Take a Haunting Trip to Nairobi’s ‘Concrete Jungle’ in These Images

Dreamy, multifaceted images of a lonely figure placed in simultaneously beautiful and harrowing worlds exemplify the work of Kenyan-born mixed-media artist, Paul Onditi. Onditi, who will exhibit in the US for the first time this week, creates his distinctive style using a digital polyester inkjet plate; an analog machine used in some countries for printing newspapers.

From initial trials with inks, to the direct application of oil paint, Onditi experiments with chemicals along with transferred images, prints, and filmstrips. “I get more fascinated when the end results are a surprise, even to me who is doing it… If you never see me work you may never get to know how oil color gets to those tiny little details," he tells The Creators Project.

The effect of Onditi’s experimental process is mesmerizing. His talent was first recognized while he was living Germany, when a friend saw his paintings at home and suggested he show them to professors at an art school. The Hesse-based artistic-scientific university Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach am Main subsequently extended Onditi’s visa and took him on, but in 2010 when the cost of living in Europe became unsustainable for the artist, he returned home.

Onditi’s works are recognizable by a single omnipresent male figure he calls Smokey. “He is is anonymous by nature, the hat and suit he wears are universal, and he doesn’t have a specific face so you could not describe him as from a specific continent…He is trying to come up with answers to issues, and he is solitary because he is interrogating the state of the mind, of human condition,” says the artist.

Smokey is situated in front of a variety of backdrops which despite their surreal, even trippy appearance, depict hard-hitting issues. “Someone once said that present day slaves are not in chains but in debt to a lifestyle of going to the shopping mall and buying a phone you can’t afford, you’re a slave of sorts," says Onditi. He argues that labels such as slavery were reserved for certain continents, particularly Africa. Today, many issues are not limited by geographical location.

The effects of globalization, consumerism, and urbanization are at the core of the artist’s work, from QR codes amidst desolate landscapes, to animals lost in concrete jungles. “These are things that flow from continent to continent. When the war broke out in Syria, the effects were felt in Europe. So are we only going to look at the war in Syria as the war in Syria?” Onditi asks.

Smokey takes on these questions; he is not merely a passive onlooker, but affected by and trying to effect the issues of our time. The artist explains, “You might not sit on the board of a company that puts a lot of emissions into the environment, but then when global warming hits and you lose a sister, or an uncle… it will directly affect you. This is where Smokey finds himself.” Onditi symbolizes worldwide issues by using his observations of Nairobi; a sprawling metropolis which continues to grow as natural environments are damaged.

Onditi will be exhibiting at VOLTA NY—the New York art fair showcasing solo art projects from emerging international artists—this week. He will be represented by ARTLabAfrica, a cultural platform based in Nairobi focused on developing experimental art in East Africa. As Director Lavinia Calza explains, “Southern and Western Africa are much better connected internationally, both in terms of artists in commercial production and more developed infrastructure.”

Yet the Nairobi’s grassroots art scene is beginning to gain recognition, with artists connecting their work internationally and organizations like the Kuona Trust supporting the industry at home. For Calza, VOTLA NY is a chance to show Onditi’s works to new audiences as just a small slice of what the region has to offer.

Paul Onditi will exhibit at VOLTA NY from March 2-6 2016, at Pier 90, New York.

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