section3: Conceptual
Q: Maybe we should talk about some of your successes. I know that the Glasses have become very popular. Maybe you can talk about the successes that have made you really proud? A: I think they are not yet so successful but maybe a bit successful, and the reason for this is because I did the international exhibition. This was my first International exhibition.
Q: Where was it? A: In Tilburg, Netherlands and I enjoyed it. I have been documented by MTV and have appeared in many magazines and a few newspapers as well as the local TV channels. It’ s making me known by many people and I think that what most artists need is publicity. So nowadays people are talking about me, and collectors are looking for me, and designers and many people who I thought I would never meet want with to work me and this is making them a bit successful as I had said earlier.
Q: So they are getting popular? A: Yes.. Q: What do you see as the future for Cyrus’ art? What do you look forward to in terms of your art, or hope for? A: When I do art I don’ t think much about the future because if I start thinking much about the future and I miss my dreams- it’ s like I don’ t have dreams.
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Q: You must have dreams? A: If I have dreams and I miss them, I will be really disappointed and that makes me not think about my future and that makes me live just like …
Q: Day to day? A: Just like me.
Q: But it’ s good to plan ahead? Like what if your success is in the Glasses? A: Let me just say this, for me what I want to see for my art, not me, is for it to be somewhere, let’ s say international, and to be known by many people. It’ s like what I used to tell people when I did a workshop in Holland, and I kept telling the students that if you keep asking them what they want to be, they say they want to be an artist like Van Gogh and I would tell them they don’ t need to be an artist like Van Gogh, but that they need to be their own person. Because it’ s like everyone wants to be like Abby Carson but for me I want to be me with my own way. So you just want to be recognized as Cyrus? Yes and not like someone else and that is how I joined art because I joined it as Cyrus, and not as someone who wants to be known because of someone else. I want my art to be internationally recognised.
Q: Do you have anyone who inspires you in the art world or that you admire?
A: I am inspired by everyone and everything- more so by funny things and even nature, and as I have told you, I want to be an international artist. I am not just a Kenyan artist, or an African artist, I am an artist from Kenya. If I say I am a Kenyan artist it will be limiting myself, therefore I am an artist from Kenya, an artist from Africa and therefore an artist of the world.
Q: Cyrus, you know you are considered one of the important new contemporary artists in Kenya, and in the art scene here in Nairobi. How would you compare your generation of art to the older generation who has been there for years? A: When I joined Kuona Trust I met the older generation, and because of the way they treated me, I don’ t think I found the older generation inspired me. But they also made me who I am because of the way they used to show me that am still young and that am still not established and that am down there- they made me work extra hard to reach the top so that I would know how it feels to be at the top- although I don’ t believe there are artists who are at the top and up there while there are artists at the bottom. I believe we are all artists. I think because they are of the older generation artists, their thinking is old fashioned. So with that said, I don’ t believe they inspired me in any way.