NGENE MWAURA EXPLORES HIS PAST IN RECLAMATIONS
From the delicate work of tending cilantro into the intricate art of the peculiar, Ngene’s work speaks to the soul.
Reclamations, an exhibition by Ngene Mwaura speaks about the unusual while at the same time unraveling the mysteries in the ordinary life. In this latest exhibition at Artspace Nairobi, Mwaura tries to find closure to what was the hardest blow to his life when his parents died. During the opening on Saturday, 1st October, Mwaura spoke of the love he shared with his family and the support his parents gave him. He spoke about his deeply religious mother, who was practical and initiative, and his atheist father-a philosopher and idealist. This two shaped who he became later in life.
Ngene begun art at a tender age of 12, it is this art that has developed through the inspiration of artists like John Muafangejo and Ndasuunye Shikongeni from Namibia, Vincent Van Gogh (Netherlands), Henry Moore (England), Amadeo Modigliani (Italy), Kivutha Mbuno (Kenya) among others. Born in 1981, he has had an opportunity to work with the likes of Patrick Mukabi and Wanjohi Nyamu who are known Kenya painter and Sculptor. Furthermore, he has had to train at Kenya’s Kuona Trust, Glendale community college and Pasedena City College in California, USA.
It is with such a rich knowledge that Ngene weaves out intricate art that not only marvels but attracts the mind’s eye to new revelations and ideas. His art asks questions and begs for a discussion- a thing Ngene hopes to achieve. “I go out there to have a conversation,” Ngene says while he leads the audience into a meshwork of his art.
Moreover, the art spills out the parental love and espouses the experiences of love and hard work. It opens the doors of two worlds, the religious fanatic in the mother and the atheist open mind of his father. In addition, it canonizes the perspective of storytelling that is the emblem of a philosopher father and a pious mother.
Essentially, the
artist loves masks. These are his building blocks. He says, he has studied
hundreds of masks and it intrigues him how the essence of human creation has
been interred in them. It is these masks that bring to life his amazing pieces.
Secondly, his colours borrow heavily from the African Kitenge. He says of the
use of colours that he has always wanted to be a fabric creative. Therefore,
his art is a stack reminder of his two beloved loves, the mask and the fabric.
The Artspace Gallery says of Reclamations as, “Mwaura is on a quest to find home, to reclaim himself through his past and present environments. Mwaura modifies and elaborates the traditional masks and traditional African imagery, as his starting points, yielding vibrant new forms that are laden with symbolic intent. The vivid colours and the patterns and textures of his intricately worked panels bear both artist and viewer across time, to the places, the people, and the relationships that have nurtured him throughout his life.”
In the current exhibition, the artist is showcasing most of his recent works that span from 2013- 2016. The works include titles like ‘The Heavens the Horizons music- to the poets god,’ ‘the Empress and the Bee,’ ‘Colour enlightenment- a drink from the west,’ ‘Beautiful Bizarre,’ ‘Lost in these Clouds,’ ‘the Keeper of the Bees,’ ‘Part of me not me, me, we,’ ‘the Guardian and the Vine’ among others. The artist uses acrylics on wood panel and also mixed media on wood panel to stamp his authority in the art industry not only as an artist but an enigma akin to detail.
The event runs to until 11th October.
Comments
Post a Comment