By Margaretta
wa gacheru (posted 8 June 2018)
Paa ya Paa
Art Centre has been hosting African and international artists ever since it
opened back in 1965. The Centre has been organizing workshops and artist residencies
as well as mounting exhibitions for them.
Roses by the late Florian Lloyd part of Paa ya Paa's Silent Auction
In the
course of all those years, many artists have left behind works which they
either meant for the gallery to keep. Or they simply left town before they
could give a second thought to collecting their art.
“We’ve often
invited artists to come collect their work,” says Phillda Njau, co-curator at
Paa ya Paa with her spouse, the acclaimed East African artist Elimo Njau, who’s
also one of the cofounders of the Centre.
Art by Salah Ammar
“When they
haven’t come to pick their art, we’ve kept it in storage. But we recently had
help to sort and catalogue those works from several student interns,” Phillda
adds.
That is how
Paa ya Paa is now prepared to hold its first Silent Auction, filled with all
the paintings left behind over the decades.
“We haven’t
set a deadline date for the Silent Auction as yet, but we’ve just put up all
the artworks on our Facebook page for people to see,” says Phillda.
The bidding
process has already begun and the actual results of the Auction will be
announced at Paa ya Paa, probably sometime in July. At that time, the public
will be invited to have one last chance to bid on their favorite artwork, after
which people will be able to take their winning bids home.
“The artists
may also come and claim their share of the sale of their art,” adds Phillda who
says she welcomes the artists back to Paa ya Paa.
One of the
most intriguing aspects of the auction is that much of the art is by artists
who were just starting out in their careers when they arrived at Paa ya Paa. Some
came and stayed at the Centre for several weeks, like a number of Sudanese
artists. Others were students who came to display their works during feted
events like the Daniel Pearl Day, which the Centre celebrated with the American
Embassy to remember the fallen journalist who died in Karachi, Pakistan.
Either way,
it meant that in many instances, the artists’ styles as well as their skills
were still incipient, in the process of becoming. In other cases, artists came
through Paa ya Paa already having a keen sense of aesthetic direction and
determination to become professional painters as quickly as possible.
One such
artist is a young Sudanese artist named Abusharia Ahmed. Now a painter whose
works are exhibited all over the world and sell for hundreds of thousands of
shillings, Phillda has vivid memories of the young man.
Early work by Abusharia Ahmed
“He came to
us carrying gunny sacks and stayed in one of the rooms we had built for
visiting artists like him,” she recalls. “He started selling his works for
maybe KSh15,000. But gradually, we began getting visitors from various embassies
who were specifically coming to see his art. Now he’s told me his smallest
painting can’t sell for less than 100,000,” she says.
Abusharia’s
painting may be the most valuable piece in the auction. But there are others by
artists who are now well known in the Nairobi art world.
Art by Uhuru Brown
They include painters
like Yassir Ali, Joseph ‘Weche’ Waweru, Allan Githuka, Evans Maina Ngure, Salah
Ammar, Caroline Mbirua, Nuru Bahati, Eric Manya, Esther Mukuhi, George Ngaruya
and Lionel Njuguna. Even the graffiti artist, Uhuru Brown has paintings in the
PYP gallery. So does the former Principal at Buru Buru Institute of Fine Art,
Rix Butama. So there are any number of gems to be had.
by Joseph Weche Waweru
There are
also works by a whole range of less known artists, such as Adam Massava, B.
Chege, the late Florian Lloyd, Imma Juma, Allan Green, Eliud Ngugi and Ethiopian
artist Michael Yejisaw. There are also pieces by Lawy Opiyo, Ezra Joab, Patrick
Kariuki, B. Wangotho and J.K. Hassan. There is even one beaded work by Kibachi
Gatu which is stretched out on goat skin that’s attached by leather laces to a
frame made out of spear-like poles.
Meanwhile,
several shows opened this past week. At the Attic Art Space, an exhibition by
Meshack Oiro, Leevans Linyererea and Wallace Juma opened last weekend. It will
remain open until end of month, but it’s best to see on weekends. Then last Tuesday,
Wallace Juma’s ‘Dumpster Series’ entitled Reflections opened at Alliance
Francaise. And tomorrow at Polka dot Gallery, Anne Mwiti has an exhibition opening.
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