East African art auction to draw spenders, collectors

Last November’s East African Art Auction, organised and curated by the Circle Art Agency, was such an overwhelming success — making more than Sh8.5 million and giving contemporary East African Art international limelight.

But this year’s Circle Art Auction is bound to be even better when it’s held November 3rd in the Grand Ballroom of the Villa Nova Kempinski Hotel.

Expectations are high as Circle Art Agency (CAA) confirmed it’s got an eye for artistic excellence, not just evident at last year’s auction, but also visible at the various ‘pop up’ exhibitions held in the past two years.

Danda Jarolmjek has proved she is not just a curator par excellence; she is also an adventurous explorer who is ready and able to trek around East Africa—all the way from Rwanda to Ethiopia and from Kigali to Kampala and Dar es Salaam— to ferret out the most exceptional works of African art which might never have been known globally.

Last year, art lovers who were interested in the paintings and sculptures in the auction were busy making bids from abroad. Some had proxies who did their bidding as they followed the auction proceeding by phone. The same procedure is likely to be followed this year.

The international status of Circle’s Art Auction was also confirmed a fortnight ago at Kenyatta University when the British art dealer Ed Cross (who briefly lived in Kenya) spoke to students about ‘the marketing of African art’, something he does through his own monthly online auction.

Mr Cross, who is based in London, praised the Circle’s art auction suggesting it should be seen as an historic turning point in contemporary East African art history since it raised the region’s public profile as a rising ‘art world’ (to use a term coined by the American social scientist Howard Becker.)

Circle’s second East African Art Auction is likely to be even better because the incredible success of last year inspired a number of local and international art collectors to bring some of their most precious paintings and sculptures to CAA to be auctioned November 3rd.

Artworks for auction

This means that art acquired some years back, including works by Ugandans Eli Kyeyune and Francis Nnaggenda, Tanzanians like George Lilanga and Tinga Tinga as well as Kenyans like Peterson Kamwathi, Peter Elungat, Sane Wadu, Zachery Mbutha, Rosemary Karuga and Samwel Wanjau, all will be part of the so called ‘secondary market’ providing almost half the choice works being auctioned by the London-based auctioneer Dendy Easton.

Mr Easton is currently with the popular TV show, ‘‘Antique Road Show’’ but previously has auctioned for two of the biggest auction houses in the world, Sotheby’s and Bonham’s.

The other half will include art works that Ms Jarolmjek has personally hand-picked, including new works by Salah Elmur from Sudan, Rose Kirimira from Uganda, Ephram Solomon and Davit Abebe from Ethiopia among others.

Most of the new works by Kenyans including Richard Onyango, Gor Soudan, Thom Ogonga, Paul Onditi and Chelenge van Rampelberg as well as Wycliffe Opondo, Ashif Malamba, Gomba Otieno and Kevo Stero; all of whom are members of Maasai Mbili.

Michael Soi has also produced a new work commissioned by CAA to commemorate and capture the spirit of this year’s art auction. The public can view all the art works to be auctioned at the Kempinski Hotel from November 1st up to noon on 3rd.

Entry is free but after that, the exhibition will be closed until the evening of the 3rd when only those who have actually bid on the art will be invited into the auction.

New artworks

The way prospective patrons of the art auction were informed about the works available this year was through a beautiful glossy catalogue produced by the CAA team, including graphic designer Rose Jepkorir, editorial writer Zihan Kassam and photographer Duncan Willetts together with Ms Jarolmjek.

Immediately after it came from the press, catalogues were sent out to all those who had expressed genuine interest in bidding on and buying this year’s collection of East African art.

Elsewhere in Nairobi, Patricia Njeri’s art is up at Banana Hill Gallery, veteran East African artists are on show at Red Hill Gallery and art featured in the Kenya Arts Diary 2015 will be up at the Heinrich Boll Foundation from October 21st.