Dickens Otieno

Dickens Otieno is a Kenyan artist who is known for his large-scale woven metal sculptures and was featured in the 2022 Kenyan Pavilion of the Venice Biennale.

Biography
Dickens Otieno is from Migori County, Western Kenya. His mother was a tailor and father was a teacher for deaf children. Though he had a degree in engineering, Otieno was unable to find work, which left him hanging around the streets of Nairobi where he discovered the work of street artists Otieno Kota and Otieno Gomba. Dickens Otieno went on to work with the pair from 2003-2009 doing street art and painting prior to bridging out on his own. Coming from a village, and with scarce resources for art materials, he began experimenting with waste materials. He originally started making sculptures with bottle caps like El Anatsui before moving onto his signature style of weaving tin cans into a metal armature.

Selected exhibitions

 * 2022 Venice Biennale, Kenyan Pavilion
 * 2021, Mtaani, Steve Turner, Los Angeles (solo)
 * 2021, East African Encounters, Cromwell Place, London
 * 2020, Mabati Tailor, Circle Art Gallery, Nairobi (solo)
 * 2018, See Here, Old Neals Auction House, Nottingham
 * 2018, Africa/Africa, Total Arts Courtyard Gallery, Al Quoz, Dubai
 * 2017, Young Guns, Circle Art Gallery, Nairobi
 * 2016, The Third Dimension, Circle Art Gallery
 * 2016, UNI-FORM MULTI-FORM, Roots Contemporary, Nairobi
 * 2016, Paint and Metal, National Museum of Nairobi