Lot 75: Richard Onyango (Kenyan, born 1960) Kangalika Bus on broken road unframed

Kangalika Bus on broken road
signed 'Richard', inscribed 'Malindi Kenya' and dated '2005' (lower right); inscribed 'Kangalika on broken road / serial VII C/ in 1969' (lower left)
oil on canvas
86 x 100cm (33 7/8 x 39 3/8in).
unframed

Provenance:
A private collection.

Onyango was born in Kisii, Kenya, in 1960. He worked as a bus-driver before joining the group of artists, Malindi Artist's Proof, in 1990 and taking up painting professionally. He paints almost entirely from memory:

"To keep things properly in mind I had to draw them since I didn't have a camera to record what I would like to put in memory."

(The artist, as quoted in A. Magnin (ed.), African Art Now: Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection, London, 2005, pg. 158.)

The African bus is many things: loved, yet feared by cyclists, nervous passengers and small cars; reviled when they crash devastatingly (which they frequently do); admired by small boys; they are the kings of the road. They bring life to the rural areas, with their extravagant horns, delivering people: the young and old, pregnant, sick and healthy, as well as chickens, food, post, and other products.