Camille Wekesa (Kenyan, born 1968)
Tsavo Trees XVl, 2017 & Tsavo Trees Vl, 2018
Signed ‘Camille.Wekesa.2017’ & ‘Camille.Wekesa.2018’ (lower right on both)
Tempera & pearl lustre on gesso panels
28 x 33 cm each
Sold as a pair
Ksh 220,000–320,000
(US$ 2,000–3,000)
Sold Ksh 375,680
Provenance: direct from the artist
These intricate paintings capture the silvery shimmer and mesh-like quality of the commiphora trees that Camille Wekesa experienced in Tsavo National Park during a dry, arid season. The detail and precision of touch in these panels reveal an intense commitment to landscape painting that has characterised Wekesa’s artistic career, in which she has travelled all over Kenya, capturing unique and iconic landscapes, world heritage sites and individual trees. These gesso panels, using water-based tempera paint and eggshell medium, are a departure from her large oil paintings.
In 1987 Wekesa attended the L’Universita Internazionale dell’Arte in Italy, where she studied Museology, History of Art (15th–19th Century), History of African Art, figure drawing as well as fresco and oil painting. She then attended the Istituto Europeo di Design, from 1989–93, where she studied a variety of painting techniques and design. Since returning from London, where she worked for Coca Cola painting a mural and curating an African art collection, she moved to Nanyuki, where her painting practice is entwined with her involvement in conservation and environmental heritage.
Wekesa is a trained muralist and has worked for many of the large conservation ranches in Laikipia such as Lewa and Ol Jogi from 1996–2001. She is currently working on a large-scale mural project portraying unique landscapes, flora and fauna.
Solo exhibitions include Jade & Silver, The Framers Gallery, London, 2018 and Skies, Plains & Mountains, Redhill Art Gallery, Nairobi, 2016. Group exhibitions include Freedom, Nairobi National Museum, 2013; Ancient Remnants, Deborah Gage Ltd, London, 2012; Contemporary Kenya, Ensign Gallery, London, 2004.