The great artiste who painted the 1972 Olympics poster

Ancient Soi, 75, is among the first of the modern accomplished generation of Kenyan painters. He began displaying his work in City Market among fruits and kitchenware before being discovered by a leading gallery in Nairobi. Since then, he has exhibited widely in Europe and in the US. His colourful landscapes bustle with wildlife in an unspoilt paradise with zebras and antelopes bounding across the plains watched by owls, birds and rabbits.

He has travelled far and wide including Munich, Germany, for the 1972 Olympic Games. “Four of us, including Okello Guard, from Uganda who was studying Art at University of Nairobi, were selected to design the poster for the Olympic Games and my painting won,” says Ancient, who was born in Mbiuni in Machakos County.

He was awarded a gold medal for an original art vintage of 1972 Olympics poster, got invited to Germany to receive the award, and stayed there for three weeks. After painting and sending the poster to Germany through its embassy in Kenya, his name details got lost on the way but luckily since they were told to write “Olympic Games 1972’’ in their local mother tongue, it made it possible for his work to be identified by his friend Okello.

To identify the owner of the work, the poster was taken to all African embassies in Germany and identified as belonging to a Kenyan then published on the Sunday Post newspaper. When Okello came across it in the newspaper, he knew it was Ancient’s work and that’s how he connected him with the Olympic Games chairman.

“The painting fetched me Sh6, 000, and at that time, it was good money,” recalls Ancient during the interview at his house in Buruburu, where he also has a small room, which acts as a studio and gallery.

Locally, he has sold many paintings including the one he sold to former President Mwai Kibaki, showing Kikuyu men and women drinking alcohol. This was when Kibaki was vice-president and had come to open the first French Cultural exhibition at French Cultural Centre.

“Mzee was pleased with my painting and bought it for Sh60, 000. He later wrote me a note saying, ‘The great painting is hanging in my sitting room in Othaya’,” says Ancient whose second born son, Michael Soi, has inherited his father’s gift of painting.

He also sells his work abroad through his white friends who live there. Some time back, the Coca Cola director in Atlanta, Georgia, asked him to paint a picture. It was the biggest he has ever done measuring about 72 inches. The picture showed Africans herding cattle on a sunny day, with a canteen nearby where they go and drink Coke. It fetched him Sh700, 000 which was his first highest earning ever.

Ancient who uses oil paint started artwork while in Intermediate School level in his Mutula Village. “The teacher would tell us to go outside during art lessons and paint anything. I once won in the then Machakos District painting competitions,” recalls Ancient.

He came to Nairobi in 1965 and found a job as a salesman at a City Market curio shop. “While there, I came across an artist from Congo who would sell to us paintings at between Sh30 and Sh50 and then we sell them at Sh300, something I saw as a profitable venture,” he says.

The national archives

He remembered he was good in art and decided to start painting again as a side hustle. He did four paintings in 1966, took them to City Market and sold all to one person. He got inspired to leave his job and concentrate on his painting. That is when he luckily met Okello.

Some people advised him to start painting on canvas, which fetches good money abroad. “To me, art is a daily job and a source of living. Through art, I have educated my four children.”

He says he misses the defunct Gallery Watatu where they used to do exhibitions and meet artists from various places.

He, however, requests the Government to set aside one floor of National Archives for artists to exhibit their items. He, however, plans to open a gallery in Nairobi’s CBD to display his work.

His advice to future artists is that they should enter into art for passion and talent not just to make money.