April 29, 2014

The future is richer for most established artists in Kenya.Is there Opportunity Inequality though?

Any hardworking artist in Kenya will attest to the fact that making a name for yourself in the industry is no mean feat. But then again the question is whether it is making it in Nairobi as the art center of the country or in Kenya that has in the past few years positioned itself as the best place to be an artist at in the whole of East and Central Africa.

With the launch of the first modern art auction in Nairobi last November by Circle Art Agency, the city under the sun drew attention from all over the world and definitely positioned itself as the best place to be at in the region if you are a professional artist. And even after the art auction ended, there have been a great deal of art events and gatherings in the city that have augmented even further the gains made in and by the arts fraternity in Kenya. More art centers to promote established and upcoming artists have been established and the relevant people after all those years seem to care about art and what it could be if managed properly.

And for the few artists reaping big returns from their hard work recently, the future can only be said to be richer, leave alone being better. In the past two years, there have been incidences where a painting was sold for more than two million Kenyan shillings at a private sale, where a painting was stolen for its apparent high value in the art market and where big galleries have been opened in even upcountry towns in Kenya.

Kenyan artist Adrian Nduma. His work sold at a private sale in 2012 for Sh 2.2 million. 

However, a closer scrutiny into the Kenyan art scene reveals a case where there could be a group of people who literally determine who is big and not. I have personally interacted with some artists who have complained of institutionalized corruption in the art industry as far as who makes top shilling is concerned. Being an artist myself, I understand how hard it can be to be consistent in the production and quality of your works and even how harder it can be to get your works sold both by yourself and by others.

As a close friend of mine who runs a gallery in one of the major towns in the country says, art has intellectual property than very few of everything else has. He says that the intellectual property part of art should be the artist’s selling point and not what is perceived as beauty or quality though the two are vital determinants of art pricing. I recently got turned down by a top art curator despite having quality art works for the mere fact that I am just starting out and that “they” only deal with old established artists. I took that in lightly positively and understood her as a person looking out for her business   interests. I mean, who would want to buy art pieces from a young artist who still has a lot of years to emulate others who are currently doing well and stop being naively original?

The art scene in Kenya presents a situation where the future is brighter for a selected few while it looks bleak and blurry for an even larger number of artists who are struggling to make ends meet through alternative means while holding on to hope that one day they will make it big.

A group of Kisumu based artists during the launch of the first professional gallery in the western Kenya region recently.

For the people who run the art centers, times have changed and things have to be done differently. Artists have to conform to some set rules and codes to make it big through the curator’s hands. The effect is that many other people have been left in the cold as dust piles on their artworks in their studios and shops. However, despite all these there is a number of upcoming and established curators who are looking out for the interests of the struggling artists and are pushing their works in the market. They should be recommended for the good work they are doing. I wouldn't want to over scrutinize the negatives of the art industry in Kenya lest it become worse in the future that I am planning to make it big in.

You can also read an article by renown French Economist Thomas Picketty about rampant art world inequality here