Breaking the Time Warp

Kenya Wed 05-03-2008

Breaking the Time Warp
By Bertha Kang'ong'oi

If I were to pick one word to describe Justus Kyalo’s work, it would have to be this: Grand. His paintings are grand – that is huge in comparison to most other paintings to be found in Nairobi’s art galleries, coffee shops and restaurants, which have become a popular alternative for artists to display their work.

Not only are Kyalo’s paintings big but so are their titles! At his ongoing exhibition at the Mai-Loan Restaurant on James Gichuru road, Nairobi, his choice of a title-name for his paintings is something to both think about and marvel about.

Justus Kyalo And His Painting'Sitaki Kutakwa' (I dont want to be wanted)

^{Justus Kyalo and his painting titled

'Sitaki Kutakwa' (I dont want to be wanted)}

Take, for instance, You Think You Know, You Have No Idea for a title! Or Never on Schedule But Have Time or Msituchomee Picha (do not Burn our picture) and Sitaki Kutakwa (I do not want to be wanted). They are outside the normal frame of titling – rather long and amusing and a cause for a double take.

I suppose grand would also be the word to describe Kyalo’s thinking processes.

“The titles I pick for my work do not always have to reflect on the work itself,” he says during an interview at the Mai-Loan.

“I often title my work depending on what’s on my mind. For instance, Never On Schedule but have Time is reference to a friend of mine who hardly keeps time but always makes time for me. I was thinking about him as I worked on this painting and that is how it eventually got its name!”

But the easy going artist is not stuck in a formula; not in the way he titles his work or in the way he paints.

“I use what works for me,” he says. “Sometimes I have a title before I begin and at other times the title comes afterwards when I am done”

All of the paintings on exhibition here are abstract. Kyalo, keeping true to himself, goes grand on colour and texture. But what we have here now is a progressive result from years of painting in different styles and media.

“I used to be very figurative in my paintings when I started out. I got my ideas from fashion photography, then I moved on to street fashion and eventually to contemporary dance,” says Kyalo.

But contemporary dance brought about change to Kyalo’s perception, which was clearly evidenced in his new style.

“From watching contemporary dancers, I started moving towards painting from feeling, working more from the heart than from what I saw, or from observation,” says Kyalo. “I discovered that there were infinite possibilities to what I could do here. There is no formula, it’s like a new beginning, a new life without end”

True to his own expression, Kyalo’s work is more of a feeling than anything else. Some are moody and dreamy, some are vibrant and gay but one stands out in its own space – without a frame and parts of it burnt out. It’s the piece titled ‘Msituchomee Picha’.

In the middle of this painting is a half burnt piece of plastic. This is a sample of Kyalo’s latest evolution in style.

“I specifically used fire because it seemed, for the last couple of weeks in Kenya, there was fire everywhere”

It was these fires on the political scene that influenced Kyalo to start using fire to burn out part of his work by design. The end result is unique and admirable.

I feel that this is the life that my work is taking. The painting is huge but without a frame and that is just the way I want it to remain. I am not leaving it for the person who buys it to frame it – I would rather it remains this way”

Five of the paintings hanging here are titled ‘Time Warp’.

“Most of us are stuck in a time warp,” explains Kyalo. “They feel like we have to do things a certain pre-described way. Our politicians are stuck in a time warp…our education system is stuck in a time warp…but there is really no formula to living life”

There is however no particular theme for this exhibition. Paintings on display have been done over years. It was Kyalo’s friend, a fan of his paintings, who helped Kyalo ‘curate’ the show.

And they could not have picked a better place to stage the exhibition. The brilliant colours of the paintings blend well with the colourful walls of Mai-Loan restaurant. One might actually be tempted to think that the paintings belong where they have been set up.

Not surprising of Kyalo, he did not have an opening ceremony but is planning on a closing ceremony for the exhibition.

So why a closing ceremony and not an opening show?, I ask.

“Time Warp!” he says almost in exasperation. “We have to stop thinking that things have to be done in a certain way and not any other way. We should not be caught in a time warp!”

Enough said…and illustrated!

(The paintings range between shs 48,000 and shs 180,000. The exhibition runs throughout the month of March)

Posted By: AfricanColours

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