Irene Wanjiru 2016 Exhibition Catalog

IRENE WANJIRU SCULPTURE, PAINTING AND COLLAGE

AUGUST 2016 | THE SPILLWAY FUND | PORTLAND & SOUTHPORT, MAINE IRENE WANJIRU: SCULPTURE, PAINTING AND COLLAGE

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IRENE WANJIRU: SCULPTURE, PAINTING AND COLLAGE

THE THIRD HAND You might say that the art of Irene Wanjiru is crafted by three hands. Two of them are hers; the third belongs to the raw expressivity of the materials she uses, from foraged stone and wood to found scraps of printed fabric.

Photo: Filmic Ltd

As we welcome Irene back to Maine for a second residency at the Spillway Fund, we have the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of her ability to see potential meaning in everyday materials, and to transform them into art of the highest caliber. Sometimes the transformation is effected through gossamer touches and modest shaping, other times through muscular, grinding effort.

The magnificent Kizazi Kimoja Hujenga Juu Ijayo (which translates from Kiswahili as “One Generation Builds on the Next”) is an example of the latter. Imagine Max Beckmann sketching out an elaborate frieze of faces and figures — then mapping it onto an 11-foot tree trunk and carving it in relief.

And hollowing out the entire center of the trunk in the process.

The sheer physicality of this monumental statement can overwhelm at first, leaving the refined expressions of complex relationships between individuals and generations — as in a family — to be discovered and explored only over multiple viewings.

In contrast, in Lulu’s Bunny, Irene easily transforms a blocky, hard-edged chunk of marble into a soft-nosed, timid rabbit with the addition of just a few superficial relief markings.

It’s as deft a transformation as Picasso’s celebrated bicycleseat-and-handlebar bull’s head, with the imaginative, modernist form-sense of a latter-day Gaudier-Brzeska.

Whether the artist’s touch is light or heavy, the work of the “third hand” remains an undisguised and integral part of the final expression. A tree stump retains its identity (and beauty) as a tree stump, even after its metamorphosis into a Crocodile. Fabric scraps are collaged with such abstract power, it takes a moment to realize they have also been pressed into service as a visionary representation of the colorful autumn leaves of Maine — as we see in Boothbay Mazingira.

New to us this year is a broad sampling of Irene’s work in two dimensions. The exhibition features nearly a dozen compositions, combining painted passages and fabric, collaged on canvas.

The vitality of these works stems as much from the evidence of the artist’s process as it does from their bold colors and forms. It’s clearly an additive process, both physically and conceptually, with one decision in fabric or paint leading to the next.

Irene is one of those rare artists whose work simultaneously delights and carries emotional resonance.

Beware an easy read; her art tends to have an instant appeal, yet rewards time spent. New forms — and interpretations of those forms — reveal themselves with contemplation.

Ultimately Irene’s art leaves us looking with possibility at the expressiveness of everything around us. What raw materials has the third hand offered us today? What wonders can we fashion from them with our own two hands?

Nairobi, Kenya-based sculptor and painter, Irene Wanjiru, is 2016 Artist-in-Residence at The Spillway Fund, Southport, Maine.

Proceeds from this exhibition will support Portland Public Library’s solar power initiatives.

Turnpike, detail.

Photos by Robert Mitchell Photography and The Spillway Fund, except where noted.

IRENE WANJIRU: SCULPTURE, PAINTING AND COLLAGE

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KIZAZI KIMOJA HUJENGA JUU IJAYO ONE GENERATION BUILDS ON THE NEXT WOOD 132” X APPROX. 12” DIAMETER DETAILS, FOLLOWING PAGE AND FRONT COVER

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IRENE WANJIRU: SCULPTURE, PAINTING AND COLLAGE

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INTO THE RIFT FABRIC AND OIL ON CANVAS 39” X 52.5”

STOOL WOOD 24” X 11” DIAMETER

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IRENE WANJIRU: SCULPTURE, PAINTING AND COLLAGE

NGONG SUITE FABRIC AND OIL ON CANVAS 39” X 52.5”

LULU’S BUNNY (THREE VIEWS) MARBLE 11” X 6” X 9”

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CROCODILE WOOD, GLASS 34” X 12” X 16”

BOOKCASE WOOD, GLASS 47” X 12.5” DIAMETER

VIPER FISH DRIFTWOOD, SEAGLASS LENGTH: 44”

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IRENE WANJIRU: SCULPTURE, PAINTING AND COLLAGE

TOP:

THE LION AND THE JACKAL OIL, FABRIC, PENCIL ON CANVAS 26” X 31”

BOTTOM:

THE GOLDEN GATES OIL, FABRIC ON CANVAS 19.5” X 31.5”

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SHAMBA LA TWIGA FABRIC AND OIL ON CANVAS 26.75” X 36”

MALINDI FABRIC AND PAINT ON CANVAS 12” X 18”

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IRENE WANJIRU: SCULPTURE, PAINTING AND COLLAGE

THE KISS BIRCH HEIGHT: 16”

DWIGHT AVOCADO WOOD, ALUMINUM, NAILS, PAINT HEIGHT: 18” LENGTH: 20”

PEACE DOG WOOD 42” X 13” DIAMETER

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GRIFFIN WOOD, GLASS 88” X APPROX. 12” DIAMETER DETAILS,BELOW

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UNDUGU BROTHERHOOD WOOD, GLASS 39” X 29” X 33” ALTERNATE VIEW, LEFT

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BOTTLE OPENERS WOOD, METAL VARIOUS DIMENSIONS

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NOCTURNE OIL AND FABRIC ON CANVAS 23” X 35”

DIVER ACACIA WOOD AND METAL HEIGHT:

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IRENE WANJIRU: SCULPTURE, PAINTING AND COLLAGE

BOTTLE OPENERS WOOD, METAL VARIOUS DIMENSIONS

IN THE CLEARING WALNUT 40” X APPROX. 24” DIAMETER ALTERNATE VIEW AND DETAIL, BELOW

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TURNPIKE FABRIC AND OIL ON CANVAS 26” X 31.5”

SNAIL PLASTIC BAGS 13” X 8” X 4”

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BOOTHBAY MAZINGIRA OIL AND FABRIC ON CANVAS 22.5” X 30.5”

CAT VERMONT MARBLE LENGTH: 22”

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TEEMING GIRAFFES WOOD, GLASS LENGTH: 156” DETAILS, BELOW

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VILLAGE OIL AND FABRIC ON CANVAS 30.5 X 17.25”

THE OPTIMIST STONE 17” X 8” X 3”

TORSO MARBLE HEIGHT: 15”

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Photo: Cheryl Zibisky

IRENE WANJIRU Irene was born in a small village on the slopes of Mount Elgon, an extinct volcano straddling the border between Kenya and Uganda. A striking natural region of cliffs and calderas, warm springs and waterfalls, rainforest and caves, it is home to elephants, antelope, buffalo, monkeys, and thousands of species of birds and butterflies.

One of six children, Irene grew up watching her grandfather carve cooking sticks, mortars and pestles for the village.

Following Kenyan independence the family moved to the town of Kitale in the Rift Valley, seeking better farmland in an area vacated by colonials. Irene attended school there, married a journalist, and spent two years in New Delhi before returning to Kenya.

Settling in Nairobi to raise her four children, Irene began making art during rare free moments, using clay, yarn, and household items as media. A series of crocheted wall hangings, seen by a neighbor, helped procure an invitation to a sculpture workshop at the National Museum of Kenya. One of the pieces she created sold at the workshop’s culminating exhibition, launching her artistic career. In the following years, Irene would turn her home into an ever-changing sculpture garden, filled with works in both wood and stone, as well as collaged sculpture using found objects and discarded items.

Her artistic development was furthered by the Kuona Trust, a Nairobi-based center dedicated to the generation, presentation and promotion of innovative contemporary visual arts in Kenya. CARE International selected Irene from all the artists represented by Kuona, commissioning her to create a monumental wood carving for the lobby of their world headquarters in Atlanta.

Irene has exhibited widely throughout Nairobi, and taught a workshop in wood carving for women at the National Museum.

She has been artist-in-residence for several summers at the Carving Studio & Sculpture Center in West Rutland, Vermont, and in 2016 completed her second residency at the Spillway Fund in Southport, Maine.

Irene selects material for carving based on an initial feeling from the raw wood or stone, then pursues that feeling, teasing out the form hiding in the substance. Her work is full of the life and spirit of the worlds she has lived in, from the abundant natural environment of her childhood, to the human drama in both rural and urban areas in East Africa and South Asia. She draws on a strong feel for natural materials to create bold works full of surprises, wit and organic power. Her work is at once dramatic and playful, revealing and life-affirming.

FOR MORE ABOUT IRENE AND HER WORK, PLEASE VISIT:

IRENEWANJIRU.COM 22

AND SPILLWAYFUND.ORG/ARTS

IRENE WANJIRU: SCULPTURE, PAINTING AND COLLAGE

A FAMILY IS A SAGA FABRIC AND OIL ON CANVAS 31.5” X 17.5”

MAASAI WARRIOR WOOD, ALUMINUM, NAILS 50” X 4” X 3”

276B Danforth St. Portland, ME 04102 spillwayfund.org spillwayfund@gmail.com © 2016 The Spillway Fund 24

IRENE WANJIRU: SCULPTURE, PAINTING AND COLLAGE