Sane Wadu

Private Collection, Nairobi

The reverse of this work bears an adhered label with the following text: This young man literally believes nobody is rich enough to buy off his heard of animals. He also thinks that he can marry many wives because he is rich enough to afford the dowry.

Sane Wadu is a Kenyan artist renowned for his vibrant semi-naturalistic compositions which vary from rural genre scenes to humorous allegory. Born in 1957 in Western Kenya, Wadu began his artistic career as a self-taught painter. He co-founded the Ngecha Artists Association, a collective that built and sustained an ecosystem of support, training and opportunities for its members since 1995. He has made significant contributions to Kenyan art history despite beginning his career in a critical environment which struggled to make sense of his work - branded ‘insane’ by his peers for pursuing a career as an artist, Wadu renamed himself ‘sane’ after establishing himself as a successful artist. This subversive wit has markedly shaped the artist’s practice.

The present lot embodies Wadu’s core practice in its reflection of his deep connection to both urban and rural life in Kenya. It depicts three figures in a rural landscape, caught in a moment of anxious anticipation. Wadu pays little regard to pictorial space and linear perspective, instead crafting a composition whose flatness prompts the viewer to interpret the work as going beyond aestheticism or design towards didactic symbolism. The work imparts on the viewer a sense of incontrovertible angst, yet, Wadu’s composition maintains an ominous light-heartedness which disguises the social and political provocations underlying his oeuvre.

Often depicting farmers, fishermen and animals in the countryside, Wadu’s works celebrate rural life. Many of his figures gaze directly at the viewer, conveying a sense of awareness and reflexivity which the viewer can rarely circumvent. His works have been exhibited in galleries and museums in Europe, America, Asia and Africa, and he is considered one of the most important contemporary artists from East Africa.