Subscribe to our FREE weekly newsletter & market reports
East Africa Art Market Size
Paradoxically, East Africa has less of an active art scene than the other regions of the continent, even though it is the homeland of several contemporary African artists who have gained global recognition including Julie Mehretu, Wangechi Mutu and Georges Lilanga.
The East African country with the best positioning in the arts field is Kenya, where the first independent art agency in East Africa has been established. The Circle Art Agency promotes and supports the contemporary African art market by exhibiting artists and holding auctions. It is also the administrator of The African Arts Trust, founded in 2011 by Robert Devereux, a collector, philanthropist and former partner of Virgin. In 2013 and 2014, the agency organized the first two auction sales of East African contemporary art. The latest, in November 2014, featured art from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and Sudan, dating from 1970 to 2014. The auction grossed KSH 18.8 million (US$ 210,000) and 87% of lots got sold. Also in Kenya, multidisciplinary artist Jimmy Ogonga created the Nairobi Art Trust/Centre for Contemporary Art of East Africa (CCAEA) in 2011. The organization is committed to developing contemporary art and culture in Eastern Africa. The Changamoto Arts Fund was initiated by the partnership between the Kenya Community Development Foundation and the GoDown Arts Centre along with funding from the Ford Foundation. This arts fund focuses on building new audiences for the arts while enriching the Kenyan cultural sector and supporting Kenyan artists economically in the areas of theatre, dance, music and visual art.
Paradoxically, East Africa has less of an active art scene than the other regions of the continent, even though it is the homeland of several contemporary African artists who have gained global recognition including Julie Mehretu, Wangechi Mutu and Georges Lilanga.
Tanzania, which is the homeland of the artist Georges Lilanga, has several innovative initiatives. In Dar es Salaam, the Nafasi Art space, founded in 2010 with the cooperation of the Danish embassy, is dedicated to contemporary creation. It welcomes 15 Tanzanian artists and offers residencies to international artists. The East Africa Biennale is a non-profit, non-governmental organization launched in January 2003 with headquarters located in the University of Dar es Salaam. It promotes East African artists by diffusing information about their production to stakeholders in the art sector. The biennale exhibits artworks by East African artists and also has a space dedicated to artists from around the world.
Kenya
Overview
by Osei Kofi
Art in East Africa is arguably the most professionalized on the continent, outside South Africa. There is a riot of genres steeped in traditional, modern and avant-garde art; works created in canvas, leather, batik, clay, glass, marble, soft stone, granite and scrap metal; and prints, lithography and photography.
Since the birth of contemporary art in the 1960s, Kenya has led the way for artists across the subregion. Nairobi remains a favoured hub for Burundian, Ethiopian, Rwandan, Sudanese, Tanzanian and Ugandan artists to showcase their best works and fetch top prices. Incubative art centres such as the Go Down, Kuona Trust and the contemporary art sections of the National Museum offer seminars, tutorials, rented studio space, exhibitions, art retreats and residencies. Every year, East African artists depart for residencies, mainly in Europe and North America. The synergies they acquire abroad are reflected in the professionalism of their work.
The vibrancy of art in East Africa rests on the success of three generations of full-time artists, from octogenarian icons to teenagers with chutzpa. Prominent among the old-timers is Jak Katarikawe, a self-taught maestro called ‘Africa’s Chagall’ for his naïve, dreams-infused storytelling. The Ugandanborn Katarikawe is East Africa’s most lauded artist due to the instant recognizability and bankability of his work. The first African to have a painting in the Kremlin, Katarikawe has exhibited worldwide and won a string of prizes. Hamburg’s Museum für Volkerkunde alone has a collection of 140 Katarikawes. Its catalogue raisoné on Katarikawe was the first of its kind on an East African artist.
Museum commissioners and private collectors are spoilt for choice in the monumental stone, marble and granite sculptures of Elkana Ong’esa, Gerard Motondi, Samuel Wanjau, John Dianga and Gakunju Kaigwa. They are spoilt for choice in the neo-Chagall aesthetics of Jak Katarikawe, the horror vacui grotesquerie and brutal chronicles of Wanyu Brush and John Yoga; the art brut of Sane Wadu, Eunice Wadu and Francis Kahuri; the pastoral romance of Camille Wekesa, Yoni Waite and Geoffrey Mukasa; the stained glass works of Nani Croze; the spirit-medium renditions of Eduardo Saidi Tingatinga, George Lilanga, Kivuthi Mbuno and Richard Onyango; the modernist socio-politico commentary of Rashid Diab, Maria Kizito Kasule, David Mzuguno, Anne Mwiti, Justus Kyalo, Sophie Walbeoffe, Ssali Yusuf, Anwar Nakibinge, Meek Gichugu, Collin Sekajugo, Peterson Kamwathi, Samuel Githui, Joseph Bertiers, Michael Soi, Leonard Ngure, Kamau “Cartoon” Joseph and hundreds of others.
Several galleries sprang up across the region in the early independence years of the 1960s. Most failed to survive. Ruth Schaffner’s Gallery Watatu, which at one time had 150 artists on its books, prospered for over 42 years but closed in 2012 after its owner Adama Diawara died. The RaMoma closed its doors in 2010.
In 2013, Circle Art Agency (CAA) emerged from the ashes of Gallery Watatu and the RaMoma with an exciting programme of “pop-up” art, showcasing in corporate offices and private homes. CAA’s first and second Modern and Contemporary East African Art Auction held in Nairobi in November 2013 and 2014 were hugely attended, with 90% of lots sold each time and grossing US$ 210,000 in 2013 and US$230,000 in 2014. Although the figures might be paltry by international levels, they mark a promising start. CAA’s success is partly thanks to the professionalism of its founders, some of whom have experience in the London modern art scene and, more importantly, encouraging business corporations to become interested in arts patronage. Gallery Watatu had struggled unsuccessfully in the 1980s to get banks and other corporate brands to sponsor art auctions. Clearly, the idea was ahead of its time in East Africa.
Art patronage remains overwhelmingly expatriate in the region. (…) However, the situation is changing fast as more Africans, both individuals and businesses, begin to seriously collect.Osei Kofi
Art patronage remains overwhelmingly expatriate in the region. Indigenous Africans constitute, perhaps, 5-10 % of art buyers. However, the situation is changing fast as more Africans, both individuals and businesses, begin to seriously collect.
Notable collections of East African contemporary art include those of Jean Pigozzi, Sindika Dokolo, Isaia Mabellini-Sarenco, Osei G.
George Hughes, Scream, 2010