James Cohan announces their representation of the Kenyan painter Kaloki Nyamai.
Nyamai takes inspiration from quotidian life in Nairobi, the capital city where he is based. The artist’s richly textured surfaces entangle us in the space between history and memory. His paintings foreground abstracted figures in vivid shades of color; emerging from layers of acrylic paint, sisal rope, photo transfers, and burnt rubber yarn. The fragmented state of these compositions situates the viewer in the present, offering up a collection of moments that must be pieced together slowly by the eye. His canvases capture the struggle of translating recollection and lived experience into physical form.
He will have his debut solo exhibition with the gallery in March 2024. Nyamai is represented in collaboration with Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin, Germany.
ABOUT KALOKI NYAMAI:
Kaloki Nyamai (b. 1985, Kitui, Kenya) pursued formal training at the BiFa Institute of Fine Arts in Nairobi, Kenya. He has been the subject of solo exhibitions at numerous international venues including; Galerie Barbara Thumm in Berlin, Germany, Gallery 1957, Accra, Ghana, Septieme Gallery, Paris, France, Circle Art Gallery, Nairobi, Kenya, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa, Kuona Trust Art Centre, Nairobi, Kenya and Oriel Plas Glyn Y Weddw Gallery, Wales, UK. His work is in the public collection of the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas and SAFFCA (Southern African Foundation for Contemporary Art), Brussels, Belgium.
Nyamai was one of four artists included in the Kenyan Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale (2022), Venice, Italy. He has also participated in the Kampala Art Biennale (2018), Kampala, Uganda, Stellenbosch Triennale (2020), South Africa, Dakar Biennale (2022), Dakar, Senegal. Recent presentations include Dining in Chaos (2023), a monumental triptych of unstretched canvases depicting figures in times of global crisis which debuted at Art Basel Unlimited, Basel, Switzerland in 2023.
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