Nairobi Art Auction Set For March

The Modern and Contemporary Art Auction East Africa is coming upon us faster than imagined. March 5, when the auction is held at Nairobi’s Radisson Blu Hotel, will be here in no time flat.

The Circle Art Gallery held a public preview exhibition on Wednesday of the artworks to be auctioned next month.

For me, what makes this year’s 58 lots (artworks) so special is not simply that the art is coming from seven African countries; Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa, it is that this year we will see Kenyan art in its finest light.

There are almost 20 Kenyan artists with their works represented and up for auction, including celebrated sculptors Samwel Wanjau, Edward Njenga and newcomer Dickens Otieno as well as painters like the late Robin Anderson, Ancent Soi, Camille Wekesa, Peter Elungat, Rosemary Karuga, Richard Kimathi, Sane Wadu, Tabitha wa Thuku and Michael Musyoka.

There will also be a slew of Pan-African artists whose works will be sold at the auction who spent some of their most productive years living in exile and painting in Kenya.

They include artists like Theresa Musoke, Charles Sekano, Jak Katarikawe, Fitsum Berhe Woldelibanos, Ash Uman, Yasser Ali, Hussein Halfawi and even Francis Nnaggenda whose ‘Mother and Child’ stand at the main entrance of Nairobi’s National Museum of Kenya. And then there are several Kenyans, like Annabel Wanjiku and Tahir Carl Karmali who got their start artistically in Kenya but who have moved out across borders (and in Tahir’s case, across oceans) to other harvest fields.

But through the art auction, they are reclaiming their artistic roots back home in Kenyan soil.

Silk batiks

Another special thing about the curatorial work that Danda Jaroljmek, the gallery’s co-owner and her staff has done is to unearth artworks by artists who we know best for their practicing one specific style of art.

But their work in this year’s show is revelatory in that it reflects a period of their artistic evolution that we were unaware of before.

The ‘Kneeling Woman’ by Peter Elungat is in that category. Tabitha wa Thuku fits in there as well since both of their paintings reflect earlier periods when their artistic experience was still fresh, new, experimental and sweet.

The same could be said for Kamal Shah’s ‘Village Diva in Red’ and John Kamicha’s untitled piece. All four of these paintings feel like they blend in well with the quality prevailing in the show as a whole. Even Robin Anderson’s oil on canvas painting is a discovery since she is best remembered for her lovely hand-painted silk batiks. But before she developed that popular style, Robin painted in oils on canvas which is what we’ll find at the auction.

And even an artist like Francis Nnaggenda is better known in Nairobi as a sculptor than a painter, like the one who created ‘The flute player’ that will be auctioned.

Nnaggenda’s sculptures are scattered around Nairobi, at the entrance of Nairobi National Museum, inside the Nairobi Gallery and even at Nairobi City Park next to the graves of the former Kenyan Vice President and his wife, Joseph and Sheila Murumbi since they were great admirers of Nnaggenda’s art.

So his ‘Flute Player’ will be an exceptional piece reflecting the artist’s versatility.

The Nigerian contribution to this year’s auction is also a bonus, largely thanks to a shipment of paintings sent from Oshogbo by the brilliant batik artist Niki Seven Seven Okundaye to Alan Donovan of the African Heritage House. It was a gift of sorts to commemorate Donovan’s 50 years living in Africa, which had begun in Nigeria.

Artworks from another of Nigeria’s finest veteran artists such as Bruce Onobrakpeya, the late Twins Seven Seven, Wole Lagunju and Muraina Oyekmi will also be at the auction.

No one can foresee which artworks will generate the greatest interest at this year’s auction, but it will be worth attending.

Last year, the art auction made almost Sh21 million from the sale of 56 African works of art. Collectors snapped up paintings, collage, photographs and sculptures.

The auction’s success is a reflection of the renaissance that contemporary art generally is having among collectors and investors.