Labyrinth: 50 Years of Kenyan Art

As Kenya marks her 50th Independence Anniversary this December, the visual arts community looks back on past achievements and present progress. For the roughly 50 years of documented Kenyan Art, nothing came closer to a legend than Ruth Schaffner of Gallery Watatu.

Her indelible legacy lives on in the work and creations of artists and curators alike. One of her scions, veteran art collector, curator and designer Marc Van Rampelberg rekindles historical flames with the art exhibition, ‘The Labyrinth’ at the Belgian Ambassador’s official residence in Nairobi. The Labyrinth is an in-depth exploration of the oeuvres of these well-established artists: Samuel Wanjau (Born 1936) Morris Foit (Born 1940) Jak Katarikawe (Born 1940) Kivuthi Mbuno (Born 1947) Sane Wadu (Born 1954) Gakunju Kaigwa (Born 1958) Chelenge Van Rampelberg (Born 1961) Jackson Wanjau (Born 1966) Patrick Mukabi (Born 1969) Richard Kimathi (Born 1971) Fitsum Berhe Woldelibanos (Born 1979) Peterson Kamwathi (Born 1980).

The serenely-set and invite-only event had artists, collectors, art organizations and friends of the Belgian diplomatic circle coming together to savour the rich array of talent in Kenyan art. Creative energy flowed from the façade, dotted with 8 monumental sculptures, into the gallery space inside the residence, continuing outside onto the terrace where designer Rik Van Rampelberg created a mobile gallery holding 140 big works of art out of a total of 162.

Mr. Bart Ouvry, host and Belgian Ambassador to Kenya says, “Two and a half years ago, we [the embassy] saw this residence was beautiful enough for this purpose. We’ve often used the gallery to receive guests and for about ten to fifteen years, it has been our policy to bring modern artists and artwork from the Belgian Government Collection. This time we thought: Why not merge Kenyan art with Belgian art? We’ve had contemporary exhibitions in 2011 and 2012, but this is the first exhibition to have a historic perspective,” he explains.

“The artists are spread across four generations, the first having Samwel Wanjau, Jak Katarikawe and Morris Foit,” explains Carol Lees, Director of One Off Art Gallery, who was part of the curator’s team. “Court Dancer”, a towering wooden sculpture by recently-deceased 77-year-old Wanjau, dominates the gallery where Katarikawe, Fitsum and Foit also feature. Wanjau was about 27 when Kenya won its independence in 1963. “These older artists were not influenced by global trends in art. They used a non-academic approach,” Carol observes. Wanjau’s sons, Anthony and Jackson are closely following in his footsteps with Jackson’s clever sculpture “The Photographer”; a piece depicting a photographer in deep concentration.

Van Rampelberg opines that the self-taught artists of the 60s more than made up for their lack of formal art training by developing a ‘very individual, distinct style’. “They didn’t subscribe to any western school of art like impressionism, minimalism or any other ‘ism’— their art came straight from the heart,” stresses the curator/designer with a peculiar aversion to mobile phones.

“Throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s self-taught artists developed their craft individually, attended national and or international workshops organised by Watatu Foundation, Kuona Trust or the National Museum of Kenya, amongst others. “Younger artists, some of whom had enjoyed formal academic training, merged within the wider group and skills improved by ‘cross-pollination’ so to speak,’’ says Van Rampelberg. His wife Chelenge adds, “It is like our traditional age group system; there are those who open doors for others and in the end the talent grows.”

The 80s saw the surge of Gallery Watatu on our art scene. Ruth Schaffner, with her lifelong experience of art gallery management in Santa Barbara, USA, knew a thing or two about discovering and nurturing new talent. Perhaps her biggest impact was to increase the market value for Kenyan art and bring it up to international standards.

With Schaffner passing away in 1996, Watatu’s fate seemed sealed following amateurish fiddling by two subsequent partners. Soon after, it closed its doors for good. However, by this time, schooled artists were breaking onto the scene: the likes of Fitsum Berhe Woldelibanos, Peterson Kamawathi, and Patrick Mukabi. Mukabi, who is well known for his voluptuous creations and being one of the pioneers of Nairobi’s art scene, looks back: “When I came to the art scene about 16 years ago, making a break was not easy. The only galleries then were the Gallery Watatu or the National Museum. Nowadays artists stand a better chance of being discovered.”

Since then, the art scene has boomed. Kuona Trust, The GoDown Arts Centre, One Off Art Gallery, Banana Hill and now Circle Art, among others, collectively form a modern incubation system for Kenyan art today. “Art in this decade is characterized by influences drawn from freedom of expression, as art is always reflective of the society,” observes Lees.

With The Labyrinth and the record-setting Circle Arts Auction at the Villa Rosa Kempinski in November, a new dawn is beckoning. “Though we don’t claim to have the entire 50 years covered in this exhibit, it does bring together different generations and shows the link between the different forms of art,” enthuses Ouvry. “Indeed,” joins in Van Rampelberg. “But if we had sufficient pieces out of Samuel Wanjau’s oeuvre left in the country, we could exhibit him alone and still call it 50 years of Art in Kenya.”

Hot on the heels of The Labyrinth and Circle Arts Auction is the upcoming Art50 event at Kuona Trust this December. “We are having pioneer artists like Sane Wadu, Morris Foit sharing their artistic journey with young artists, many of whom only get to hear about them, but have never met them,” divulges Kuona Trust’s Director Sylvia Gichia. “We can’t celebrate politics without art. The world’s focus on African art is more and more shifting away from South Africa and West Africa — to Kenya,” she exclaims.

Following The Labyrinth exhibition, Van Rampelberg continues his call to unite and bundle the art community’s resources and create an independent, privately owned, community operated museum: The Nairobi Museum of Contemporary Art, the ‘NMCA’ of our future. Now there’s an idea.

 

By Mark Namaswa