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Set against a hot red-orange ground this piece reads like a nursery rhyme of guardianship.
Two sets of scales stack one above the other, one held aloft near the top by raised, fork-fingered hands, one lower down balancing a flower against a striped bundle - as if the painting is literally staging the weighing and tending that "jubilation daycare" implies: care as a constant act of balance.
A green church-like structure with a cross and a ladder of red-windowed rungs anchors the lower left, climbing up toward a spiral and a yellow bird-creature, while pale lavender and mint figures with masked, dial-like faces cluster at top - watchful presences overseeing the scene, more custodial than menacing. Hands recur everywhere, raised, cupped, holding an anchor, resting flat at the bottom edge - turning the whole canvas into a chain of small acts of holding and lifting, which fits a title about a place built around minding and celebrating small lives.
Born in 1974 in Mumias, western Kenya, Erick Sande trained as a graphic designer at The Kenya Polytechnic before turning to painting, exhibiting early work at the Kenya National Museum Gallery. A 1995 meeting with Ruth Schaffner, founder of Gallery Watatu, launched his career in Nairobi’s art community. His early work drew on Abaluyia tradition and myth; it has since broadened toward multiculturalism, patriotism, and the athleticism of Kenyans as a unifying national force. Working across media in a style of continual fusion & experimentation, Sande has exhibited solo and in groups at multiple venues. His illustrations appear in the poetry collection Makonde by Joan Sikand. He lives & works in Nairobi.
