Articles

"The Beat Of a Different Drummer"

By: Alexander Calder, Curator, Fine Arts Center For Africa , San Francisco
Edited By:  Rebecca Straite, Fine Arts Center For Africa , San Francisco

Sekanwagi’s Artistic Legacy

Described by admirers as communicating “serenity, and the sheer joy of being alive”, Dan Sekanwagi’s rather unusual work have also been said to exhibit “ a remarkably high standard of finish”. Marching to the proverbial “beat of a different drummer” has enabled this artist to compose complex and harmonious symphonies of form, color and style. While his talent, importance and influence upon other leading East African modernists remain unquestioned, this artist continues to challenge – and expand – his visual, artistic and personal horizons.

A native of Uganda , Sekanwagi considers himself a self-taught artist, beginning his career as an illustrator and structural draftsman. Excellence in these graphic disciplines provided an expanded vocabulary for his articulate visual language. Combining the immediate impact of modern sculptural elements with dramatic coloring and shading, Sekanwagi’s early works articulate historical and personal subject matter with striking emotional potency and breathtaking eloquence.

Demonstrating fluency with mediums and styles in a manner distinctly his own, early works by this artist are recognized worldwide for their enormous influence upon his contemporaries – primary members of East Africa ’s Modern Art Movement. Elaborate recent works by this skillful artist continue to explore the limits of his inspiration and visual power providing the perfect vehicle for his mellifluous creative voice.

Sekanwagi’s Impact Upon East Africa’s Modern Art Movement  

Sekanwagi is credited with introducing significant advances in  both style and technique to Nairobi ’s thriving international art scene in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Frequently described with terms such as “East African Modernism” and “African- cubism”, Sekanwagi’s contemporary, stylize visions create a category all their own. As in “Playful Work”, executed in 1982, strong flowing lines concentrate and channel contrasting colors and shaded forms. Sekanwagi’s self-originated technique of painting India inks and dyes on canvas enabled the artist to introduce subtle, tonal shading to semi-abstract figure, creating colorful, intricately interwoven, sculptural forms. 

Many of these earlier works are also noteworthy for including regions of white unstained canvas as a compositional element within each piece, where contrasts of canvas to dye help shape, interact with and offset the colored regions.

Recent Works

While subject matter from earlier works included local historical legends and folklore from East Africa , the artist’s recent work has evolved toward more omnipresent themes captured with a graphic, ultramodern cast. Retaining Sekanwagi’s characteristic use of bold, contrasting colors and sweeping, animated forms, these most recent works are executed using the livelier tones of acrylics. Among these explorations “The Awakening” discovers new horizons while seeking distant, imagined destinations. Delighting the senses with characteristic fluidity and color, this vision tantalizes the viewer with its compelling metaphor for shared hopes, struggles and triumphs.

Sekanwagi’s expansive stylized dreams are also captured in “Dawn of a New Century”. With penetrating symbolism, this work captures the collective ideals of our interconnected generation simultaneously facing a defining moment. This deft foresight capture the emotional convolutions of an uncertain , yet hopeful time. Multiple interpretations offer themselves simultaneously – beauty, challenge, and the ever-unknown – looking out, looking in, and looking ahead – each answer provides its own wondrous question.

While many have fallen in love with this artist’s unique and powerful visions, admirers continue to discover new rewards upon entering his ever-evolving, ever-reaching visual explorations. History will undoubtedly place Dan Sekanwagi as one of the most imaginative and influential artists from East Africa’s Ugandan School of fine painting. (END)

Also click link to read about Sekanwagi's United Nations Children's Fund Unicef cards

 Sentinel Poetry (Online) #51    ISSN 1479-425X

Nature’s Own: Portrait of a Painter
by Patrick Iberi

http://www.sentinelpoetry.org.uk/0207/iberi.html