This archive report was first published on 8 January 2020.
Usual Stuff for a Change ¶
Artist Shine Tani's festive season exhibition at Banana Hill gallery in Nairobi has been a winner, still going strong even as the Christmas decorations start to sag.
The show features a mixed collection of work by 30 artists from Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, with over 70 paintings on display.
Shine's big idea was to give his stock a festive airing, but with thousands of paintings in his gallery, not much gets a public showing, except for enthusiasts who hunt for bargains.
However, the current show provides plenty of opportunity for viewers to decide whether they are looking at 'pictures' or 'paintings', as the distinction between the two terms is often simplistic and misleading.
Art is not just about intellectual heft, but also about decoration and pleasure, as the artist Antony Gormley recently pointed out: 'Art is useless if it doesn't in some way energise your life.'
The exhibition features a range of works, from raucous township scenes by Leonard Ngure to quiet landscapes by the Kenyan artist Coster Ojwang', and from well-schooled realism by David Kigozi to quirky pieces by Kaspa and Julius Kimemia.
There are also works by Haji Chilonga, Stamili Sayuki, Rahab Shine, and Wanyu Brush, among others, making it a must-visit show for art lovers.
