Kenyan sculptor Ong'esa wants to elevate African art

TABAKA, Kenya — Kenya's most lauded sculptor, Elkana Ong'esa, has seen his gigantic stone creations displayed across the globe, but feels African art still deserves greater recognition at home and abroad.

"African art has influenced Western art heavily," the 79-year-old sculptor said, pointing to Pablo Picasso's early 20th-century masterpieces, such as Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, that drew inspiration from the continent.

Despite this, "African art has been left behind," he said in an interview at his home in Tabaka in western Kenya's hilly Kisii county.

His work — much of it inspired by nature — has been showcased at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, the United Nations in New York, and respected galleries in cosmopolitan capitals.

But it still has not attracted the "very high" prices assigned to artworks produced in the West, he said, with neither African nor foreign collectors willing to shell out for pieces from the continent. And that's not the only obstacle.

"The Kenyan government does not give enough support to artists," he said, recalling a 2014 fiasco that prevented his work from taking center stage at the Smithsonian Folklore Festival in Washington.

Ong'esa had carved a monumental granite sculpture for the prestigious event, and was offered 1.2 billion Kenyan shillings (then equivalent to P764 million) by an interested buyer.

But Kenyan authorities, who insisted on handling transport requirements for the 13-ton elephant — refusing foreign offers of help — eventually said it was too heavy to be airlifted.

Media reports said officials had demanded kickbacks in exchange for transporting the piece.

Ong'esa would not comment on the specific allegations, saying only that "some people in the Kenyan government, who were supposed to help, turned against the concept."

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If the sale had gone ahead, it would have entered the record books and "Kenyan art would be in a different league", he added.

'Turning point'

Born into a family of craftsmen, he started making clay toys for himself as a toddler before learning to carve little animals out of waste stone shards.

His talent