ART, INGENUITY AND INNOVATION EARN ARTISTS A LIVELIHOOD

                                                                           Loud Mouth by Evans Ngure

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 5 April 2019)

Kenyan artists are consistently proving there’s no end to imagination and innovation. It’s what many of them illustrate every day as they strive to find artistic media with which to express themselves.

Oftentimes, traditional art materials are too pricey for struggling artists to afford. On the other hand, many prefer to experiment with alternative means of expression. That’s where you will find a vast range of local artists, everyone from Rosemary Karuga, Kioko Mwitiki, Joan Otieno and Meshak Oiro to Cyrus Kabiru, Nani Croze, Carbon Mwini, Evans Ngure and Maliza Kiasuma.

                                                           Laser art: Carbon Mwini 'paints' on plywood with laser

And there are many more, including Peter Walala,  Joseph ‘Bertiers’ Mbatia, Irene Wanjiru, Harrison Mburu, Moira Bushkimani and Samuel Omondi.

All of these artists have fascinating stories to tell. For instance, when Cyrus Kabiru started creating sculptures out of scrap metal, he used to hire young boys to collect discarded bottle tops from local bars. After that, he’d hammer them flat and reshape them into crocodiles and scarecrows. Then he started transforming old bicycle frames into beautiful works of art. And now, he’s a world-acclaimed artist whose ‘C-Stunners’ sculpted eye-wear is everywhere from the Zeiss Museum of Contemporary African Art to multiple magazine covers and private art collections all over the world.

There are a number of local artists who shamelessly visit junkyards to collect the materials they require to create everything from sculptures and jewelry to ladies’ handbags, dresses and matching shoes. Currently, Meshak Oiro goes there to look for discarded bicycle chains which he solders into sculptures like the ‘Cinderella shoe’ he recently exhibited at the Art Cupboard, a new art space established by Paul Onditi who personally paints using bleach and other mixed media on plastic sheets.

Joan Otieno visits junk yards twice a week with the young women she mentors at Warembo Wasanii. Together they collect mainly plastics which they take back to their Kariobangi North studio to wash and upcycle into plastic ‘fashions’ which the girls model at venues like UNEP and the Landmark Building in Karen.

Sam Omondi and Khan Key find their art materials primarily at private airstrips where local pilots tend to leave their derelict airplanes. “The pilots are usually happy to have us dismember their old planes,” says Sam who, like Khan, is a trained architect who prefers making furniture from airplane spare parts. For instance, they use propellers to make coffee tables, turn a small plane’s fuselage into a beverage bar. They even transform aircraft wings into dinner tables.

But possibly the most touching story of an artist recycling used materials into beautiful works of art is that of 94-year-old Rosemary Karuga. Born in Meru, Rosemary is the first Kenyan woman to go to Makerere University’s Margaret Trowel School of Art in 1950. She graduated in 1952, then got married and had a family. For several debates, she virtually disappeared from the local art scene. To sustain her family, she taught art in a Kiambu primary school.

By the time her children had grown up and Rosemary felt compelled to reconnect with the professional artist she had once been, she had no means to buy materials. It was then that she (who’d previously been best known as a sculptor) began creating collage art, using scraps of paper jackets from home products like Rexona soap and Unga flour.

After almost thirty years sacrificing the artist in her for the sake of her family, Rosemary re-emerged in the 1980s to become the leading collage artist in Kenya. Today, she lives abroad with her daughter but her art, which reflects lovely narratives of African rural life, is just as fresh as ever.

Finally, another source of artistic innovation is ‘mitumba’ or second-hand clothing. One artist who was fortunate to have Kenyatta University fine art education but no funds to start up his artistic career is Evans Ngure. He did have family who worked at Gikomba, so he knew about the women who bought second-hand clothes which they remade into saleable baby clothes. “They used to snip off the buttons from the clothes they bought, so after they left, me and my friend would collect the buttons and I’d use them to make jewelry that I’d sell at art fairs,” says Evans who basically describes how he raised the seed capital to start up his artistic career.

Peter Walala also used second-hand clothes as the source of the art materials that won him a first-prize at the 2016 Manjano Art Competition. “I’d get mitumba, then clip off the labels and finally stitch them altogether,” says the son of a tailor who taught him from childhood how to use a sewing machine.

Walala’s labels, which looked like a giant abstract collage, won awards for his ingenious use of a medium no one had previously thought of as fodder for creating a work of art. In Manjano 2019, Walala also stitched non-traditional materials together to create an unusual work of art. This time it was square rubber tubing from bicycles. But in the center of every square was a pressure valve, so the work is three dimensional and highly original. it's not nearly as colorful as were his labels but the detail is even more unique than the cloth. Walala is one of the most innovative artists in Kenya.

Finally, some local artists are not only ingenious but environmentally concerned. Such a one is Nani Croze who decided in the late 70s to start a new career and switch from being a mural artist to being a glass artist. She didnt have the training at the time but she went an apprenticed with some of the finest glass artists on the planet. Then she found a Finnish man who helped her create her first glass blowing furnace using scrap metal and making it jua-kali style. And ever since, Nani has been creating glass art by recycling broken wine and whisky bottles, melting them into everything from vases, glasses, pitchers and finally stained glass designs which have done into to churches all over Kenya. 
In fact, Nani isnt the only local artist who is fully aware that she/he's doing a service to the environment by recycling trash, up-cycling it into elegant works of art.

https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/magazines/Junk-art-goes-a-notch-higher-with-aviation-scrap/1248928-2251814-wfmoq9z/index.html

THEATRE AND INTERACTIVE ART PROMISE A BUSY WEEKEND

                      The beauty contestants in Esther the Musical to be staged 12-14 April at Braeburn Theatre, Runda

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 3 April 2019)

‘For Better or Worse’ the Heartstrings Theatre Troupe has shifted its performances from Alliance Francaise to Nairobi Cinema, starting this weekend. There will be shows at 5pm and 7pm, and one imagines the company moved to have more space for its ever-expanding fan-base.

Heartstrings doesn’t give advance notice of what their comedies are about. But one can be sure there will be lots of references to local politics and local social media-mania. At the same time, the troupe’s director, Sammy Mwangi, keeps the themes not just timely but attuned to larger global trends.

Always upbeat and alive with laughter and tummy-tingling jokes, some people say Heartstrings’ humor is an acquired taste. But it is easily acquired and also highly recommended.

The other production of the upcoming weekend will be Sunday when the new theatre troupe, Son of Man will stage Marvin Kibicho’s drama, ‘The Lady in Red’ at Kenya National Theatre’s smaller stage. That show will be staged at 3pm and 6pm.

Then next weekend, thespian Julisa Rowe will be back in action directing ‘Esther the Musical’ for Potterhouse School, Runda. Set to be staged at the Braeburn Theatre in Garden Estate, the musical will run from Friday through Sunday featuring five performances.

Based on the Biblical story of Esther who becomes Queen of Persia, but who cannot remain silent while her Hebrew people were suffering. It’s a passionate tale, one of the most thrilling feminist stories in the Bible.

With Davina Voi, 15, cast in the title role and more than 60 performers including parents, teachers and students, Dr Rowe has had a major challenge theatre-wise. But she is a skilled professional who was last seen on stage in the moving production, ‘Night, Mother.’

Finally, there will be a number of performance art programs opening around town this weekend. They include photographer Osborne Macharia sharing ‘Seven Years of Afro-Futurism’ at Alliance Francaise tonight.

                                                                                        BSQ Graffiti artists

Graffiti artists BSQ, Kerosh, Swift and others will be at BSQ’s interactive exhibition inside their Kenya Railway car which they transformed into a graffiti artists’ studio.  The show opens at 11am, but graffiti performances will be on all day and into the night.

Finally, on Sunday afternoon from 2pm, the late Tanzanian artist Edward Saidi Tinga Tinga will be showcased in an affordable art fair that will feature ‘Tinga Tinga and the Legendary Artists of Tanzania’ inside the Pioneer Gallery at Nairobi Gallery, next to Nyayo House.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM FANTASY COMES ALIVE AS BALLET

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (Posted 3 April 2019)

It’s hard to believe the same playwright who wrote ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Richard III’ also scripted a farcical fantasy like ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ back in 1595.

It’s even harder to imagine that it wasn’t until 1962 that the comedic play was turned into a magical ballet by George Ballanchine, complete with a delicious musical score by Felix Mendelsohn. And finally, it wasn’t made into a Hollywood movie until 1999.

It was only this past weekend that ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ premiered in Nairobi at the Kenya National Theatre, courtesy of Dance Centre Kenya. Featuring more than 60 dancers (aged 8 years on up to 28), DCK’s Artistic Director Cooper Rust once again produced and directed a first-class production.

Granted she had a little help from her many friends (including a few who came in especially from the US to assist with technical features like lighting and sound) and new-found sponsors like Barclays Bank and Yaya Centre.

She also credits DCK parents for creating graceful costumes and Nathalie Fusillo’s Palacina Interiors for constructing the sets.

But it’s Naomi Wambui who actually painted the two beautiful backdrops.  One is the Royal Greek garden where the story begins with the Duke of Athens (Francis Waweru) determined his son Demetrius (Antony Nduva) will marry the unwilling Hermia (Nifa Omondi), who only has eyes for Lysander (Henry Mwaniki).

The other lusterous set Wambui painted is the enchanted woodland where the dream comes alive as Hermia and Lysander run away, followed by Demetrius who’s sought after by Helena (Liana Eising) who can’t bear his rejection.

If the romantic entanglements sound complex, they get more so once Oberon (Lawrence Ogina), King of the Fairies, puts his court jester on the case. Puck (Silas Ouma) is set loose to spray magic love potion on the sleeping sweethearts, including the King’s devoted Queen Titiana (Kayla Hotz) who falls for the baffoonish Rustic, Nick Bottom (George Okoth) after he’s been turned into a donkey by the mischievous Puck.

The trick about the potion is that it works after Puck splashes it on sleepers who, upon waking up, fall in love with the first one they meet. This causes immense mayhem. Fortunately, the King finally has Puck reverse the magic spell, leaving the two pairs of young lovers resolved and the Duke prepared to relent.

The ‘Dream’ is a fantastical comedy and big credits go to the young dancers as well as to Cooper whose choreography included not just dance but also dramatic acting, physical comedy and mime. The language of dance had to persuade us that Hermia and Lysander are seriously in love, that Demetrius initially doesn’t want to be bothered by the impassioned Helena, and that Puck is as mischievous a merry prankster as Shakespeare meant him to be. This they did with conviction and grace.

And while there was an occasional wobbly dancer on toe and one who was half-a-beat behind Mendelsohn’s lovely music, those details didn’t detract from the overall professionalism of the ballet.

Indeed, Cooper trains her dancers to meet the high standards set by the Royal Academy of Dance. In the four short years that this professional ballerina has been teaching at DCK, she’s seen her advanced students go on to study dance in France, UK, US and soon in South Africa.

What’s more, in addition to teaching in all three DCK outposts, in Hardy, Lavington and Rosslyn Riviera, she runs classes everywhere from ISK and Brookhouse to St Austin’s and several schools in Kibera and Kuwinda slums.

Kuwinda is where both Silas Ouma (Puck) and Lawrence Ogina (Oberon) met Joel Kioko, Cooper’s first scholarship student to be admitted to the prestigious English National Ballet School. Joel escorted both young men to DCK where they’ve rapidly excelled and seen ballet transform their lives.

Lawrence, who was orphaned at age 10, is soon to attend University of South Carolina where, if he raises the funds required, will study civil engineering as well as dance.

Cooper’s NGO, Artists for Africa, has already assisted scores of young Kenyan dancers. But AFA will need to raise substantial funds to get Lawrence there.

Meanwhile, Silas, who also comes from an underprivileged background, has an anonymous donor who’s helped him start work on a teaching certificate through the Royal Academy of Dance.

What’s also marvelous about DCK is that they don’t just teach ballet. They also teach Hip Hop, Tap, Musical Theatre, Jazz, Modern and Contemporary Dance. It’s no wonder the Centre is growing by leaps and bounds.

Shakespeare’s ‘Dream’ fantasy comes alive as Ballet

By Margaretta wa Gacheru

It’s hard to believe the same playwright who wrote ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Richard III’ also scripted a farcical fantasy like ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ back in 1595.

It’s even harder to imagine that it wasn’t until 1962 that the comedic play was turned into a magical ballet by George Ballanchine, complete with a delicious musical score by Felix Mendelsohn. And finally, it wasn’t made into a Hollywood movie until 1999.

It was only this past weekend that ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ premiered in Nairobi at the Kenya National Theatre, courtesy of Dance Centre Kenya. Featuring more than 60 dancers (aged 8 years on up to 28), DCK’s Artistic Director Cooper Rust once again produced and directed a first-class production.

Granted she had a little help from her many friends (including a few who came in especially from the US to assist with technical features like lighting and sound) and new-found sponsors like Barclays Bank and Yaya Centre.

She also credits DCK parents for creating graceful costumes and Nathalie Fusillo’s Palacina Interiors for constructing the sets.

But it’s Naomi Wambui who actually painted the two beautiful backdrops.  One is the Royal Greek garden where the story begins with the Duke of Athens (Francis Waweru) determined his son Demetrius (Antony Nduva) will marry the unwilling Hermia (Nifa Omondi), who only has eyes for Lysander (Henry Mwaniki).

The other lusterous set Wambui painted is the enchanted woodland where the dream comes alive as Hermia and Lysander run away, followed by Demetrius who’s sought after by Helena (Liana Eising) who can’t bear his rejection.

If the romantic entanglements sound complex, they get more so once Oberon (Lawrence Ogina), King of the Fairies, puts his court jester on the case. Puck (Silas Ouma) is set loose to spray magic love potion on the sleeping sweethearts, including the King’s devoted Queen Titiana (Kayla Hotz) who falls for the baffoonish Rustic, Nick Bottom (George Okoth) after he’s been turned into a donkey by the mischievous Puck.

The trick about the potion is that it works after Puck splashes it on sleepers who, upon waking up, fall in love with the first one they meet. This causes immense mayhem. Fortunately, the King finally has Puck reverse the magic spell, leaving the two pairs of young lovers resolved and the Duke prepared to relent.

The ‘Dream’ is a fantastical comedy and big credits go to the young dancers as well as to Cooper whose choreography included not just dance but also dramatic acting, physical comedy and mime. The language of dance had to persuade us that Hermia and Lysander are seriously in love, that Demetrius initially doesn’t want to be bothered by the impassioned Helena, and that Puck is as mischievous a merry prankster as Shakespeare meant him to be. This they did with conviction and grace.

And while there was an occasional wobbly dancer on toe and one who was half-a-beat behind Mendelsohn’s lovely music, those details didn’t detract from the overall professionalism of the ballet.

Indeed, Cooper trains her dancers to meet the high standards set by the Royal Academy of Dance. In the four short years that this professional ballerina has been teaching at DCK, she’s seen her advanced students go on to study dance in France, UK, US and soon in South Africa.

What’s more, in addition to teaching in all three DCK outposts, in Hardy, Lavington and Rosslyn Riviera, she runs classes everywhere from ISK and Brookhouse to St Austin’s and several schools in Kibera and Kuwinda slums.

Kuwinda is where both Silas Ouma (Puck) and Lawrence Ogina (Oberon) met Joel Kioko, Cooper’s first scholarship student to be admitted to the prestigious English National Ballet School. Joel escorted both young men to DCK where they’ve rapidly excelled and seen ballet transform their lives.

Lawrence, who was orphaned at age 10, is soon to attend University of South Carolina where, if he raises the funds required, will study civil engineering as well as dance.

Cooper’s NGO, Artists for Africa, has already assisted scores of young Kenyan dancers. But AFA will need to raise substantial funds to get Lawrence there.

Meanwhile, Silas, who also comes from an underprivileged background, has an anonymous donor who’s helped him start work on a teaching certificate through the Royal Academy of Dance.

What’s also marvelous about DCK is that they don’t just teach ballet. They also teach Hip Hop, Tap, Musical Theatre, Jazz, Modern and Contemporary Dance. It’s no wonder the Centre is growing by leaps and bounds.

Shakespeare’s ‘Dream’ fantasy comes alive as Ballet

By Margaretta wa Gacheru

It’s hard to believe the same playwright who wrote ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Richard III’ also scripted a farcical fantasy like ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ back in 1595.

It’s even harder to imagine that it wasn’t until 1962 that the comedic play was turned into a magical ballet by George Ballanchine, complete with a delicious musical score by Felix Mendelsohn. And finally, it wasn’t made into a Hollywood movie until 1999.

It was only this past weekend that ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ premiered in Nairobi at the Kenya National Theatre, courtesy of Dance Centre Kenya. Featuring more than 60 dancers (aged 8 years on up to 28), DCK’s Artistic Director Cooper Rust once again produced and directed a first-class production.

Granted she had a little help from her many friends (including a few who came in especially from the US to assist with technical features like lighting and sound) and new-found sponsors like Barclays Bank and Yaya Centre.

She also credits DCK parents for creating graceful costumes and Nathalie Fusillo’s Palacina Interiors for constructing the sets.

But it’s Naomi Wambui who actually painted the two beautiful backdrops.  One is the Royal Greek garden where the story begins with the Duke of Athens (Francis Waweru) determined his son Demetrius (Antony Nduva) will marry the unwilling Hermia (Nifa Omondi), who only has eyes for Lysander (Henry Mwaniki).

The other lusterous set Wambui painted is the enchanted woodland where the dream comes alive as Hermia and Lysander run away, followed by Demetrius who’s sought after by Helena (Liana Eising) who can’t bear his rejection.

If the romantic entanglements sound complex, they get more so once Oberon (Lawrence Ogina), King of the Fairies, puts his court jester on the case. Puck (Silas Ouma) is set loose to spray magic love potion on the sleeping sweethearts, including the King’s devoted Queen Titiana (Kayla Hotz) who falls for the baffoonish Rustic, Nick Bottom (George Okoth) after he’s been turned into a donkey by the mischievous Puck.

The trick about the potion is that it works after Puck splashes it on sleepers who, upon waking up, fall in love with the first one they meet. This causes immense mayhem. Fortunately, the King finally has Puck reverse the magic spell, leaving the two pairs of young lovers resolved and the Duke prepared to relent.

The ‘Dream’ is a fantastical comedy and big credits go to the young dancers as well as to Cooper whose choreography included not just dance but also dramatic acting, physical comedy and mime. The language of dance had to persuade us that Hermia and Lysander are seriously in love, that Demetrius initially doesn’t want to be bothered by the impassioned Helena, and that Puck is as mischievous a merry prankster as Shakespeare meant him to be. This they did with conviction and grace.

And while there was an occasional wobbly dancer on toe and one who was half-a-beat behind Mendelsohn’s lovely music, those details didn’t detract from the overall professionalism of the ballet.

Indeed, Cooper trains her dancers to meet the high standards set by the Royal Academy of Dance. In the four short years that this professional ballerina has been teaching at DCK, she’s seen her advanced students go on to study dance in France, UK, US and soon in South Africa.

What’s more, in addition to teaching in all three DCK outposts, in Hardy, Lavington and Rosslyn Riviera, she runs classes everywhere from ISK and Brookhouse to St Austin’s and several schools in Kibera and Kuwinda slums.

Kuwinda is where both Silas Ouma (Puck) and Lawrence Ogina (Oberon) met Joel Kioko, Cooper’s first scholarship student to be admitted to the prestigious English National Ballet School. Joel escorted both young men to DCK where they’ve rapidly excelled and seen ballet transform their lives.

Lawrence, who was orphaned at age 10, is soon to attend University of South Carolina where, if he raises the funds required, will study civil engineering as well as dance.

Cooper’s NGO, Artists for Africa, has already assisted scores of young Kenyan dancers. But AFA will need to raise substantial funds to get Lawrence there.

Meanwhile, Silas, who also comes from an underprivileged background, has an anonymous donor who’s helped him start work on a teaching certificate through the Royal Academy of Dance.

What’s also marvelous about DCK is that they don’t just teach ballet. They also teach Hip Hop, Tap, Musical Theatre, Jazz, Modern and Contemporary Dance. It’s no wonder the Centre is growing by leaps and bounds.

Shakespeare’s ‘Dream’ fantasy comes alive as Ballet

By Margaretta wa Gacheru

It’s hard to believe the same playwright who wrote ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Richard III’ also scripted a farcical fantasy like ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ back in 1595.

It’s even harder to imagine that it wasn’t until 1962 that the comedic play was turned into a magical ballet by George Ballanchine, complete with a delicious musical score by Felix Mendelsohn. And finally, it wasn’t made into a Hollywood movie until 1999.

It was only this past weekend that ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ premiered in Nairobi at the Kenya National Theatre, courtesy of Dance Centre Kenya. Featuring more than 60 dancers (aged 8 years on up to 28), DCK’s Artistic Director Cooper Rust once again produced and directed a first-class production.

Granted she had a little help from her many friends (including a few who came in especially from the US to assist with technical features like lighting and sound) and new-found sponsors like Barclays Bank and Yaya Centre.

She also credits DCK parents for creating graceful costumes and Nathalie Fusillo’s Palacina Interiors for constructing the sets.

But it’s Naomi Wambui who actually painted the two beautiful backdrops.  One is the Royal Greek garden where the story begins with the Duke of Athens (Francis Waweru) determined his son Demetrius (Antony Nduva) will marry the unwilling Hermia (Nifa Omondi), who only has eyes for Lysander (Henry Mwaniki).

The other lusterous set Wambui painted is the enchanted woodland where the dream comes alive as Hermia and Lysander run away, followed by Demetrius who’s sought after by Helena (Liana Eising) who can’t bear his rejection.

If the romantic entanglements sound complex, they get more so once Oberon (Lawrence Ogina), King of the Fairies, puts his court jester on the case. Puck (Silas Ouma) is set loose to spray magic love potion on the sleeping sweethearts, including the King’s devoted Queen Titiana (Kayla Hotz) who falls for the baffoonish Rustic, Nick Bottom (George Okoth) after he’s been turned into a donkey by the mischievous Puck.

The trick about the potion is that it works after Puck splashes it on sleepers who, upon waking up, fall in love with the first one they meet. This causes immense mayhem. Fortunately, the King finally has Puck reverse the magic spell, leaving the two pairs of young lovers resolved and the Duke prepared to relent.

The ‘Dream’ is a fantastical comedy and big credits go to the young dancers as well as to Cooper whose choreography included not just dance but also dramatic acting, physical comedy and mime. The language of dance had to persuade us that Hermia and Lysander are seriously in love, that Demetrius initially doesn’t want to be bothered by the impassioned Helena, and that Puck is as mischievous a merry prankster as Shakespeare meant him to be. This they did with conviction and grace.

And while there was an occasional wobbly dancer on toe and one who was half-a-beat behind Mendelsohn’s lovely music, those details didn’t detract from the overall professionalism of the ballet.

Indeed, Cooper trains her dancers to meet the high standards set by the Royal Academy of Dance. In the four short years that this professional ballerina has been teaching at DCK, she’s seen her advanced students go on to study dance in France, UK, US and soon in South Africa.

What’s more, in addition to teaching in all three DCK outposts, in Hardy, Lavington and Rosslyn Riviera, she runs classes everywhere from ISK and Brookhouse to St Austin’s and several schools in Kibera and Kuwinda slums.

Kuwinda is where both Silas Ouma (Puck) and Lawrence Ogina (Oberon) met Joel Kioko, Cooper’s first scholarship student to be admitted to the prestigious English National Ballet School. Joel escorted both young men to DCK where they’ve rapidly excelled and seen ballet transform their lives.

Lawrence, who was orphaned at age 10, is soon to attend University of South Carolina where, if he raises the funds required, will study civil engineering as well as dance.

Cooper’s NGO, Artists for Africa, has already assisted scores of young Kenyan dancers. But AFA will need to raise substantial funds to get Lawrence there.

Meanwhile, Silas, who also comes from an underprivileged background, has an anonymous donor who’s helped him start work on a teaching certificate through the Royal Academy of Dance.

What’s also marvelous about DCK is that they don’t just teach ballet. They also teach Hip Hop, Tap, Musical Theatre, Jazz, Modern and Contemporary Dance. It’s no wonder the Centre is growing by leaps and bounds.

MUKURU ART CLUB'S ONLINE ART SALES GIVE YOUNG ARTISTS BIG BOOST

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 2 April 2019)

Adam Masava may be best remembered as the artist who figured out how to make art and sports merge to serve both their interest simultaneously.

He did it when he opened an online art auction to raise funds for young footballers from South B Sports Academy to go to Sweden to participate in an International youth football tournament. Adam raised the funds, and the South B team got to Sweden where they successfully played with footballers from all over the world.

Adam had already started the Mukuru Art Club under the Academy’s umbrella by then. “The Academy was started in 2009 by my friend John Mandela who wanted to help kids from the slums have healthy alternatives to hanging out in the streets,” says Masava who joined Mandela in 2010.

“I could see that some of the kids weren’t keen on sports, so I decided to start them doing art,” says the mentor of more than a dozen young men and women, most of whom have been painting with him since the club began.

Adam says he named the club ‘Mukuru’ for a reason. “I’m originally from Mukuru slum as are most of our members. I wanted us to always remember where we came from,” says this artist-mentor who’s subsequently exhibited all over Europe, from Germany, Slovakia and Czech Republic to Austria and the Netherlands.

Adam’s initial training in art was at the Mukuru Arts and Crafts Centre where the nuns who started the centre often brought in artists from abroad to teach their students. He studied with other future artists, several of whom have, like him, gone on to start art centres of their own. One was Shabu Mwangi who started Wajukuu Art Centre a bit before Adam established his art club. Both young men had the same goal, to help youth from the slums learn skills in fine art free of charge.

But ever since the Club had to move out of the spacious school hall where it began and into Adam’s tiny South B studio, the group feels more like an artists’ collective than an after-school art club.

“I’d previously been teaching hundreds of kids, some as young as six. But when we had to move, I had to be selective since my space is quite small by comparison to the school hall,” he says.

Recently the club had its first group exhibition on the rooftop above Adam’s studio. “It was to officially launch our new location,” says Adam who’d asked Lara Ray of the Polka Dot Gallery in Karen to help curate the exhibition.

“The exhibition was quite successful,” says Tony Bulima, the one club member that Adam met by chance when both were visiting GoDown Art Centre. “Tony was there looking for a mentor to teach him to paint, so I invited him to join us in South B,” recalls Adam.                                                                                                                     

The day Saturday Nation went to see the studio and the young artists at work, I met Adam and Tony with several other club regulars. They included Isaiah Malunya, Vincent Kimau, Duncan Githuki, and seated outside the postage-stamp sized studio was Lloyd Weche who’s the one abstract expressionist painter in the club.

These aren’t all the club members, but they all took part in that first show. And many of them sold their artwork that day, says Adam.

Mukuru Art Club will be having its second exhibition in June. In the meantime, Lara has put Club members’ artworks online at the Polka Dot Gallery website.

“Thanks to Lara, we’ve already five paintings online,” says Adam whose online art sales practice has come full circle.

s

JOAN OTIENO @WAREMBO WASANII, K-NORTH PT 2

MICHAEL MUSYOKA’S MAGNIFICENT MYSTERIES

                                                     Michael Musyoka with his 'Time II'

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 1 April 2019)


Michael Musyoka’s first solo exhibition at Red Hill Gallery raises more questions than it answers.

‘Time and other Constructs’ features nine enigmatic yet elegantly-painted large artworks, each containing a visual narrative suggestive of several meanings. They’re especially curious as the artist often juxtaposes antithetical imagery in a single painting, as in his ‘Listening to the wrong voices III’.

                                                                              Listening to the Wrong voices III


Here he creates beautiful flying birds who seem as if they could soar off the canvas. Yet in the same painting he plants a sign reading, ‘Usikojoa Hapa’, Don’t pee here! Why such a deliberate violation of that exquisite aerial scene? Could it be because he doesn’t intend to create pretty paintings or artistic decor. It seems he would prefer to disturb by giving his art a deeper meaning.

Musyoka himself is a gentle, soft-spoken man who’s transparent about his paintings. Thoughtfully explaining the way he creates the backdrops of each work, he says he first blends and dries his colors, after which he uses a squirt gun to spray each canvas with water. Left to dry in any way the water will, Musyoka admits it was an experiment. But it worked, since every one of his paintings has a backing that’s got a different texture, tone and abstract design.

But that’s only the beginning. Then come the narratives. First there’s this chubby little boy who shows up in paintings like ‘Time 1 & 2’ and ‘Punitive Measures 1 & 2’. Musyoka is quick to confess the pudgy fellow is himself.

So here’s another key to unlocking the significance of what’s being revealed in ‘Time and other Construct’. These paintings are apparently ‘self-portraits’ of the artist who recalls he used to be like that chubby fellow who he still identifies with in his mind. It hardly seems possible, seeing Musyoka at the opening of his show, looking svelte and seemingly comfortable with his leanness.

Nonetheless, once one gets that premise down, it’s easier to see how one of the founding fathers of the Brush tu Art Collective could take this opportunity to spill the beans and paint about some of the most deeply-seated concerns that still trouble him.

One of them apparently goes back to his religious upbringing when kneeling was an expression of humble petition to a higher power. But that might be reading too much into works like ‘Punitive Measures 1 & 2’ wherein all the young men are kneeling.

But wait, one can’t be sure if they are in that pose by choice, or if they are trapped or even enslaved? Either way, in both pieces the colorful designs of their pants, shirts and shoes are more suggestive of joy and gaiety than ‘punitive’ punishment. Again, there’s the visual juxtaposition.

The show itself juxtaposes ensembles of young men either kneeling in stone silence or frantically running around in tight circles. It’s the runners that expose the artist’s rare aptitude for painting with anatomical accuracy. For like the birds whose wings seem capable of lifting themselves off the canvas, Musyoka’s squads of chubby fellows embody animated energy and dynamic movement that comes alive.

Yet these fellows don’t look inclined to flee since they’re all too intent on keeping ‘time’ (the name of the paintings, ‘Time 1’ and ‘Time 2’).

                                                                                                        Time I

But again, one can’t be sure where his runners are going or why they’re on the run. It would seem they’re not running for pleasure. Rather, one suspects that just as his ‘punitive measures’ implied the lads’ kneeling wasn’t for pleasure, so these boys’ running looks enforced by some rule, possibly a set of strict deadlines or obligatory laws.

Yet for all the ‘rules’ that seem to be slightly threatening if enforced, rules implicit in signs like ‘50mph’ (the speed limit) and ‘Usikoja Hapa’, Musyoka also seems to deal with these dreary constructs with an underlying sense of humor and irony.

                                                                                          Listening II

Even when the backdrops are dark, his birds are white-winged, symbolic of the freedom he seems implicitly to know he has. Even when the boys’ run looks regimented, that very sense of order and unity implies a kind of hope, as with the ‘band of brothers’ who invariably endure hardships, but they’re still happy to be coping with the constructs together.

                                                Brush Tu Art Collective members with fingers pointed at Michael

In all, Musyoka’s first one-man exhibition remains steeped in mystery. Yet it’s also coded in colors that confirm the artist is challenged but content to continue experimenting and expressing beautiful slivers of his soul.