Ankole cows find space at Talisman

Saad Lukwago is a Ugandan painter with such a distinctive and colourful style that one can spot his work anywhere.

His current exhibition at the Talisman Restaurant is well worth visiting, whether one’s having a meal or a coffee there or not.

It’s a place that’s become one of the most popular local venues for artists to show their work to a public who may never step foot in art galleries but who love paintings all the same.

Artists appreciate that the clientele at the Talisman tend to buy art. What’s more, the curator at the Restaurant has an eye for art that her customers could feel comfortable having in their home.

Graceful patterns

This is certainly true in the case of Lukwago’s art which is filled with bright, radiant colours that blend well and which the artist has presented in graceful patterns which often serve as well-proportioned backdrops to images of either Uganda’s favourite big-horned Ankole cows or portraits of people who are often grouped together in families or courting friends.

“Ankole cattle are distinctively Ugandan,” says the artist who is one of several of his countrymen (and only a few women) who have been attracted to Nairobi’s more developed art market as compared to the one in Kampala.

Some have come to be part of the annual Kenya Art Fair at Sarit Centre (which will be running from November 10 to 13), others have applied and gotten into the Manjano Art Competition and Exhibition, while others simply visit galleries like One Off, Banana Hill, The Art Space where their works may not get exhibited but they will be placed in the racks for art shoppers to check out.

Among the earliest Ugandan artists to exhibit in Kenya were Francis Nnaggenda (whose ‘‘Mother and Child’’ stone sculpture is at the front entrance of Nairobi National Museum), Eli Kyeyune whose paintings have shown up occasionally at the East African Art Auction, organised by Circle Art Gallery.

Subtle symbolism

Technically, Elimo Njau is a Tanzanian, not a Ugandan, but he spent years studying and teaching in Kampala at the Margaret Trowell School of Fine Art at Makerere University. What’s more, he first came to paint the Muranga murals back in 1958 while he was still a student at Makerere.

In any case, Lukwago didn’t go to Makerere. He graduated from the newer Kyambogo University in Kampala, which he says worked well for him since his course combined both the theory and practice of painting and multimedia that he found enriching.

What drew my attention to Lukwago’s art was what he showed in a group exhibition last year at the Village Market with Anwar Sadat, Jude Kasagga, Arnold Birungi and one Kenyan Samuel Githui.

What I found intriguing about his work in that show was the subtle symbolism and allegorical edge of his paintings, on the order of George Orwell’s ‘‘Animal Farm’’, only instead of storytelling with words, he used paints and brushes.

Chicken stories

Crafting his visually-told stories with chicken, his work reflected the mood in his country just before the last national elections.

His political messages were cleverly conveyed through farm animals so that one could love a painting for its colours, patterns, and activist cocks and hens, but never know that Lukwago was criticising the political process as it unfolded in Uganda last year.

His current exhibition at the Talisman is just as colourful and creative, but far less political than that previous show.

He substitutes eloquent chicken for long-horned Ankole cattle, and his concerns are far more family-oriented than crafted to speak softly about public campaigns.

Glazed ceramics

Yet Lukwago doesn’t need to always been profound or politically correct to create attractive paintings which are surprisingly reasonable in price. His art ranges from Sh20,000 up to almost Sh200,000 for larger works.

His art will be up at Talisman through October.

Meanwhile, Village Market is currently hosting a short exhibition (which was opened last night through Sunday) entitled ‘Expressions: Glaze. Colour. Gems with Waithera Chege providing the glazed ceramics, Monika Rekhi the colour and Francesca Oneaday showing off the gems.

Tomorrow at Red Hill Gallery, an exhibition of East African artists’ prints collected by Hellmuth and Erica Rossler-Musch between 1984 and 2016 goes on display through the end of the month.