Lot 45

John Obaso Diang’a (Kenyan, born 1945)
Pangs of Hunger, 1975
Inscribed ‘J.D 75’ on base
Clay
44 x 23.8 x 17 cm
Provenance: Private collection
Sold KES 117,475

John Diang’a is an influential Kenyan sculptor, painter and printmaker whose works are known for their exploration of perfect abstract forms. He lives and works in Maseno, where he founded the Esiepala Cultural Centre in the early 1980s.

Diang’a achieved a BA Honours in Fine Arts from the University of Nairobi in 1973. He was a teacher in the Department of Fine Arts at the Kagumo College in Nyeri. In his earlier career he exhibited widely in Nairobi, holding multiple solo exhibitions at Gallery Watatu. In more recent years his work has also been exhibited in Germany and he has had two museum exhibitions, in Kisumu and Nairobi. His work is in international collections including the Kunst Transit, Berlin and the Contemporary African Art Collection, Kisumu Museum.