Gallery Watatu is Back from the Brink!

Kenya Tue 21-09-2010

Gallery Watatu is Back from the Brink!
Osei G Kofi

It was Eid Mubarak, end of Ramadan, and Adama Diawara, a Muslim, was in ebullient mood. Regal in a billowy West African boubou the patriarch was about to go to lunch at some place swish in Nairobi with some members of his extended family. But what the gray eminence really wanted to talk about was art – and his gallery.

^{Gallery Watatu}^{Photo by Andrew Njoroge/AfricanColours.com}

“We went through a tough period, very difficult, but we have survived,” Diawara said, and not without a hint of pride. “Some people,” he continued “saw the end of Gallery Watatu. Can you believe it, mon petit frère, newspapers actually wrote we were shut down, without anyone visiting us to see for themselves, without anyone coming to talk to me for the facts,” he said.

Clearly, he’d been pained by the reports that Kenya Commercial Bank, which a few years back acquired the Lonrho-Africa skyscraper that houses his gallery on Standard Street, had sent in bailiffs to lock up the place for non-payment of rent.

Indeed, it was such “rumours” that brought me to Kenya to see Diawara, a longtime friend and business associate. I was deeply troubled that his establishment, the most world-famous of the three oldest commercial galleries in Africa, was going under.

The rumours weren’t far-fetched. Blindsided by the sudden economic crunch and recession many art galleries across Europe and north America had shut their doors. Only the high end of the business, the great auction houses and mega-dealers, seemed to be making money.

^{An interior view of Gallery Watatu}^{Photo by Andrew Njoroge/AfricanColours.com}

After arriving in Nairobi last week I found that news of Watatu’s death had “greatly been exaggerated,” to paraphrase Mark Twain. Yes, the walls of the architect-appointed space and the famed spiral staircase leading to the mezzanine could do with a fresh coat of paint and some varnish. But, the place was lively. There was a troop of Italian, Swiss, German and South African tourists milling about.

“Tourists visits are good. But tourists don’t buy proper art. They buy postcards and posters. It takes much more to run this place,” Diawara said as he walked me through the sprawling showroom, festooned with spirit lifting creations from ES Tingatinga, SG Mpata, Katarikawe, Lilanga, Chiwaya, Sekano, Sekajugo, Kivuthi Mbuno, Jony Waite, Meek Gichugu, Hans Seuren, Rosemary Karuga, Timothy Brooke, Joseph Cartoon, Erick Shitawa, Elisha Ongere, Wanyu Brush, Sebastian Kiarie, Chain Muhandi, Kamal Shah, Tabitha wa Thuku, Elijah Ooko, Sane Wadu and new-kid-on-the-block-totally-irreverent-subversively-so Lonad.

^{'It is hard to know the problems of others' | Oil on canvas | George Lilanga

Photo by Andrew Njoroge/AfricanColours.com}

Other signs of a downturn were visible. Most of the works on the walls I’d seen before, during my last visit, over a year ago. There was a time no art lasted more than a couple of months once it was showcased. Also, many of the spotlights were unlit, to save on power and bulbs. And, alas, there weren’t free coffee, tea and mandazi offered to visitors like in the good old days.

To deal with staff salaries and crippling rent in the pricey highrise, Diawara revealed he’d sold his beautiful home in leafy Spring Valley and moved into an apartment downtown. That’s how much he loved his gallery.

“I’ll do anything and everything to keep Watatu open – and right here in this building,” and with that the near octogenarian, who’s been in poor health lately, gave a full-throated laugh. Diawara lamented the lack of buyers when Gallery Watatu exhibited at the prestigious CIAC, Beijing (2009) and at the 3rd Joburg Art Fair (2010). “The South African market is insular; they buy only their own … but with time they will open up to great African art north of the Limpopo,” he said. “We will go next year,” he added.

Diawara also intimated that the gallery space will be renovated, and more funds will go into publicity and promotion. “We will make a big exhibition for Jak in November after the renovation,” he added, referring to the Ugandan-born master, Jak Katarikawe, East Africa’s most successful painter and one of the continent’s finest, who’s been with Watatu for more than 40 years, spurning overtures from those seeking to pinch him.

Wedding Night by Jak Katarikawe

^{Wedding Night | Jak Katarikawe | 1985 | 70 x 55 cm oil/canvas | Collection Suzic | Photo courtesy of Gallery Watatu}

No living person, I repeat, no one alive has done more to promote Africa contemporary art than this Ivoirian and longtime Kenya-resident Diawara, who doubles as Cote d’Ivoire’s Consul-General in Kenya. He was the first dealer, back in the 1960s, to showcase African artifacts (let’s ban the term “primitive & tribal art,” please) on west coast USA, in the San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles area. That’s where he met his late wife Ruth Schaffner, the passionaria of post-war art who helped inscribe “Watatu” into the visual arts lexicon. But, that’s another story.

The story today is Gallery Watatu is back from the brink. The story today is an advice to our wa-Benzi and our wa-Pajero-Intercooler denizens - those with deep pockets, or even not so deep pockets. Get yourself to the Gallery Watatu, and to the RaMoma, and to the Paa ya Paa, please. Go spend some cash on serious art and bring some colour and taste into your boring homes and corporate offices.

^{(L-R) Jak Katarikawe, Ruth Schaffner and Adama Diawara | Photo courtesy of Gallery Watatu}

While the cash will support African artists and nascent establishments, the beauty in it is that, one day, your children and grandchildren will sing you praises. For, what you buy today will tomorrow become a bank “portfolio” for your family. Seriously.

Osei G. Kofi, Art Africa Consulting & Investment, Geneva.

Gallery Watatu website

Posted By: Maggie Otieno

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Your Comments

Senewa: Admirable yet sad that he had to sell his house. I pray that he may work together with the Art community towards sustainable solutions to preserve this Gem for posterity. Long Live Gallery Watatu!

Tom Mboya: billiant move and so at the time kenyan art galleries are not doing so well, but more important is for the watatu management to move fast to reorganise their team for a more efficient and transparent working relationship with the artist if you want to win them back. Good luck.

Susan Mitruk: Why is there no location or phone number that actually works? How do we contact you?

margaretta wa gacheru: i love osei to pieces but he too perpetuates the dominant narrative about Kenyan contemporary art, that Watatu is the first commercial art gallery in Nairobi, which it is not, and that Jak has been with Watatu 40 years. so bogus: Jak wasn't in Kenya 40 years ago. Talk about 25 or maybe 27 years ago. His first show at Watatu was a group one in 1982. Let's keep it real. thanks.

Anwar sadat Nakibinge: Adama is areal man,even if he is an old man btu he is astong soul every african artist shld admire. FOR GODS SAKE HE SOLD OFF HIS HOUSE.OMG

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