasai (or possibly Samburu) women, at least one of whom is singing, but all are looking elegant. And in December, Mike Kyalo is there with the mamas venders seated behind giant sufurias and serving food.

Finally, a collection of Kenyan artworks wouldn’t be complete without a few or even two images of a mother and child. Tom Mboya in July provides one of them while Samuel Njoroge’s is included as the April ‘pin-up.’

                                                                                      Wilson Matunda in August
All told, CBK and the Governor deserve accolades for giving young Kenyan artists this chance to showcase their work under the umbrella of our number one bank. What makes the effort even more laudable is the way phone numbers are included with the paintings and artists’ names. That way, anyone who takes an interest in an artist and his work can easily get hold of him.

                                                             CBK Governor Dr. Njoroge with artist Mike Kyalo

My hope is that in future, CBK will continue this practice of paying attention to the creative capabilities of Kenyan artists. But I would only hope that women artists are also given a chance to be part of future calendars.

KYALO THE ALCHEMIST AT RED HILL GALLERY

KYALO’S METALLIC ART MYSTERIOUS REVEALS ‘THE SHAPE OF WATER’

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 4 March 2018)

Justus Kyalo is one of Kenya’s finest contemporary abstract painters. But in light of the work that he’s currently showing at Red Hill Gallery, one might also call him one of our best artistic alchemists. That’s because, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, an alchemist is technically someone who practices alchemy or who’s engaged in the process of transforming something “in a mysterious or impressive way”.

The ‘something’ that he’s transformed are ordinary galvanized metal sheets. There’s nothing ‘ordinary’ about them after he’s ‘painted’ them with acid and blended the acid and metal mix (the metal having been coated with molten zinc to ‘galvanize’ it) with plain water. The effect is quite miraculous.

Kyalo says he mainly uses a brush to paint the acid onto his metallic ‘canvas.’ “In that respect, I have some control over the process,” he says at the Sunday afternoon opening at Red Hill. But occasionally he pours acid onto the metal, allowing the acid to move and work as it will.

Then, when he pours water onto the metal sheets (some of which are up to nine or ten feet long), the alchemy is out of his control.

Kyalo admits the outcome of the process -- these metallic ‘paintings’ -- are a combination of control and serendipity. Or rather, they’re ‘controlled accidents’.

Kyalo’s works at Red Hill come in all sizes. Several are squares (around three feet by three feet). But mostly they are long rectangular works, two of which run from the floor to the ceiling in Hellmuth and Erica Rossler-Musch’s spacious gallery (which Hellmuth specifically built for the purpose of presenting fascinating works by both Kenyan and other East African artists).

The acid itself has a corrosive effect on the metal, apparently eating through the zinc coating and creating a rusty brown and ochre bundle of hues that take on organic shapes, all of which seems to have been produced purely by way of the alchemy.

In this his second solo exhibition at Red Hill, Kyalo has stepped back from working with oils and acrylics on canvas. Frankly, I like the freedom that he seems to let loose when he experiments with acid and water.

Those spaces on his metallic sheets where he initially leaves without acid take on a very different bluish-grey hue. But once he pours the water onto the metal surfaces, there is often a merger between acid and H20. That’s when the chemical dynamic gets interesting. The amazing mix tends to flow wherever it will.

(I’m writing this review just a few hours before the Academy Award winners are to be announced, so I’m inclined to suggest that his paintings convey a winning formula that constitutes “the shape of water”!)

In fact, as elusive as water’s shape may be, Kyalo seems to nail it as it takes on colorful, arabesque contours that surprise and delight the eyes.

5th EAST AFRICAN ART AUCTION COMING MONDAY NIGHT

                                                                   Geoffrey Musaka

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 2 March 2018)

Circle Art Gallery’s 5^th annual art auction, (renamed this year the Art Auction, East Africa) is going to be a thoroughbred affair.

Possibly the best art auction that Circle has held up to now, it’s bound to be the most diverse, given no less than ten countries will be represented this coming Monday night at the Dusit D2 Hotel in Westlands.

By far, the two countries that will be best represented are Uganda and Kenya. Then comes Sudan and Tanzania, with the surprise entry of works by no less than five outstanding Nigerian artists.

Ethiopian artists are a bit less, as are Congolese. But what’s most remarkable this year is that in addition to Nigeria being a new entry, several others have come in to make this year’s auction look more Pan-African than ever. There will be works by an Egyptian, Ghanaian, South African and even a French-Malagasy.

But what will make this art auction all the more exceptional is the revelation of so many up-and-coming as well as elder artist statesmen and women in this show, many for the first time.

                                                              Miska Mohmmed
Among the notable newcomers who’ll be on offer by veteran British auctioneer Dendy Easton (who’s been with this auction from the outset) is the young Sudanese artist Miska Mohmmed whose painting could easily ignite a bidding ‘war’ on Monday night. Already several prospective buyers who have been to Circle’s preview exhibition and seen Miska’s work have wanted to buy it on the spot!

But hers is not the only work that has already tantalized viewers who’ve been to see the preview exhibition of all 56 works. As one’s taste in fine art is subjective, I won’t speculate further. But I will say it will be heart-warming to see outstanding pieces by the highly-acclaimed Nigerian artist Bruce Onobrakpeya at the auction. He’s one of Africa’s great artist-elders. His works (which to me seem slightly undervalued) should also inspire a good deal of interest, especially if there are his fellow Nigerians in Dusit’s Den on Monday night.

                                                                        Twins Seven Seven, 'The Hunter'
As one saw this past week when Ben Enwonwu's ‘African Mona Lisa’ sold at Bonham's Africa Now Art Auction in London, for more than a million pounds sterling, it was a Nigerian who bought the Nigerian artist’s painting. (One only wished Kenyans collected art by their fellow Kenyans as assiduously as West Africans consistently do).

I will say the starting bids on the various paintings, prints, photographs and sculptures ranged widely this year. According to the Art Auction catalogue, they run from around Sh65,000 (USD670) all the way up to $12,000 for an exquisite painting by Geoffrey Mukasa and $15,000 for a spectacular piece by Rashid Diab.

According to Circle’s curator and co-director Danda Jaroljmek, those figures don’t just fly out of thin air. They’re derived from in-depth research into the artist’s history of sales as well as a number of other salient factors.

For instance, in the case of Mukasa, he is not only deceased, and so the number of his saleable works is decreasing, especially as the Ugandan painter has serious collectors of his art who are unlikely to ever consider reselling his art on a secondary art market.

And in the case of Rashid Diab who’s alive and well and painting all the time, he frequently has exhibitions in oil-rich countries in the Middle East where sheikhs don’t blink an eye at prices some of us see as sky-high. So his works are priced in relation to the global art market, which Circle must take into account as well.

But what should also make Kenyans proud is that around a dozen of their countrymen (no women other than Yony) will be represented in this year’s art auction. Among them are awesome elders like Edward Njenga, Rosemary Karuga, Yony Waite and Jak Katarikawe. But also you’ll see marvelous works by (relative) ‘youngsters’ (comparatively) such as Peterson Kamwathi, Paul Onditi, Gor Soudan, Justus Kyalo, Shabu Mwangi and two more members of Wajukuu Art, Ngugi Waweru and Joseph Waweru.

                                                       

                      Linda Benvenito with Souad Abdel Rassoul's painting on top & with Yony Waite's 1989 painting below
Sadly, there are only seven women in the auction this year. But among the seven are marvelous artists such as Souad Abdel Rassoul, Theresa Musoke, Nike Okindaye, Miska Mohmmed, Gosette Lubondo, Eyerusalem Jirenga and Yony.  But three more women provided the backbone of the auction: Danda first and foremost, Asteria Malinzi who designed the catelogue and Bryony Bodimeade who wrote all the cogent texts on the artists.

STEPHANO'S FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT IS KEY TO SUCCESS OF LA SALUMERIA

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted March 2, 2018)

Stephano Rusticali, 57, spent most of his life in Italy working as an accountant and financial consultant. He was one of the few members of his family that wasn’t involved in the tourism and hospitality industry. But he’d always been good at numbers and enjoyed designing business plans for others.

But when his two sons finished school, he decided to visit his cousin Guido who had up-market Italian restaurants in Watamu at the Kenyan Coast.

“Both catered mainly to Italian tourists,” says Stephano who was inspired by his cousin’s initiatives. They encouraged him to make a major life change and partner with Guido in starting up an Italian restaurant of his own at the coast.

“The Geko would cater to a more international clientele,” says Stephano whose background in financial management meant the restaurant quickly turned a profit. That was in 2014.

But then as he saw tourism slowing at the Coast, Stephano heard about an Italian restauranteur in Nairobi who wanted to retire and sell his business.

Stephno frankly didn’t have the cash to buy the business flat out. But when he went to see the place, which is just behind Valley Arcade in Nairobi, he liked what he saw. He felt it had immense potential although he’d want to make some major modifications.

“Guido agreed to partner with me. Plus we had been working with another Italian, a top chef who agreed to come in on the business as well,” says Stephano who made a deal with the outgoing owner. “He’s letting us rent the business for the first two years, after which we will buy the restaurant outright,” he adds.

In the meantime, Guido’s agreed to take over management of the Geko. “Although I go to check the books twice a month,” says Stephano who knows his biggest asset to the business is his financial managerial skills.

Once he took charge of the restaurant he renamed La Salumeria, he decided the best way to distinguish his place from other Italian eateries in town was to only serve foods that are authentically Italian.

“The name ‘La Salumeria’ itself is an Italian word referring to a shop that sells all sorts of Italian cheeses, cured meats and other specialty foods essential to preparing authentic Italian dishes, the kind you find at my restaurant” he tells Business Daily.

Pointing to the condiments on one table for four, he notes that the salt came from a city in Sicily, the olive oil from Tuscany and the Balsamic vinegar from Modina. What’s more, everything from the cheeses and sausages to the wines and assorted spices are flown in directly from Milan. Even the paintings on the wall, the music and the hanging hand-painted glass lampshades are Italian. Even his espresso machine and the macchiatos and cappuccinos that he brews with it come from Italy.

Stephano says the other important factor that ensures authenticity of La Salumeria’s food is Top Chief Murielle Minchella who’s taught all his Kenyan staff how to prepare fine Italian pizza, pasta and pastries for his guests. Plus he just recently brought in a top Sicilian chef who taught his staff special Sicilian recipes so that now La Salumeria has a new Sicilian menu with a whole new set of Italian dishes. That includes the Caprese chocolate and almond cake which again is made with all Italian Ingredients.

That close attention to creating a total Italian eating and cultural experience is paying off for Stephano who admits it wasn’t easy at the outset, especially since nobody knew the restaurant had a new owner, new menu and totally new ambience. But gradually, news has gone round that there’s a newly renovated and authentically Italian restaurant in town.

Stephano admits he sources all his fresh fruits and vegetables locally, and he gets his fish flown in regularly from the coast.

But his Italian cheeses are flown in once a week from Milan. But since none of them contain preservatives and he only serves the freshest of foods, Stephano he offers his cheeses for just a few days every week. After that, one has to wait till early the following week to get the burrita especially.

The other reason La Salumeria is doing well, despite only having taken over the business in 2016 is that the accountant in him has never stopped keeping a close track of the accounts. This he says is key to running any successful business.

  

or the other version of same story:

AUTHENTICALLY ITALIAN

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 2 March 2018)

Stephano Rusticali comes from a family fully involved in the tourism industry in Kenya. His cousin Guido Bertoni has one Italian restaurant and one boutique hotel in Watamu which cater mainly to Italian tourists coming from overseas.

An accountant by training, Stephano had only worked in Europe until 2013 when Guido encouraged him to come to Kenya and start up an Italian restaurant and hotel of his own.

Thus, the Geko Resort was born in 2014. Taking Guido’s boutique hotel as a model, Stephano says he aimed to cater for more of an international clientele than his cousin’s. And having been a business consultant most of his life, he got the Geko up and running in no time.

But as Stephano’s two sons are now grown men, he’s been enjoying his freedom and was keen to branch out a bit. An Italian friend who has a wine shop in Kilimani told him about an Italian restaurant in Nairobi that might be coming up for sale since the owner wanted to retire. Stephano was curious, and now he’s rented and renovated the place with a view to buying it in two years’ time.

Situated just behind Valley Arcade in the Dhanjay Flats, Stephano opened La Salumeria in 2016. Intent on making it the most authentic Italian eatery in Nairobi, his main marketing point for distinguishing his place from the rest is the authenticity of both the food and the Italian ambience of his new place.

‘Everything in the restaurant is Italian, from the paintings on the walls to the music in the background to the menu which has an extensive variety of dishes freshly prepared.

“We don’t only serve pasta and pizza,” says Stephano who nonetheless is proud of everything his kitchen prepares. “We also serve various meats [beef, lamb, pork and fish] and we also have a brand new Sicilian menu.”

Yet Stephano admits it’s not cheap to bring in whole containers full of Italian food-stuffs twice a month, but it’s worth it, he says.

Clearly a man who’s passionate about his culture as well as his cuisine, Stephano imports everything from Italian cheeses, wines and chocolates to cured meats and porceini mushrooms.

“We also bring in olive oil from Tuscany, Balsamic vinegar from Modina and even salt from Sicily,” he adds.

Having a professional background in finance has helped his business grow more quickly than many start-up firms could hope. “But I have experience keeping watch over the finances as well as on the incoming supplies,” he says.

It also helps to have Italian friends in Nairobi as well as at the Coast since they helped him find a reliable local farm to provide all the organic vegetables he requires every week. “I also get my fish flown in regularly from the Coast.”

But as important as are the Italian food stuffs, Stephano says food preparation is also key to La Sulermia’s success. He admits he’s fortunate to have as his business partner Murielle Minchella who’s a Top Chef.  

“I’ve known Murielle since I first came to the Coast in 2013, and I’m happy she agreed to come to Nairobi where she’s trained our entire kitchen staff in the fine points of Italian cooking.”

Just recently, Stephano also brought a top chef from Sicily to train his staff in Sicilian cooking. For instance, his pastry chef Margaret was shown how to make a Caprese cake with chocolate and almonds from Sicily.

“Margaret also makes our almond and hazelnut parfaits, as well as the chocolate mousse,” her boss explains as he introduces us Margaret, a lady who’s been making Italian pastries for the past decade, having she worked under the previous management.

One other critical feature of La Salumeria is its brand new expresso making machine which Stephano says is the finest one made in Italy. And as Italian coffee is considered some of the best in the world, Stephano doesn’t regret making the investment since every Italian meal must culminate with a cup of espresso or cappuccino.

“But we also make limoncello in our kitchen from imported lemon rind,” he says, knowing that few if any other Italian restaurant in town can boast of making their own lemon liqueur.

The crowning feature to Stephano’s Italian showcase is his new Artistest Gallery which just opened December 20^th 2017. “Currently the photography of Gian Paolo Tomasi is here. But in future we hope to see Kenyan artists exhibiting in the gallery as well.”

LIZZIE THURMAN’S TRIBE OF TALKING HEADS AT ONE OFF

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted March 1, 2018)

British artist Lizzie Thurman created a whole ‘tribe’ of talking heads back home in her Shropshire studio in the UK.

“I’d been inspired by the shrunken heads of Borneo that I’d seen during a trip I’d taken with my students to the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford,” the artist told Business Daily at the opening of her first international solo exhibition at One Off Gallery last Saturday, 24^th February.

Titling her show ‘A conversation – not quite as it appears’, one has to wonder who’s conversing with whom. Certainly her colorful papier mache heads could conceivably be in a disembodied conversation, given how vibrant are the hues that Lizzie has used to give each one a quality of life that’s quite uncanny.

In fact, Lizzie’s clearly got a personal attachment to each one of her ‘trophy’ heads. She’s even given every one a name of its own. There’s Gabriele (who’s beautified with rhinestones, beaded earrings and gold leaf), Luiz Cruz (who’s mainly coated in blue-black acrylic with the rhinestones and beads in his eyes), Leonard Manly (who’s got full-lopsided lips and somber eyes that are striking for their redness set against shades of green and blue-black skin tones) and Glorious Searle (whose flaming red scull and face contrast with his sunshine yellow lips and ears).

Lizzie has even taken her heads on a cross-continental tour. They exhibited first in London where one of Carol Lees’ friends saw them and suggested they come to Kenya for a show at One Off.  “A few other friends counseled against that idea,” she says. Perhaps they thought her heads might offend Africans since their features are decided sub-Saharan.

Yet in reality, the tradition of headhunting and keeping skulls and heads as trophies isn’t only a practice that took place in parts of West Africa and Borneo. Archeologists tell us it happened all over Europe, the Americas and even in Asia. So it’s just as well that Lizzie didn’t fear that folks in Kenya would be super-sensitive about the resemblance that her heads have with people having full lips and flat noses.

What’s more important is the process by which she created her heads. She hasn’t always worked with papier mache, but since she began teaching more than a decade ago, she’s found that medium most functional, fun and easy to use. Especially when creating three-dimensional shapes.

In her One Off exhibition, Lizzie’s heads come in both 3D and 2D, with her monotype and oils also having been given names like Elisabeth wife 2, Mariene, Thomas and Cody Moon.

But even her pen and ink drawings have an elegant and powerfully delineated message. It’s called beauty. And somehow it’s even more powerfully pronounced in the drawings since one can’t be distracted by the ornamentation and colorful elaboration and contrasting hues that command one’s attention, whether you intended to look or not.

Considering the impact of Lizzie’s ‘talking heads’ show, one can almost understand why (according to Wikipedia) headhunting was a pervasive cultural practice in history all over the world. And even now, there are records of skulls having been assembled in Vietnam and Afghanistan.

Of course, there no comparison between her heads, which are inspired works of art and those of militant men (or even so-called medicine men) who collected heads for war trophies or rituals’ sake.

But what Lizzie has achieved with her heads is to remind us that beauty comes in all shapes and colors and lines.

Whether she learned that lesson while visiting the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford or at Central Saint Martin’s Art School or in Africa where she’s spent time both in Egypt and Kenya, who can tell. But from the way she shamelessly assembles colors that ‘clash’ and contrast, one can easily appreciate how Lizzie also worked for years as a stylist with high-fashion magazines like Vogue, Tatler and Elle.   

Her exhibition will be up until 3^rd April and she’ll be giving art talks around the region between now and then. But if you can’t meet her in person, her heads will be around till then and they are well worth seeing and hearing what they have to say.

                                                          Gabriella and Mindful Ibrahim