BONIFACE MAINA
"TRANSITIONS"
Opening Reception
Sunday 23 April 12pm
FREE ENTRY
Nairobi Gallery
Exhibition continues to 30 June 2017
Daily 8.30am to 5.30pm
Normal rates will apply
BONIFACE MAINA represents a new breed of promising young contemporary artists in Nairobi. He has exhibited widely in East Africa and internationally . He has co-founded a cooperative of young artists in Nairobi known as Brush Tu Art Studio.
Born in 1987 at Nanyuki, Kenya, Boniface studied at the YMCA Training Institute, graduating with a diploma in art and design in 2008. He works primarily with acrylics on canvas and inks on paper. He is inspired by human reactions, personal experiences, dreams and daily encounters which he
illustrates through his surrealist scenes and figures.
Thus he is part of a new generation of artists
who are finding fame and fortune both at home and abroad through a combination of training, exposure and inner reflection based on their unique perspective in present day Kenya. This is both a continuum and a departure from the “Pioneer Artists” of East Africa who have been exhibiting works at the Pioneer Gallery of the Old PCS Office for the past several years.
These artists commenced their careers at the time of Kenyan independence or shortly thereafter, against all odds, as art was not considered a priority at that time. The Pioneer artists based their works primarily on tradition, yet they have opened paths and set stages for those who follow, such as Magdalene Odundo, the first Kenyan to receive the Order of the British Empire from the Queen of England for her brilliant ceramic works (she is now installing mammoth tableaus of glass in variousparts of the world).
TRANSITIONS is the title for a series of exhibitions which seek out and promote a younger generations of artists like Boniface Maina. Maina will premiere a new series of works, debuting his “new” style, which will be a marked departure from what his fans have been accustomed to in the past. Maina’s works have been published in a book, Masters of Contemporary Art Volume I, by Art Galaxie, an organization that serves to promote and disseminate the artwork of contemporary artists.
He has had numerous solo and joint exhibitions including the Kenya Art Fair, the Kenya National Theatre, Alliance Francaise, the Italian Institute of Culture, the UNHCR, the Circle Art Gallery – Lamu exhibitions, and the Nairobi National Museum. He has also exhibited through the Danish and Russian Embassy residences and at Glocal Art Gallery, Denmark.
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