Junk art goes a notch higher with aviation scrap
Interesting bar by Key and Omondi. Photo/Margeretta wa Gacheru
By Margaretta wa Gacheru
Posted Thursday, March 20 2014 at 17:11
Posted Thursday, March 20 2014 at 17:11
Art made out of recycled scrap metal is nothing
new to Kenya. We have a multitude of so-called ‘junk artists’, many of
whom are not known locally, like Alex Wainaina whose ‘junk art’ statues
are scattered all around the Village Market and the late Ken Mwingi
whose scrap metal art fills the homes of some of Kenya’s most prominent
media people.
There are also those known internationally, like Joseph Bertiers Mbatia, Kioko Mwitiki and Cyrus Ng’ang’a.
Some use auto spare parts, others incorporate
junked computer bits, and still others use beer bottle tops to make
amazing works of art.
But so far, no one, until now has created
functional art using scrap metal retrieved from junked airplanes, which
is what Samuel Omondi and Khan Keydo.
Architects
Both architects [trained in the United States] as
well as boyhood friends, the two only got inspired to create aviation
art and furniture a year ago.
Since then, they’ve taken time off from their
professional trade to scour small airstrips and airports all around the
countryside in search of scrapped planes which they can take off the
owners’ hands, dismantle and then reconstruct as high-flying home
furnishings, such as glass-topped coffee tables (made from propellers),
dining room tables (made from small aircraft wings), bookcases and
[beverage] bars (made from a plane’s fuselage). Prices range from
Sh60,000 to Sh800,000.
All of these remarkable works could be seen at
Village Market until late last week. Now they are on display at the
artists’ workshop in Karen on Lamwia Road, near the Giraffe Centre.
Meanwhile, a number of exhibitions opened this
past week. Mwanzo Mpya, Longinos Nagila’s premier exhibition in Kenya
opened last Sunday at Shifteye Gallery.
It’s a visually powerful and poignant collection
of mainly portraits, many of whose subjects look like they have
struggled and suffered a lot.
That’s not the case, of course, with his paintings of policemen and priests who often are seen wearing gas masks.
The masks are ironic, in that African art is often
associated with masks, but Longinos twists that theme (or should I say
cliché) by injecting that militaristic element of social realism into
his art.
At Goethe Institute, Jackie Karuti explained that
her installation entitled Where Books Go to Die, was actually a
follow-up interpretation of the three-day event that she devised last
year in which she and several fellow artists and other book lovers went
around Nairobi, visiting both public and private libraries.
Her installation examines four elements – water,
earth, air and fire – and their impact on books. Jackie’s slide show of
the book lovers’ trek around town added an element of cohesion to the
show.
And the mobile mannequin mama that she co-created
with friends from the FabLab added a regal yet robotic presence that was
both curious and amusing.
And
last night on the occasion of the International Francophone Day,
Alliance Francaise hosted an exhibition opening featuring the works of
Belgian and Congolese artists: Xavier Verhoest, Yves and Goscinny as
well as Bezalel Ngalo.
Meanwhile, the Kenya Cultural Centre recently
opened its own art gallery which currently has mounted a commemorative
photographic exhibition of the controversial Latin American President,
the late Hugo Chavez.
Chavez
According to KCC’s associate curator William
Ndwiga, the Venezuelan Embassy chose to bring their collection of
Chavez, who died a year ago on March 5th, to KCC specifically to
strengthen bonds between their two countries.
“They also wanted to highlight the cultural
dimension of (President) Chavez’ career,” added Ndwiga who’s also the
founder-director of the Little Art Gallery, scheduled to open its own
space in Kisumu next month.
Sudanese
Finally, Nairobi has plenty of ongoing art shows.
What’s surprising is how many feature Sudanese artists. At Red Hill
Gallery, it’s Salah Elmur whose paintings are hung side-by-side those of
his Egyptian wife, Dr. Soad Ard Elrasoul.
At One Off Gallery, Salah Ammar’s art is up for
another week, and at Banana Hill Gallery, the works of four Sudanese
artists hang on Shine’s newly painted white wall until tomorrow when the
paintings of two Kenyan women, Esther Makuhi and Caroline Mbiruria go
up.
On a sad note, I must belatedly share my
condolences for the loss of one our most imaginative, energetic and
enterprising artists, Ken Mwingi, who passed away in January.
His medium was ‘junk’ but his wizardry enabled him
to transform junk into artistic gems. May he rest in peace and be
remembered as a gifted genius.
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