Timothy has an entirely different take on Kenyan creatures from Drishti, a reality which seems perfectly reasonable given he’s lived in Kenya practically all his life and Drishti just arrived the other day.
Drishti is new to Nairobi. She’s only been in Kenya for the past two years. Having been born, raised and schooled in Mumbai, it was a loved one who landed her here.
Richard is one of the five Kenyan artists whose works are included in the Kenya Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
Drishti Chawla has a fresh eye on wildlife that makes her debut exhibition in Kenya at the Polka Dot Gallery a winner.
Not that the town isn’t already filled with wildlife shows, such as the Timothy Brooke exhibition of ‘Flocks, Herds, Migration’ at the Sankara Hotel, curated by Carol Lees of One Off Gallery.
Live beings But Timothy has an entirely different take on Kenyan creatures from Drishti, a reality which seems perfectly reasonable given he’s lived in Kenya practically all his life and Drishti just arrived the other day.
But time is not necessarily what distinguishes their distinctive styles. Nor is training since both have been to excellent art schools, Brooke in the UK and Drishti in India.
Nonetheless, with his broad, sweeping brush strokes, Brooke’s ‘flocks and herds’ feel like live beings in free-flowing motion, leaping through knee-high waters or across savannah plains.
His choice to paint his zebra, wildebeest and even elephant in motion, means their rapid flight is portrayed in a fluid, almost impressionistic style.
In contrast, Drishti paints her wildlife with delicacy and precision, as if each one was a model she’d managed to get to sit for her and pose.
Drishti Chawla’s ‘‘Pride’’ at Polka Dot Gallery. PHOTO | MARGARETTA WA GACHERU | NMG
Taking that more static approach to each creature, she still managed to humanise them with qualities of composure and keen intellect that come across primarily through their sharply focused emerald green eyes.
Drishti is new to Nairobi. She’s only been in Kenya for the past two years. Having been born, raised and schooled in Mumbai, it was a loved one who landed her here.
Prior to coming, Drishti had been a painter exhibiting in both group and solo shows in India and abroad.
But for most of her professional life she had been a graphic designer working for advertising agencies like Ogilvy & Mather where she’d been tremendously successful.
But she told BD Life at her exhibition opening, that her work as a commercial artist hadn’t satisfied her soul. So one thing that’s been truly gratifying about her being in Kenya is that she’s been able to paint full time.
Nonetheless, since she’s had a chance to go on safari and familiarise herself with the country, the focus of her art has changed significantly.
Previously, she’d taken after the American artist Georgia O’Keefe, painting beautiful plant-life, particularly white lotus and pink orchids.
What has carried over from that period to her current trend of painting portraits of cats, including lions and cheetah, as well as zebra and elephant, is her incredible attention to detail and to realism.
The one exception to that last point is all her animals’ haunting green eyes which seem to stare straight back at the viewer.
They’re eyes that seem to communicate tremendous wisdom and keen insight.
In her Polka Dot show, Drishti sprinkles in a few abstract paintings and several cityscapes which for me were not nearly as interesting as her creatures, all of whom seem to have wild stories to tell, if only one could read their eyes.
Zebra Drishti Chawla’s painting ‘‘Maasai Mara VI.’’
Other exhibitions
Meanwhile, this past weekend, the Red Hill Gallery opened up their Tanzanian Tinga Tinga Collection for all to see.
And tomorrow, Saturday, June 24 at One Off Gallery, a solo exhibition entitled ‘On the other side looking in’ by Richard Kimathi is opening from noon till 5pm.
Richard is one of the five Kenyan artists whose works are included in the Kenya Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
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