Zacharia Mbutha

Kenya

Zacharia Mbutha was born in 1949 in Kamburu Village in Kenya’s Kiambu District.

In 1979 he resigned as a primary school teacher and steadily devoted more of his time to painting. His entry into the Nairobi art scene began at Gallery Watatu in the mid 1980s.
His work is a product of his experimentation and inspiration by modern European art obtained from library books.

He invented his own style with vivid, statuesque figures and an unusual sense of design. Putting dabs of oil paint in thick layers on the canvas with a palette knife, his colours are not mixed but overlaid, creating illusions of depth and shading.

Mbutha has participated in many exhibitions locally and internationally. His work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in Japan, Germany and Portugal.

Kindness to All | Oil on Canvas | 40cm x 56cm - ca. 1995
CODE: MBUT1


Embracement | Oil on Canvas | 40cm x 52cm - ca. 1995
CODE: MBUT2


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