Richard Onyango

Richard Onyango was born in 1960 in Kisi, Kenya.

Richard Onyango supported himself working as sign painter, bus driver, woodcarver, carpenter, fashion designer, furniture maker, farmer and animal trainer. His life changed significantly, when he met Drosie the British woman, which whom he lived together until her sudden death.

The unreal theatricality of largely self-taught artist Richard Onyango’s paintings turn the spectator in a helpless or complicit participant of the events which he describes. The psychological tension is notably present in the paintings that Richard Onyango dedicated to his relationship with Drosie. White and curvaceous, the young woman represents in imaginary or real situations the fantasies that Africa projects onto the west.

Richard Onyango has participated in major group exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (2003), Africa Remix (2005) Hayward Gallery, London and African Art Now: Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection (2005) Museum of Fine Art, Houston, USA .

Richard Onyango is represented in the Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC), Geneva, which was founded in 1989 by Jean Pigozzi and curated in the outset by André Magnin. It is the largest private collection of its kind and has helped many African artists to show their work in major institutions around the world.

Richard Onyango lives and works in Malindi, Kenya.

"Out of Africa", Villa Dessauer, Bamberg, 14.03. – 14.04.2002

"Life Colours", Contemporary Art from Africa, SiemensForum Erlangen, Erlangen, 11.01. - 07.03.2002

"Eroticism in Contemporary African Art", Gallery ZAK, Fürth, Bavaria, 25.09. – 18.11.1998

"Art from Kenya", Gallery ZAK, Fürth, Bavaria, 26.09. – 19.11.1997

"Time Travel - New Art from Africa", „Siemens informiert“, Erlangen, 19.09. - 16.10.1997

"Sarenco and The Malindi Connection (1986 – 1996)", Stadttheater Fürth, Fürth, Bavaria,

22.09. – 07.11.1996



 "AUFBRUCH – Moderne Afrikanische Kunst", Hotel-Pyramide and Euro-Med-Clinic,

Fürth, Bavaria, 21.09. – 03.11.1996

"Querschnitt", Gallery ZAK, Fürth, Bavaria, 20.09. – 21.11.1996