Painting it like it is

You’ve been getting so much buzz for your tote bags after Lupita Nyong’o recently posted a picture posing with one on her Instagram and Facebook pages. Orders must be off the roof. How did you start making them?

I am primarily a painter. Designing bags is just a little experiment I started out of boredom, but that has since taken a life of its own. I was tired of doing smaller pieces on canvas and decided to put my art on something a bit more functional. Each portrait takes me about 25 minutes to do. I didn’t set out to sell them and was initially just posting pictures on social media. This is my fourth year making them and I had already sold close to 2,000 bags, but when Lupita posted the picture, things just spiralled out of control. I’m currently working in batches of 65 and after every order has been sent out, I’ll get on the next set. You know, it’s somewhat becoming a problem because I now find myself spending more time making the bags than in the studio doing my primary responsibility, which is painting.

What then is your signature when it comes to painting?

I create work that revolves around Nairobi. I took an angle that a lot of artists feel uncomfortable approaching...working on issues like commercial sex work and interracial relationships. My art is particularly influenced by Nairobi at night. I love Westlands for instance. I can go there for an hour on a given night and have enough inspiration to paint for three months. I also deal with issues relating to politics and bad governance. I did a whole (satirical) series of 40 pieces called ‘China Loves Africa’, the last piece being this year, and it was widely collected all over the world.

I would suppose that you get into a lot of trouble given the bold and explicit nature of some of your work...

You will always get into trouble because not everybody will be excited about what you do. There are people, especially women, who will always have a lot of issues with it. The thing is, my work is stories, and it so happens to be very negative ones at that. When I’m doing a painting of a topless woman on a table, I don’t think of the market because I doubt anyone in African society will buy it. So if I want to make rent or buy fuel, I design the tote bags. That then gives me the freedom to address the issues I choose without worrying about the market. Over time, I’m even starting to sell that kind of work more than the bags. It’s come to a point where I can comfortably live on my art without compromising the nature of things I choose to address in the process.

How did you get into painting?

My dad is a painter. It looked very easy...just sitting and painting all day and life was good. I grew up in Buru Buru. After high school, I went on to study Art and Art History before going to work at Kuona Trust upon graduation. It was the only space interested in younger artists at that time (around 1996 when I was 24). I worked with them for close to 17 years and was in charge of things like international exchange, residency programmes and international artist workshops. After some time, I felt I needed to concentrate on my art, so I ventured out to the studio and here I am.

What next for you, Michael?

It’s hard to tell because I don’t really sit and plan things...I just start working and it all falls into place. I might wake up and just decide to do some work on people sitting in benches or bus stops. Still, I specialise on a lot of ‘ratchet’ things- part of Nairobi that people refuse to see. We are after all very good at burying our heads in the sand!