Michael Soi: “Do work that revolves around corruption because it is a big problem in Kenya, which seems to have interfered with the development of this country. Impunity is how government deals with this issue making it very difficult- I dwell on issues that a lot of artists will choose not to address.”
Police Swoop.
About:
Michael Soi (Born Nairobi 1972) lives and works in Nairobi, Kenya where he has is a leading light in what is a burgeoning contemporary art scene. The son of one of Kenya’s most distinguished contemporary painters, Soi has developed in to a successful painter and sculptor with a unique vision and highly distinctive style. His three dimensional work is playful and cryptic – usually created with brightly painted plywood. Much of his paintings provide satirical commentary on socio-political issues his unforgiving if humorous gaze focussing on political impunity, greed and Kenya’s growing sex industry.
African Union Main Function.
Michael Soi’s paintings are informed by a strong tradition of cartoonists whose works have satirised Kenyan society since independence – often bravely poking fun at the political establishment. He is at pains to make work that is meaningful to his own countrymen and also bought locally by a new generation of Kenyan art collectors, but at the same time he now has a growing international following. His concern is with clarity of form and legibility of message; in the process he has created his own universal pictorial language.
China Loves Africa 8.
Courtesy: Ed Cross Fine Art.
Party Don’t Stop.
The Boy is Mine.