KENYA ART

KENYA ART
.In Kenyan art, as in all African art, themes are based on the representation of daily life and African culture; and reveal the importance behind some of its most beautiful art. The common themes are: a couple, a woman and a child, a male with a weapon or animal, an outsider or "stranger”. Graphical art in Kenya is derived from rock art patterns, but also heavily influenced from the Swahili and Arab culture.



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2 . Kenyan painting has gradually developed incorporating traditional designs with modern technique. At the National Museum an independent trust, called the Kuona Trust, has been established to foster and encourage Kenyan artists. Kenya with its many art galleries has an invaluable artistic wealth.

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3 . The Art of Kenya is full of life; artists express themselves in many ways through their works, and are allow this freedom of expression. Subjects vary from daily life in urban and rural settings, to still lives, to wildlife scenery, to abstract arts and traditional African settings, colors and patterns. Graphical art in Kenya has a much less defined history. There are certain traditions in design and representation derived from rock art patterns, but also considerable influence from the coast.

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4 .Painting and drawing in the formal European sense was introduced by colonialism. There were several European artists in colonial Kenya. Kenyan painting has gradually developed incorporating traditional designs with modern technique. One of Kenya’s best known painters, who have achieved international fame and recognition, is Joel Oswago. Joel is from Western Kenya, and his brilliant paint work depicts scenes of Luo life both traditional and modern.



His style is difficult to describe or define. He paints his subjects in an intense defined manner, emphasizing bodily and facial features with sharply contrasting primary colors. This can create an impression of harshness, but also of great physical vulnerability. His scenes of village life are usually structured in a tableau to suggest an immediate social or domestic situation. His art can be remarkably funny, terribly sad or often a combination of both. Kenya has developed a name as a home for bohemian expatriate artists, and there are many international artists living and working in the country.


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5. Kenya has also a rich history of rock art, ranging over several thousand years with a variety of styles and themes with the major concentrations of curring in western Kenya near Lake Victoria and in northern Kenya in the Rift Valley region. In western Kenya in Suba District, Mfangano Island in Lake Victoria, has two painting sites (Mawanga Cave and Kwitone shelter), where red and white geometric symbols 1,000 to 4,000 years old can be seen. The centre of the island also has cupules which are probably much older than the paintings. Kakapel is another important rock art site (a National Monument) located on a huge rock shelter in the Chelelemuk hills in western Kenya and some of the paintings here may date between 2,000 years and 4,000 years old. Some of the art is believed to be the work of Twa (Abatwa) hunter gatherers. It has paintings illustrating wild animals and stylized cattle, as well as geometric art. Some of the latter may have been made by ancestral Teso people.