Lot-23-Gakunju-Kaigwa1
Lot-23-Gakunju-Kaigwa
Gakunju Kaigwa (Kenyan, born 1958)
Seduction, 1998
Signed ‘Gkaigwa.’ 1998 (underneath the base)
Vermont marble
140 x 30 x 17cm
Ksh 950,000-1,500,000
US$ 10,800-17,000
Sold post-auction
Provenance: direct from the artist
Gakunju Kaigwa is an established Kenyan sculptor who graduated from Kenyatta University, Nairobi in 1980 with a B Ed in Fine Art. In 1993 he received his MA in Public Art at the University of Dundee in Scotland. He was accepted by the Apprenticeship Programme at the Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture in New Jersey, where he worked in the foundry and mastered the art of metal sculpture and casting in bronze, aluminium, silver and iron.
Working in the USA for several years, and attending numerous international workshops, Kaigwa returned to Kenya in 2003 and took a studio at Kuona Trust, Centre for Visual Arts from where he works on public and private commissions. He has been teaching fine art at the International School of Kenya for the last two years.
The stone for ‘Seduction’ was sourced from an old quarry in Rutland, Vermont in 1997 whilst on a residency. Kaigwa says he wanted to capture the enigma and power of a young woman.