Every year, Karen Village in Nairobi hosts an art competition with calls for artists from across the East African region to submit paintings which are selected for a month-long exhibition at the art gallery, which is made from the remnants of an old colonial church built in 1864.
From last Saturday and running into the rest of this month, the exhibition features rising stars in the contemporary art scene- who have a passion for art that veers off from the traditional script of oil, acrylic, or pastels on canvas.
The exhibition is a paradise for anyone with a taste for art that veers into the queer, the innovative, with an underlying spirit of a forager and a junkyard merchant.
The exhibition curated by Clifford Owino, a mixed media artist with a penchant for glass and an understudy of the glass master Toney Mugo, is insightful and bold, and perhaps a sneak peek into the mindset of a curator, on his first rodeo, just two years after graduating from his art undergraduate degree from Kenyatta University.
It places heed to the modern contemporary that it does to classical, and the underlying theme of the exhibition is its homage to the sheer vibrancy of colour and figurative contrasts.
Artist Muthoni Nderitu displays her artwork at Karen Village during the art competition on August 30, 2025.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group
For Clifford, what stood out for him was not only the art itself but the new form of media that was being showcased. From motherboards, electric cables, computers, junk parts to scraps, and pieces of plastic and metal, anything recyclable and at hand was an inspiration to create.
“Most of the works submitted were not the typical portrait paintings; everyone was tapping out of their comfort zone with their submissions,” he says.
The exhibition takes a two-pronged approach in its thematic setting. Landscapes and abstracts take centre stage in one side of the room, and on the other side, faces and portraits take the other.
For Clifford, who comes from a lineage of artists, his first curatorial journey is described as a difficult jumpstart, but one that he would do again and again if he ever gets the chance.
“Growing up, I was surrounded by relatives who were creating art, and so art pieces were a familiar sight,” he says on his journey, “by the time I was in class six, I knew I wanted to be an artist when I grew up.”
In the exhibition, one of the artists whose work stood out was Risper Achieng, a mixed media visual artist who uses electronic gadgets, computer motherboards, and paraphernalia to create portraits that speak against femicide, support women's empowerment, and advocate for social justice.
“Art to me is a way of life... I focus on recycling electronic gadgets on canvases, creating work dedicated mostly to celebrating women and other themes that occur in real life, which give way to an expression of emotions from me,” she says.
Whereas she started doing art while still in primary school, it wasn't until she cleared high school that she started taking her creative journey seriously.
“I used to paint with acrylics, and before that, I would recycle plastics and use them to create my works...I have found myself more inclined towards electronic gadget parts, which include electric wires, motherboards, and, being my current muse,” she says.
Despite being an oddity, she remains unfazed with her work sticking out from most that you would find in conventional spaces because of the understanding that she loves to create from what inspires her as opposed to what people may expect her to do.
For Sunny Houston, another of the over 70 artists at the exhibition, art has been his life rather than vice versa. His current works are centered around oil paints and acrylics, and major in portraits, which mix and match colours to create intriguing contrasts.
Artist Sunny Houstone displays his artwork at Karen Village during the art competition on August 30, 2025.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group
His pieces at the exhibition are paintings expressive of his vibrant, colourful palette, which is his current phase. “Oil paintings are preferable to me because they give me the freedom to manoeuvre around my subjects without any time constraints. Acrylics dry up faster," he says.
For most of the time, Sunny paints on his own balcony. His first painting fetched him Sh5,000, and his most expensive painting went for Sh35,000, but money for Sunny has never been a factor behind his creative journey.
“If I focused on the money, it would start to separate me from my art.” The best thing about this current exhibition, perhaps, would be that most artists are young and diverse in terms of the works portrayed, which are over 90 pieces.
It comes second to the New Wave Exhibition by the One-Off Contemporary Art Gallery, a positive rising trend that is giving voices and spaces to young bloods in the visual art scene who are looking to forge their own paths.
