RichardOnyango
Biography
Richard Onyango (February 2, 1960, Kisii, Kenya) is a self-taught visual artist whose work offers a deeply personal and meticulously detailed chronicle of modern Kenyan life. Known for his bold, large-format paintings, Onyango blends memory, emotion, and social commentary with an extraordinary attention to detail, often depicting vehicles, machinery, and figures drawn from his own experiences. Raised near Lake Victoria before moving to the Kenyan coast due to his father’s work in agricultural development, Onyango developed a fascination with industrial equipment from a young age. Trucks, airplanes, and tractors—symbols of modernization and change—would later become recurring subjects in his art, rendered from memory with striking accuracy. Before committing to painting, Onyango explored various creative paths, including carpentry, music, tailoring, and sign painting. These early experiences shaped his distinctive style, which merges craft sensibility with expressive storytelling. A major turning point in his artistic journey was his portrayal of a deeply personal relationship with a British woman named Drosie. These paintings challenged conventional representations of intimacy and power, often inverting racial and gender dynamics. Through these works, Onyango explored themes of love, identity, and displacement with vulnerability and psychological nuance. Throughout his career, he has participated in important international exhibitions, including the 50th Venice Biennale (2003) and the influential traveling exhibition Africa Remix (2004–2006), which brought contemporary African art to audiences across Europe and Asia. Today, Onyango lives and works in Malindi, on the Kenyan coast. His paintings continue to offer a rich visual archive of the personal and political, capturing a uniquely Kenyan perspective on technology, memory, and everyday life.
