Lot 56 Yony Waite
Yony Waite (Kenyan, born 1935)
Behind Lukenya Mountains, 2017
Signed ‘yony waite’ (lower right)
Acrylic on canvas
214 x 171.5 cm
Ksh 800,000 – 1,000,000
(US$) 8,400 – 10,500
Provenance: Direct from the artist
Sold Ksh 1,350,100
Yony Waite, now a Kenyan citizen, grew up on the Pacific Island of Guam. She studied Fine Art at the University of California where her mentor Richard Diebenkorn instilled in her a keen appreciation of the essential value of light. Waite then went to Japan to study the art of sumi-e brush painting where she developed a great love of ink as a medium. Waite has kept her gaze of the Kenyan wilderness at the heart of her practice. This painting is one of the views of a well-known landmark, the Lukenya mountain range, from her home and studio near Athi River outside Nairobi.
Alongside her work as an artist, Waite has been instrumental in establishing various art institutions in Kenya, most notably as co-founder of Gallery Watatu in 1968 which was sold to Ruth Shaffner in 1984. She went on to establish Wilderbeeste Workshops and Mkonokono women’s group in Lamu were she still lives. Waite received a Rockefeller Grant to create a large-scale work to be exhibited at the Rio Biodiversity Summit of 1992.
Waite has a strong international following and has exhibited extensively in Japan, USA and Kenya.