Day of coffee and metal art

This preening egret was made by Kioko, who runs Kioko Art Gallery. PHOTO | COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • Kioko came alive as he talked about how he is encouraging some young Kamba carvers to be more imaginative and innovative.
  • Kioko will be holding his own exhibition in the gallery — the first one in Nairobi for over four years. It will run from January 25 to February 29.

I knew it was going to be something special when Lut, my wife, placed the big box in front of me after dinner. I could see the excitement on all the faces round the table.

I opened the box, unwrapped the paper, and took out the most beautiful, the most ingenious birthday present I have ever had.

It was a preening egret sculpture mainly made out of about a hundred keys. I knew only Kioko could have crafted that.

Last Saturday, I went to Kioko Art Gallery to thank him. ‘Yes, it was quite a challenge,’ he said.

"Lut brought in a bag of keys and said, 'Please make something for John’s birthday — as long as it is a bird.' I have made sculptures out of many kinds of junk — but never out of old keys!"

So I sat with Kioko and took coffee. Like Lewis Carroll’s Walrus and the Carpenter; we talked about many things — art, artists and ambitions, canvases and keys.

He is a good talker. He has an unlimited bag of stories, like his metal sculptures. He’s witty.

INNOVATIVE

That is the difference between his work and that of his many imitators, whose metal animals you can see along the Jua Kali section of Ngong Road.

Kioko has a deep appreciation of Kenya’s culture and its wildlife. But his art doesn’t simply copy nature; there is always a touch of quirkiness, a spice of wit. That makes his sculptures of animals, birds and people unique.

However, this is a creative gift that Kioko doesn’t want to keep to himself. Nowadays, he spends a lot of his time looking for, encouraging and supporting young Kenyan artists. We talked, for example, about Kamba carvers.

I have always thought that their works, unlike that of the Makonde carvers in the south, tend to be limited and repetitive in their themes — rather more wooden than the material they use.

Kioko came alive as he talked about how he is encouraging some young Kamba carvers to be more imaginative and innovative.

ART LESSONS

That nurturing spirit is what led Kioko to establish his gallery on James Gichuru Road. “I want it to be a launching pad for new and undiscovered artists,” he said.

He also travels a lot. He has had a number of exhibitions in the United States and relished giving talks in universities and schools there, as well as in Kenya. He has also started consulting — collaborating with interior designers.

Apart from a series of exhibitions, the Nairobi gallery holds art classes, poetry readings and music performances.

There is a studio space for making documentaries. And there is a well-stocked shop for a wide variety of small craft items — pottery, glassware and, of course, some of Kioko’s small and quirky pieces.

NEW GALLERY

Later this month, Kioko will be holding his own exhibition in the gallery — the first one in Nairobi for over four years. It will run from January 25 to February 29.

Yes, this is a leap year. And Kioko will be making another kind of leap; he will be opening a galley in Kilifi in April or May.

Kioko has travelled a long way as an artist since some mzungu asked if he could buy what he had tossed aside — sundry metal pieces that he had welded together when practising for his first job after leaving school - making milk churns.

No doubt Kioko gives more thought to what he creates these days — my preening egret is a testament to that. But there is always freshness about what he does and what he makes.

John Fox is chairman of iDC