Patrick shares ‘the dream’ with other artists

Ever since Patrick Kinuthia moved to Rosslyn Riviera Mall in 2020, into a space once held by the One Off Gallery Annex, he’s had an uphill battle with everything from Covid-19 lockdowns to less traffic coming to the mall.

But Covid-19 couldn’t stop him from keeping his new Roweinay Gallery open and turning a portion of his vast space into a studio and classroom where he’s found time to mentor young artists like Njeri Kinuthia (no relation) who has gone on to earn herself a scholarship to study at San Diego’s school of fine art.

A number of up-and-coming artists have implored Patrick to exhibit their art at Roweinay (means ‘river’ in Kikuyu, referencing Ruaka River which runs just behind the mall). But up until now, the gallery has primarily been dedicated to the owner showing off his own remarkable works.

In fact, Patrick has achieved what many artists only dream of, that is, setting up their own gallery to exclusively exhibit their art. But at last, he has relented and opened his art space to other emerging artists.

‘Kenyan Outdoors’ opened last weekend, featuring not only his own paintings but those of Kennedy Kinyua and Derrick Munene. All three have distinctive subjects and styles. Kinyua paints in the tradition of his mentor, Bertiers Mbatia, who’s renowned for his dense peri-urban scenes of hyper-congestion at matatu stages which are often compounded by village markets, and various other aspects of people’s public and private lives.

Bertiers’ crazy, hectic scenes are filled with fascinating stories. Every character has a story to back up their presence in his paintings, which is one reason they have been so successful when they have gone on display everywhere from Los Angeles to Dakar.

Bertiers started a classroom at his home in Karinata for aspiring artists several years back and Kinyua was one of his star pupils. His peri-urban scenes are well-drafted though missing Bertiers’ naughty wit. In Kinyua’s grand masterpiece, on display at Roweinay and which he says took him two years to complete, he tries out another one of his mentor’s equally sought-after styles of painting.

It is one which includes notable national and international figures from the current news. And again, he creates an intense display featuring everyone from Raila and Ruto, Biden and Putin, Kalonzo and Karua, to very many other easily-identifiable figures commonly seen on cable TV.

He paints a colorful array of characters that is impressive to behold. And more so if you have never seen a painting by Bertiers Mbatia.

Meanwhile, Munene is a collage artist who creates ‘paintings’ using just a pair of scissors, some Super Glue, and loads of glossy papers, preferably from National Geographic magazine.

“I like to work with old National Geographics which I pick off the streets,” Munene told BDLife. “I like them for the quality of their paper and the rich colors that their photographers capture,” he adds.

Like the early Kinuthia, Munene has a few portraits in this show. His most striking one is of the late Chatwich Boseman which he creates using various shades of black and blue. The work is haunting since Munene managed to capture the essence of ‘Black Panther’ star’s life force.

His concern for environmental issues is seen in his painting of the health workers dressed in full-body safety gear. Again, it’s a painting that has an arresting effect.

Nonetheless, it’s Kinuthia who has evolved most dramatically since he initially exhibited his art at Banana Hill Gallery some years ago.

Back then, he made his mark painting beautiful women from all ethnicities of Kenya. His variety of African beauties made him among the first Kenyans to also paint portraits of African women from all across the East African region.

What gave his art even more of an aesthetic appeal was the way he mixed portraiture and abstract expressionism, leading him to blend an unusual array of colors across ladies’ faces which enhanced their radiant beauty and surprising charm.

A myriad of local artists has tried to imitate Patrick’s style of portraiture ever since. But none have managed to repeat the same magical quality of light that he somehow makes glimmer and gleam across lovely African black or brown faces. A few have come close, but none do it as effectively as Patrick.

In “Kenyan Outdoors’, he displays few of his beauties. Instead, he focuses on wildlife, landscape, and life at the Lamu coast. But it’s his elephants, elands, and buffalo that confirm Kinuthia’s an artist with a mind of his own.