Charles Sekano

This fine ‘bitter sweet’ work in Charles Sekano’s later geometric style was created long after he returned to his native South Africa after his prolonged exile in Nairobi. Unlike many of Sekano’s female protagonists, this figure presents a direct challenge to the viewer with an impatient questioning gaze that borders on disdain. Her gaze echoes the artist’s sense of disappointment over the lack of promised social progress for the majority in the new South Africa. The rainbow coloured geometric forms that extend across the figure hint at unrealised dreams of organised housing for the people as well as the cruel confines of the grave.

Sekano has exhibited extensively in Kenya, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan and the USA. His works are in private collections across the world and in various museums including the Volkekunde Museum, Frankfurt and the Peabody Essex Museum, Massachusetts, USA. They regularly appear at international art auctions.