Unseen Art Scene (mirror)

SLIDESHOW Why does the artist do this? Cover herself in mud...so primitive the artist is in Uganda. So close to nature are the Bugandans and those found in the capital, Kampala. Have they all lost their way? Given up trying....leaving those running to be more like the Europeans well alone, and instead bathing in pools of mud like elephants in salt marshes. Look how the artist plays, like a child in a sandpit. See how happy she is being backward, primitive and honest. Watch her gleeful smiles that encourage the viewers to giggle, courting our attention with her native loveliness. Is the artist wanting to be exotic? I don't think so. Not for one moment as this is well orchestrated art, with an attention to the details. It is constructed with intent and full of positive meaning; some may say we are witnesses to a moment of deconstruction and a going backwards, desperately trying to understanding the past and all that has gone before. A returning to the earth and a break from all proto...

Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga,  Mũgogo – The Crossin g, 2012. Recycled cans, stainless steel wire, galvanized steel wire and paper, 178 x 127 cm. Photo Lee Bennack. Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga,  Folklorico III , 2010. Stainless steel wire and fabric, 94 x 76 x 61 cm. Photo Lee Bennack. Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga,  Magetha ma Mwere - The Small Harvest,  2010.Stainless steel wire, woven kiondo basket strips and texas mountain laurel tree seeds, 213 x 91 cm. Photo Lee Bennack. Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga: ITUIKA - TRANSFORMATION October Gallery is pleased to present a new exhibition of works by Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga. This will be her first solo exhibition in London. Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga (b.1960), grew up among the Kikuyu people of Kenya. She first studied Art and Design at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, before continuing her studies at UCLA, USA. She now lives and works in San Antonio, Texas. Gakunga has displayed works in numerous exhibitions in the USA, France, Brazil and Poland. The exhi...

GUEST PROJECTS AFRICA Following the success of the Royal Opera House  Africa Weekend  curated by Yinka Shonibare MBE, Guest Projects has launched Guest Projects Africa. Showcasing cutting edge African Art forms, Guest Projects Africa creates a platform for African artists of all disciplines including spoken word, dance, fashion, architecture, visual arts, and more. Source:  http://guestprojects.com/gp-africa/re-introducing-oshun/ Re-introducing Oshun October 7-17 2013 Re-Introducing Oshun , is an interdisciplinary project using photography, film, prose and objects to re-discover black women’s bodies as sacred places of intimacy, sensuality and beauty. Oshun  is a West African Orisha from the Yoruba faith and culture whose role concerns, intimacy, beauty and diplomacy. We will be bringing this deity to life, through the approach of ‘visual rhetoric.’ The intention is for us to have the power, control and ownership to create our own representation. We are a collective ...

Oche Onodu (Couch), 2012, plastic bags, bottles, metal, cans, wood, yarn, 68"x27"x128"     Ifeoma Anyaeji Transmogrification   September 26th - November 2nd, 2013    Skoto Gallery is pleased to present  Transmogrification , an exhibition of recent mixed media sculpture by the Nigerian-born artist Ifeoma Anyaeji. This will be her first solo show at the gallery. The artist will be present at the  reception on Thursday, September 26th, 6-8pm.   Ifeoma Anyaeji’s recent sculpture employs a virtuosic ability to create elegant forms drawn from architecture and domestic furniture design through the reconstruction of found objects such as the ubiquitous plastic bags and bottles. She utilizes a process that is physically and conceptually steeped in memory, history and the passage of time to create work that radically put into question conventional notions of what sculpture is. Using hair plaiting technique known as  Threading  from her homeland, s...