One on One With Simon Muriithi

Kenya Tue 19-12-2006

One on One With Simon Muriithi
By Africancolours.com

Building each piece layer by layer of color, Simon Muriithi is one of Kenya’s most prolific and extensively exhibited artists. With the early support of his mother and overcoming a skeptical community, Muriithi has traveled and exhibited throughout African, Europe and America thanks to his talent as an artist.

Here he discusses with AfricanColours why artists are born and not made; why Art is Life and; shares his insights into the future of art in Africa.

AfricanColours: Why are you an artist?

Simon Muriithi: Because I am an addict to Art. To me everyone is born an artist. I was born an artist and it is who I am.

AC: Where did you learn how to be an artist? Did you study art formally?

SM: I did not go to school. Artists are born not made. I have no diploma/ degree from any school because I believe no one needs formal education to be an artist. The artistic media I use [is] anything as long as I express myself. I prefer using media that I can add to. For example, a canvas starts out blank and then as you add paint on to it, it progresses to an expression of art. When sculpting, I prefer metal to wood because for wood you subtract instead of add to the artwork, where as in metal you add to it.

AC: What are the challenges and benefits of being an artist? In Kenya?

SM: Just like any other job, the society does not recognize what artists do. I however don’t paint for the rich people, neither do I paint for the poor; I paint for the society, for anyone. Even our watchman, the one who guards our place owns 3 of my paintings. So I do my own thing.

AC: Where have you exhibited in Kenya? Africa? Internationally?

SM: Kenya: Gallery Watatu, Village Market, Mombasa, Lamu, Nanyuki and many other places.

Africa: Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa

Outside Africa: UK, France, Germany, Denmark, USA

Internet: AfricanColours.com

AC: How has travel to these locations influenced your work?

SM: When I travel, I meet different people and I learn from them. Life is a learning process and you learn from your fellow human beings, not from angels.

AC: On the AfricanColours website your work is very textural, even on the net you can tell there is a lot of depth on the canvas. How do you create that effect?

SM: I like being confused. When I am given a blank canvas, I put as many colours as possible on it so that I can get lost in the canvas. Eventually as the painting progresses, the thing I was aiming to express emerges. I guess that’s where the depth comes from. I don’t usually have a plan in the beginning but eventually, what I want comes out.

AC: Does your family support your decision to be an artist?

SM: Yes my Mom has supported me from when I was a young boy, I would say even from the beginning. There was opposition from my relatives saying that art will not take me anywhere. But now, they have seen my ‘success’ and are even encouraging their children to be artists.

AC: Is that being passed on to the next generation?

SM: My children love art. They actually have subdivided my studio so that they can work along side me on their own artwork.

AC: Your thoughts on creating a viable art market through the internet?

SM: I am sort of 50-50 about it. Some people will buy pieces they see on the net, others don’t because they see as though the image is different from the actual painting in terms of colour, size and dimensions so they prefer to see the artwork physically.

AC: Is contemporary African art an independent art form or is it a mimic of European art? Should African artists stick to traditional art forms like: sculpture, textiles, beadwork etc?

SM: Of course contemporary African art is different! Every one was created with their own mindset and everyone has their own ideas. Even if you copy me, there will be that aspect of individualism.

Africans need to change with time, we are living for today not for yesterday.

AC: Is art for art sake an African or Western Philosophy? Does it matter?

SM: Art is for the sake of life, it’s not for art sake. Art is the oldest profession, in the Bible, from Moses to the Temple of Jerusalem. It is life, living and continuous.

AC: If you were not an artist what would be your career?

SM: I was born an artist, and I will die an artist. When I was in primary school I sold my artworks, to fellow students and to relatives. It has never crossed my mind to do anything else.

AC: Describe the most beautiful piece of art you have ever seen.

SM: Art like I said is life and therefore can be compared to a tree. You can’t point out the most beautiful flower or leaf on the tree because others will come and they too will be beautiful or even more beautiful. If you ask me, my best painting will be in 2 years time.

AC: What would you say to the emerging or budding artist?

SM: Work hard and be yourself. Don’t look at other artists especially those who have been in the business for long and try and copy them. Be yourself, it will be rewarding in the end.

Posted By: African Colours

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