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Simultaneous Exhibition - Sebastian Kiarie - 'Un-Masking the Stories I Tell' 

Florence Wangui



​​One Off is pleased to present​



Florence Wangui

​
'Bycatch'

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Opens Saturday 25 September - 24 October 2021


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Gallery Open
​Tuesday through Sunday, 10am - 4.30pm
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​​Please note that masks are mandatory around the gallery.​
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Timothy Brooke 2020 Exhibition Invitation

About the exhibition

Statement by the Artist

Bycatch, most commonly used in the fishing industry is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. It is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or a juvenile of the target species. The term is also sometimes used for an untargeted catch in other forms of animal harvesting or collecting.

My current body of work explores the analogy between fish and man. These oil on canvas paintings place man in the same habitat as the fish, faced with unseen and encroaching traps. These traps manifest in the form of social stressors related to matters like social conflicts, social changes and socio-economic pressures. 

These have knitted into a 'system' that has left man threatened, vulnerable and susceptible to it. This system has trapped us, and while some escape, others are entangled, seized and reduced to bycatch to be met by the inevitable, cruel fate. Dead fish is good if edible otherwise is but putrid waste! No longer useful, man, like bycatch, has been left to his demise. 

I am convinced that despite the negative impact of this 'system' being man-made, there's a need to continue seeking for solutions and independence and that perhaps, there's a need to step back and gain personal insight on these matters. That it is prudent to understand our human ecology and manage it wisely, or even seek out mechanisms that free us from psychological traps, as one thing for sure is that the system exists and man has to prove to be a survivor, to remain resilient or else become bycatch.
Florence Wangui – Nairobi – September 2021

Artist's Biography

Florence Wangui is at the forefront of a new generation of Kenyan artists making a big impact both locally and internationally.

Born in 1986 in Nairobi, where she lives and works, Wangui shot to prominence with a series of charcoal drawings of chickens from her mother’s coop.   In this series her dazzling formal drawing skills prevailed whilst effortlessly, she captured their varying moods and peculiar personalities.

A natural talent, her childhood drawings were seized upon by her teachers as classroom aids and she went on to complete a degree in Zoology and Biochemistry at Kenyatta University before choosing art as a career.  Her first mentor was Patrick Mukabi at the GoDown Arts Centre in Nairobi. He helped her to develop her formal abilities even further before she went on to refine her oil painting technique with the practicing artist Dolores Gomez.

Always adventurous in her choice of media, in 2016 Wangui completed a series of glass panels of the Stations of the Cross for the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Kericho, also making a group of sculptures in bronze for the cathedral doors.

Wangui continues to produce dynamic and exciting work, primarily in charcoal and oils and often with surreal undertones.  Her work interrogates her experiences within a world that shapes and defines us all.  Now recognized as an important young talent, she is collected widely at home and abroad and is included in many important public and private collections.  Her work is regularly exhibited in New York and she hopes to show in Berlin later in the year.

​Wangui is exclusively represented in Kenya by the One Off Contemporary Art Gallery

Preview of Works

Click thumbnail to enlarge and scroll through all images

Bycatch

Florence Wangui – Bycatch I – Oil and pastel on canvas – 203h x 120w cm – Kshs 500,000
Florence Wangui – Bycatch II – Oil and pastel on canvas – 172h x 136w cm – Kshs 500,000
Florence Wangui – Catch and Caught – Oil and pastel on board – 61h x 41w cm – Kshs 80,000
Florence Wangui – Catch, Her I – Oil and pastel on board – 40.5h x 40.5w cm – Kshs 80,000
Florence Wangui – Catch, Her II – Oil and pastel on canvas – 47h x 49w cm – Kshs 95,000
Florence Wangui – Catch, Him I – Oil and pastel on board – 40.5h x 40.5w cm – Kshs 80,000
Florence Wangui  – Catch, Him II – Oil and pastel on canvas – 39h x 47w cm – Kshs 95,000
Florence Wangui – Caught, Shallow Waters I – Oil and pastel on canvas – 57h x 55w cm – Kshs 150,000
Florence Wangui – Caught, Shallow Waters II – Oil and pastel on canvas – 68h x 74w cm – Kshs 150,000
Florence Wangui – Entangled, Female Bodies – Oil and pastel on canvas – 68h x 70w cm – Kshs 150,000
Florence Wangui – Entangled, Male Bodies – Oil and pastel on canvas – 69h x 40w cm – Kshs 150,000
Florence Wangui – Entangled, Male – Oil and pastel on canvas – 68h x 73w cm – Kshs 150,000
Florence Wangui – Man in Bubble – Oil and pastel on canvas – 63h x 48w cm – Kshs 150,000
Florence Wangui – Man, Fish – Oil and pastel on canvas – 138h x 97w cm – Kshs 250,000
Florence Wangui – The Escape – Oil and pastel on canvas – 99h x 79w cm – Kshs 200,000

Ghost in the Machine - new works from Wangui's previous series of paintings

Florence Wangui – Small Bride –  Oil on board – 30.5h x 23w cm -  Kshs 50,000
2.	Florence Wangui – Sitting Transition I –  Oil on canvas – 138h x 97w cm -  Kshs 250,000
Florence Wangui – Sitting Transition II –  Oil on canvas – 140h x 97w cm -  Kshs 250,000
Florence Wangui – Sitting Transition III –  Oil on canvas – 52h x 41w cm -  Kshs 95,000
Florence Wangui – Red Finch –  Oil on canvas – 138h x 122w cm -  Kshs 300,000
Florence Wangui –  Bride, Red Finch –  Oil on canvas – 140h x 120w cm -  Kshs 300,000


Exhibition openings are usually on the last Saturday of every month, excluding December.
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  • Home
  • About
    • One Off
    • One Off Team
  • Artists
    • Exclusive Artists
    • Associated Artists
  • Exhibitions
    • Timothy Brooke Memorial Exhibition
    • At Artcaffe
    • About Sankara >
      • Sankara Exhibition Archive
    • Exhibition Archive
  • Sculpture Garden
  • Visit
  • Purchase
    • Collectors
  • Media
    • Press
    • Video - artists in their workspaces
    • Video Archive
  • Contact