Jak Katarikawe
Untitled
About the SessionNAIROBI – Following their successful collaboration in 2025, Strauss & Co, Africa’s leading auction house, and Danda Jaroljmek, Director of Art Auction East Africa, will present Art Auction East Africa | Strauss & Co, a 67-lot sale bringing together modern and contemporary art from East Africa and the wider continent. The live-virtual sale will be held at Circle Art Gallery in Nairobi on Wednesday, 28 October, 2026, 7pm EAT. The catalogue spans a diversity of East African countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda, alongside works by artists from Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Nigeria. Works on paper, photography and sculpture complements the strong painting consignment. “The selection invites collectors to discover East Africa’s diverse modernist histories, particularly those beyond the Anglophone world,” says Susie Goodman. “In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in East African modernists, with artists associated with the Khartoum School shown in museums and fairs globally. Our work as an auction house rooted in Africa is ensuring this rediscovery is not temporary. We are delighted to partner with Danda Jaroljmek in cultivating a sustainable secondary market for East African modernists active during the era of decolonisation and independence.” A preview exhibition will be held at Circle Art Gallery, Victoria Square, Riara Road, Nairobi, during the two weeks preceding the auction on Wednesday, 28 October 2026.
LOT 60
Jak Katarikawe
Untitled
About this Item
signed in the plate
Provenance
Private Collection.
Notes
Jak Katarikawe grew up in rural southwest Uganda and is now one of East Africa’s best-known artists. As political oppression intensified in Uganda, Katarikawe relocated to Nairobi in 1981, where he became one of the artists who gained exposure through Ruth Schaffner’s Gallery Watatu.
Combining painting and storytelling, Katarikawe’s emotive portrayals of the dramas and dreams of village life have received international acclaim and been an inspiration to generations of young artists. Extensively collected, Katarikawe’s paintings have been exhibited in Africa, Europe and the USA. Between 2013 and 2017 Katarikawe’s paintings have been featured at the annual Bonhams Africa Now auction in London, in the travelling group show Mwili Akili na Roho, at The Royal Academy, London and Haus Der Kunst, Munich, and at NCAI, Nairobi.
Biography courtesy of Circle Art Gallery.
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