For Kenyan-born British artist James Vaulkhard, art has always been the essence of his existence. He grew up in the rolling hills and tea plantations of Tigoni, a place whose lush landscapes now take centre stage in his maiden exhibition in Nairobi.
James studied art history at Leeds University in the UK before pursuing classical training at Charles Cecil Studios and Studio Della Statua in Florence, Italy. There, he immersed himself in an Italian system of portraiture and figurative painting that valued rigour and discipline.
He recalls months of intensive classes where students would spend a full year working in one medium, on live models, sometimes nude, while learning to master proportions, form, light and shadow. He also taught younger artists during this period. However, James felt the pull to take a different path, one where his own voice would be the muse, the ruse and the fleeting inspiration of his work.
‘I never wanted to be a classically societal portrait artist,’ he says. ‘I envisioned Florence as a foundation. When I moved to the UK, I used that experience to bend and break rules and to develop my own style. Portraits brought in money, but my dream was always to create and sell work that spoke in my own language.’ Exhibiting frequently in London, he worked to ‘deprogramme’ himself from his classical heritage, which, though invaluable, risked becoming a creative cage.
That transformation required grit.
‘When I applied for school in Florence, I was warned about getting sucked into a tradition and discipline that had stood for centuries,’ he recalls. ‘I knew I wanted the foundation, but I also knew I would constantly experiment from the very beginning. I was, however, doing a few classical portraits and commissions over time just to stay afloat as a young artist.’
London gave him opportunities to push his boundaries. Then came the Covid-19 lockdowns, which provided uninterrupted time to paint. ‘I became maniacal with my work,’ he says. ‘By the time sanity returned to the world, my own style had started to take shape.’
His Nairobi exhibition marks a return to Tigoni, where his childhood among rolling tea plantations continues to inspire him. The landscapes, he explains, are challenging to capture. ‘I have always wanted to paint these tea farms, but their surreal nature makes them hard to translate onto canvas. The luminous greens lie flat like a carpet, almost like an ocean or desert. It can be difficult to make them work as a painting.’
In this series, James combines representational and abstract approaches. Tigoni’s hills are the main subject, but he also paints landscapes of Lake Naivasha and Msambweni, places that he enjoys revisiting. His layering of colours, sometimes deliberately unnatural, creates depth and vibrancy. Patterns emerge across the surfaces, suggesting both vastness and intimacy. Viewers sense open plains, light-filled horizons, and a quiet catharsis.
The portraits are inspired by Kenya, but in composition, James was also looking at the San Francisco Bay Area school of painters, including Richard Diebenkorn, Clifford Still and Joseph Amber, whose bold treatment of colour influences his work.
James’s connection to art began early. At the age of seven, his parents were already framing his watercolours, many of which still hang in their home. His skill was unquestionable, and over time, his work has grown to embrace narrative and historical elements. In his latest paintings, though narrative recedes, African landscapes remain central, an ode to place and memory.
The biggest lesson across his journey, he says, has been faith. ‘Art is not easy, not even as a hobby. It can be frustrating. But having the courage to take risks, even when things do not go as planned, always leads somewhere.’ James has seen every side of the artist’s life. At 18, he sold his first painting – a mural of a Pokot herdswoman – for about Sh17,000. Nearly two decades later, he sold his most expensive painting for Sh3.3 million. His exhibition at the One Off Art Gallery features works priced in the range of Sh232,000 and Sh1.1million.
Though his career has taken him from Florence to London and now back to Nairobi, his practice remains a balance between experimentation and discipline, freedom and foundation. He continues to push his style forward, layering colours and patterns in search of both harmony and disruption, abstraction and representation.
His return to Tigoni, he says, feels inevitable. ‘The landscapes have always been calling. I think I needed the years of training, experimentation and failure before I could even attempt them.’
What stands out in James’s story is not only the technical evolution of his work but also his determination to live by his own vision. He has resisted the pull of purely commercial art, choosing instead to forge a style that is personal and resonant. His art bridges two worlds – the classical discipline of Florence and the luminous freedom of the Kenyan landscape – each shaping the other.
It is this tension that makes his current exhibition compelling. The works are not just portraits of place but explorations of memory, colour and self-discovery. They carry the discipline of tradition while embracing the freedom of experimentation.
James is quick to emphasise that the process is ongoing.
His Nairobi exhibition is not a culmination but another step in his evolution as an artist. Each canvas reflects both his roots and his restlessness, his grounding in technique and his refusal to be confined by it. In his own words: ‘It does not always go to plan, but it always leads to something.’
The exhibition runs until the end of October.