Lot 19

Michael Dimo (Kenyan, born 1950)
Untitled (Standing Figure), circa 1980s
Unsigned with COA
Podocarpus wood
140 x 20 x 22 cm
KES 300,000 – 400,000 ARR
(US$) 2,350 – 3,150
Provenance: Private collection

Michael Dimo was born in the Nyanza Province, Kenya in 1950. His interest in art was fostered early on by his mother, a potter, who taught Dimo to model in clay. After he left school at the age of 15, Dimo focussed on developing his skill in sculpting and carving wood under the guidance of other artists.

In the 1970s, Dimo worked in the Coast Regional Woodcarving Society of Tanzania, where he studied the Makode and Wazaramo sculptors while simultaneously running his own workshop in Uganda. There is a suggestion of the Makonde Ujamaa totems in several of his works, but Dimo’s style was clearly defined by this point. Returning to Kenya in 1979, Dimo opened his workshop in Thika where he continues to work with a wide variety of woods. At times in contrast to the subject of the work, he selects his material by colour, texture, type and grain, and matches the right piece of wood to the visual imagery, creating raw-edged wood carvings of masks, busts and figural works. Michael Dimo works from memory, drawing inspiration from the faces of the individuals that he sees around him, and creates bold and immensely powerful and often anguished forms.