Kaloki Nyamai Solo Show in New York

The universal appeal of Kenyan artist Kaloki Nyamai’s (b.1985) paintings have garnered him solo exhibitions in Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Wales, South Africa, Dallas, Art Basel Miami, Basel and Seoul.  Nyamai was one of four artists included in the Kenyan Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022. His work is on currently view at a solo exhibit in New York.

 

Nyamai’s paintings focus on family and community, inspired by stories that his politically activist grandmother told him, and the skills that were inspired by his artistic mother.

 

In the last few years Nyamai’s paintings have earned him a global reputation as a great artist and mentor. He has moved into a new studio, with his wife and their two children. The studio, in the Karen suburb of Nairobi, sits on a lush 1.5 acres property. Last year Nyamai launched Kamene Art Residency in 2023, with a focus on artistic growth and cross-cultural collaboration.

 

Twe Vaa (which means We are here) is the title of Kaloki Nyamai’s solo exhibit at the James Cohan Gallery in New York. It will be on view through May 4, 2024.

 

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A survey of the last ten years of the work of Loie Hollowell is currently on view at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum.

 

Hollowell has continued to focus on the body, especially the changes that occur during pregnancy, birth and postpartum. 

 

It is not just her visual portrayal of the body that makes Hollowell’s work so extraordinary, it’s also her magnificent use of color, shape and space. 

 

Hollowell had her first child in 2018 and her second child in 2020, during the pandemic. Her works reflect all that she experienced during the two pregnancies, seen from the perspective of a woman who feels and observes the changes in her body.

 

Hollowell (b. 1983) was born and raised in Woodland, California. She has been living and working in Queens, New York. She and her sculptor husband,  bought a building in Queens last year that they use as their studio. It’s a two-story building, in the Ridgewood neighborhood, that was once a butcher shop and slaughterhouse.

 

She has more space in which to work now, but motherhood, especially with two children to look after, takes time. “Becoming a mother has changed everything for me, including my practice.” Hollowell said, in an interview in Whitewall. “Because time management is a very real thing for me now, I’ve found that I’ve had to be more focused than before, working smarter to make work as efficiently as possible. I have a fairly strict studio schedule so I don’t have as much time to sit with the work. It’s helped me focus and work more deliberately.”

 

Space Between: A Survey of Ten Years will be on exhibit at The Aldrich Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut through August 11, 2024.

 

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Please contact us if you would like more information about the works of  Kaloki Nyamai and Loie Hollowell available at Surovek Gallery.

 

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April 25, 2024