A man of many talents, Dayan is an artist with a positive and partriotic message. His work is charming, captivating and full of energy. He attributes his success to his passion for the arts and persistence for excellence. Seraphic took time to find out his take on art here in kenya as well as his plans in regards to this profession.
Dayan's Pencil work in progress.
Who are your favorite artists, Kenyan, regional and international, old and new?
My favorite Kenyan artist would be my brother Bella Kilonzo, I grew up admiring him. His work is amazing!!! He’s done fine art paintings, comics…remember the NURU comic book?, and now he’s working on an animation, check out the site www.ndotoworld.co.ke……Internationally, I admire Thomas Kinkade - that American conveys strong emotion in his work
What type of art do you do and why?
I do a lot of art….I do graphic visual design, fine art, portrait art, comic art, animation, I sing, I write music, I produce music, story development and poetry. Why? Because I can….I’d use any way possible to express all I have. I think visually and talk poetically
I do a lot of art….I do graphic visual design, fine art, portrait art, comic art, animation, I sing, I write music, I produce music, story development and poetry. Why? Because I can….I’d use any way possible to express all I have. I think visually and talk poetically
What is your source of inspiration?
Love inspires me…all I do, I do for love, it’s what gives my art heart and emotion. My art should touch you and either challenge you, inspire you, entertain you, celebrate good, highlight beauty, make you wow, or make you smile. Bottom line, mine is positive, progressive art. LOVE , ENERGY, WISDOM, ART are what defines me.
Love inspires me…all I do, I do for love, it’s what gives my art heart and emotion. My art should touch you and either challenge you, inspire you, entertain you, celebrate good, highlight beauty, make you wow, or make you smile. Bottom line, mine is positive, progressive art. LOVE , ENERGY, WISDOM, ART are what defines me.
Comic art
Do you do anything else aside from that?What I mean is does art pay the bills and perharps feed the wife and kids?
Yes art does pay the bills. An artist is like a brand, hence a strong brand equals bigger money and opportunities. Different types of art have different returns and growth in Kenya, remember this is a growing industry. Just like in business, marketing is key, your skills need to be well placed to attract the right market. Everybody loves art, but not everybody can buy art. Oh, I have no wife and kids, at least not yet!
Who are the likely clients for painters,cartoonists,grafitti artists and sketch artists?
For paintings frequent clients are the cultured clientele willing to spend on something good, interior designers, and art collectors. For cartoons, its usually publishers, corporate companies, media houses, organizations. For portraits it’s largely corporate companies, couples and individuals who’d want to immortalize their beauty. Everyone knows they look good, so why not have an artist highlight your unique features?
For paintings frequent clients are the cultured clientele willing to spend on something good, interior designers, and art collectors. For cartoons, its usually publishers, corporate companies, media houses, organizations. For portraits it’s largely corporate companies, couples and individuals who’d want to immortalize their beauty. Everyone knows they look good, so why not have an artist highlight your unique features?
Portrait executed with graphite.
Is there room for them to partner with Interior Designers, architects, property developers, advertising agencies, jua kali artisans, media houses and writers/authors ?
Oh yes, I’ve been featured in different media platforms that focus on interior design , and property development. What these professionals want, is an appealing aesthetic for spaces and artist provide that. There is so much room, we just need to keep thinking out of the box. With work you can work with just about any one, what matters is the brief…we artist make things look good. We do what moves you. Every sector needs us
Is versatility important? Should one thrive to be a jack of all artistic trades?
People are blessed with different art disciplines and mediums of expressions, some are multi disciplinary, and others prefer a single form. At the end, be the best at what you do, plus experiment, one of the things I love about art is there is no formula, you’re always an inch to something new
Oh yes, I’ve been featured in different media platforms that focus on interior design , and property development. What these professionals want, is an appealing aesthetic for spaces and artist provide that. There is so much room, we just need to keep thinking out of the box. With work you can work with just about any one, what matters is the brief…we artist make things look good. We do what moves you. Every sector needs us
Is versatility important? Should one thrive to be a jack of all artistic trades?
People are blessed with different art disciplines and mediums of expressions, some are multi disciplinary, and others prefer a single form. At the end, be the best at what you do, plus experiment, one of the things I love about art is there is no formula, you’re always an inch to something new
Talent is important and God given but is school and study as important? Must an artist learn the history and the techniques?
I define school as any process of learning. Formal school gives you an environment where you are sharpened and demand placed on you. You get mentored. It is important to learn the history and technique, but we shouldn’t be caught up marveling in the past, learning is meant to empower you to do the now. Sometimes, much of what you need is inside you, life brings it out of you. Revolutionary art has always been birthed by souls that dared to venture into the unknown. Formal school saves you time to learn many things on your own, it brings you a wealth of experience in sequential mode and an important network.
I define school as any process of learning. Formal school gives you an environment where you are sharpened and demand placed on you. You get mentored. It is important to learn the history and technique, but we shouldn’t be caught up marveling in the past, learning is meant to empower you to do the now. Sometimes, much of what you need is inside you, life brings it out of you. Revolutionary art has always been birthed by souls that dared to venture into the unknown. Formal school saves you time to learn many things on your own, it brings you a wealth of experience in sequential mode and an important network.
Do we have enough art schools in Kenya? Note that the question does not ask Nairobi but Kenya.
No no no …we are coming from an age where art in Kenya was mocked and choked. It wasn’t taken seriously. Art has even been scraped off Primary School education in public schools, yet that is the best time to experiment and lay the elementary foundation. And even the existing schools need to make art more involving, relevant and practical.
What about the law? Aside from the Constitution and the Intellectual Property Laws, do you think there should be a specific,informed and detailed legal regime for your area of the visual arts?
Art can never thrive in an environment where people do not respect creativity and intellectual property. A policy should be made to extensively promote and safe guard Kenyan art. We need to realize that artists and art are the custodian of a culture, a generation, a people.
No no no …we are coming from an age where art in Kenya was mocked and choked. It wasn’t taken seriously. Art has even been scraped off Primary School education in public schools, yet that is the best time to experiment and lay the elementary foundation. And even the existing schools need to make art more involving, relevant and practical.
What about the law? Aside from the Constitution and the Intellectual Property Laws, do you think there should be a specific,informed and detailed legal regime for your area of the visual arts?
Art can never thrive in an environment where people do not respect creativity and intellectual property. A policy should be made to extensively promote and safe guard Kenyan art. We need to realize that artists and art are the custodian of a culture, a generation, a people.
Digital Art
Has your work ever been exhibited?
Yes my art has been exhibited at the British Council and parts of Harare Zimbabwe
How does an artist get a gallery to host or do an exhibition of his or her work?
Every gallery would like to show case something good. So an artist just needs to develop a relationship with the gallery and pursue possibilities of an exhibition, it could be a joint exhibition or a solo one or bordering on a theme; the gallery staff will advice. Many galleries tend to stay conventional; they might reject the art from an artist because it may be something new and strange or an unknown name. Physical galleries are not the only way of getting your art to the mass, the internet has proved helpful. We have online galleries like WWW.AFRICANCOLOURS.NET. WWW.ART.COM. Social sites and artists websites are other ways. Be careful when negotiating the terms for the sale of your art.
Yes my art has been exhibited at the British Council and parts of Harare Zimbabwe
How does an artist get a gallery to host or do an exhibition of his or her work?
Every gallery would like to show case something good. So an artist just needs to develop a relationship with the gallery and pursue possibilities of an exhibition, it could be a joint exhibition or a solo one or bordering on a theme; the gallery staff will advice. Many galleries tend to stay conventional; they might reject the art from an artist because it may be something new and strange or an unknown name. Physical galleries are not the only way of getting your art to the mass, the internet has proved helpful. We have online galleries like WWW.AFRICANCOLOURS.NET. WWW.ART.COM. Social sites and artists websites are other ways. Be careful when negotiating the terms for the sale of your art.
Does Kenya and Eastern Africa have enough galleries to cater for the art work in the region?
No. Most consumers of African art, sadly has been foreigners, perhaps because we forgot to embrace our identity and foreigners find our art refreshing and exotic. But a new wave is happening in Africa, more and more Africans are embracing art and buying it. This will translate to opening up of more galleries as a lucrative business move. Then we’ll have both a robust local market and a hungry foreign market. Art thrives well in stable, well earning economies. It’s a good thing seeing governments exchanging art pieces as a way of enhancing relationships between countries
Your work has been on TV? How did that happen? Kazi ilijiuza ama ilijitembeza? Waswahili hunena,'Chema chajiuza,kibaya chajitembeza.' Should that apply to art too?
Yes, my work has been featured on T.V, radio, websites, magazines and blogs…everyone loves to associate and celebrate something good. So if your art is good, the world will find you and celebrate you
No. Most consumers of African art, sadly has been foreigners, perhaps because we forgot to embrace our identity and foreigners find our art refreshing and exotic. But a new wave is happening in Africa, more and more Africans are embracing art and buying it. This will translate to opening up of more galleries as a lucrative business move. Then we’ll have both a robust local market and a hungry foreign market. Art thrives well in stable, well earning economies. It’s a good thing seeing governments exchanging art pieces as a way of enhancing relationships between countries
Your work has been on TV? How did that happen? Kazi ilijiuza ama ilijitembeza? Waswahili hunena,'Chema chajiuza,kibaya chajitembeza.' Should that apply to art too?
Yes, my work has been featured on T.V, radio, websites, magazines and blogs…everyone loves to associate and celebrate something good. So if your art is good, the world will find you and celebrate you
Oil on canvas painting
Is patience the ultimate virtue for a creative?
I think patience is a hallmark of each artist. This applies to the process of sharpening your skill, creative art pieces and waiting or laboring for an opening to unleash it to the world. Sometimes the artist will be ahead of his/ her time and sadly, acknowledged later. It’s more like giving birth. Anything good takes time.
What are your future plans?
I am pregnant with ideas. I have much up my sleeves. I’m organizing an exhibition of my art, publishing poetry and comic books, developing an animation outfit to churn out African animation and unleashing music that will move the world. It is a dream to form a foundation that identifies, nurtures, and promotes art. It will be good if artists were well taken care of and given room to do what they do best- create
I think patience is a hallmark of each artist. This applies to the process of sharpening your skill, creative art pieces and waiting or laboring for an opening to unleash it to the world. Sometimes the artist will be ahead of his/ her time and sadly, acknowledged later. It’s more like giving birth. Anything good takes time.
What are your future plans?
I am pregnant with ideas. I have much up my sleeves. I’m organizing an exhibition of my art, publishing poetry and comic books, developing an animation outfit to churn out African animation and unleashing music that will move the world. It is a dream to form a foundation that identifies, nurtures, and promotes art. It will be good if artists were well taken care of and given room to do what they do best- create
Where would you like to see art in kenya go?
I’d want to see art in Kenya invade offices, homes and parks…I want to see more financiers of art, where artists find a canvas anywhere and color the world. Advertising agencies utilizing more Kenyan art, Kenyan art gaining a larger footprint on the net. I’d like to see more art centers were young artists are developed, more Kenyan art sold as downloads. Kenyan art in our fashion, our T.V’s and radios. I WANT TO SEE AN ART ATTACK!!!
You can connect with Dayan Via his page Here
I’d want to see art in Kenya invade offices, homes and parks…I want to see more financiers of art, where artists find a canvas anywhere and color the world. Advertising agencies utilizing more Kenyan art, Kenyan art gaining a larger footprint on the net. I’d like to see more art centers were young artists are developed, more Kenyan art sold as downloads. Kenyan art in our fashion, our T.V’s and radios. I WANT TO SEE AN ART ATTACK!!!
You can connect with Dayan Via his page Here