Smoke and Ink
Evanson Kangethe & William Wambugu - Kenya
Evanson Kangethe
Evanson was born in Ngecha in 1961, and he now lives and works as a fulltime artist in the town.
Evanson is a self-trained artist. From 1983 to 1985, he received regular private art lessons from his mentor Dr. John Mayienga, a lecturer at the Department of Design in Nairobi University. Besides his rather figurative representational art style, he has developed a truly sophisticated method of ‘smoke painting’, creating semi-abstract, semi-figurative images, leaving the viewer to find his or her own interpretation.
Evanson has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Kenya, Germany and the US. In the late 1990s, the Völkerkunde Museum in Frankfurt and Heidelberg, Germany, acquired several of his paintings for their collection. In 2006, he created the “Donkeys Pillar Monument,” a 3-metre metal sculpture erected on the market place in Ngecha.
Selected Group Exhibitions
- 2014 – Crea House, Nairobi, Kenya (Awakening Kenya)
- 2011 – Laico Regency Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya (Science meets Art)
- 2004 – Paa ya Paa Arts Centre, Nairobi, Kenya
- 2000 – Liben Kunst Galerie, Munich, Germany
- 1999 – Philadelphia College of Art & Design, Philadelphia, USA
- 1995 – Weimar & Heidelberg, Germany (Artist from Kenya)
- 1994 – Tübingen, Germany (Artist from Africa)
- 1992 – Goethe Institute, Nairobi, Kenya
- 1990 – French Cultural Centre, Nairobi, Kenya
- 1990 – Watatu Gallery, Nairobi, Kenya (Portraits of Kenya)
