Captivated by amazing African art

We were on a visit to Kenya when we got into the mood of purchasing some oil paintings. We had already had a taste of that when visiting Cape Town late last year.

There was an exhibition of all kinds of art and crafts at Cape Town’s famous waterfront area. Among them were oil paintings of a South African artist that focused on the flora and fauna of the cape area.

The animal paintings were so vivid that one thought the beast was going to jump out of the frame and take a bite out of their nose! However, we opted for a beautiful drawing of the landscapes surrounding Cape Town.

On our Kenyan trip, we visited an art gallery on the outskirts of Gigiri area, passing through local markets and rough roads to a place called Banana Hill, also a rough-looking cement-walled gallery where its paintings were priced in US dollars! We were told that the clients were mainly tourists and Kenyan expats who loved collecting African art.

This gallery is owned and run by a Kenyan, and every week it is dedicated to a specific artist who will also sit in the gallery to promote his art. Though there were many Kenyan artists’ paintings displayed there, I was surprised to see a good number of Ugandan and Congolese work too.

We fell in love with the work of an artist from Congo who portrayed two pregnant women, face to face, pounding grain. This was oil and fabric on canvas and the painting is now adorning our living room and has become a conversation piece.

This love of African paintings became an addiction and before we totally run out of money, we made a last stop in a famous gallery owned by a British lady. It was a very interesting place, a huge lush green area, well organised showrooms and a lovely cup of coffee.

The prices here were a bit higher but trust us to bargain for better rates! And it worked! Here, we bought a painting of five women by a Ugandan artist. Well, I kept wondering why I did not find this painting back in Uganda, and why our artists must pay such high commissions to gallery owners.

It would be great if we have a beautiful and serene area in Kampala where artists not only exhibit their work but also do live paintings for their fans; a place that takes away the pains of a world drowned in social media fakeness, a place where all your senses are revived and work again. There is no harm in hoping and wishing, you never know who is reading!