Naivasha I, 2025 - Soft Pastel on Paper
- 42 x 59.5 cm - USD 1 800
- 42 x 59.5 cm - USD 1 800
Opening 27 September 2025
|
James Vaulkhard
Recent works
Drawings and Paintings
These pastels and oil stick works come from looking, really looking, at the land and people around me in Kenya. The colours move quick, the shadows stretch, and I try to catch that before it slips away. The marks are rough, sometimes broken, but they hold the feeling of being there — the heat, the space, the weight of memory in a place. I don’t try to make it perfect. I want the work to sit somewhere between what’s seen and what’s felt, between the tradition I was taught and the experiment of making it my own.
James Vaulkhard - Nairobi - 2025
James Vaulkhard - Nairobi - 2025
Msambweni V, 2025 - Soft Pastel on Paper - 42 x 59.5 cm - USD 1 800
Naivasha II, 2025 - Soft Pastel on Paper - 42 x 59.5 cm - USD 1 800
Msambweni III, 2025 - Soft Pastel on Paper - 59.5 x 42 cm - USD 1 800
James Vaulkhard
James Vaulkhard is a Kenyan-born, London-based interdisciplinary artist whose work continually navigates the tension between tradition and experimentation. With a classical foundation in portraiture and sculpture—sharpened during his training and teaching at Charles Cecil Studios and Studio Della Statua in Florence—and a BA in History of Art from Leeds University, Vaulkhard anchors his practice in rigorous craft while engaging with contemporary visual discourse.
In September 2024, he made a notable impact at the British Art Fair at the Saatchi Gallery, where Guerin Projects presented a solo exhibition of his recent oil paintings and pastel drawings. The works, suffused with fauvist and post-impressionist sensibilities, vividly evoked the Kenyan coast, landscapes, and figures from his childhood — including a large-scale portrait of a fisherman and a canoeist on Lake Naivasha—rendered with a touch of magical realism Guerin Projects FAD Magazine.
Looking outward, Vaulkhard’s practice has also been featured in Art Basel, Switzerland, underscoring his growing presence in the global art arena. He is now preparing for the upcoming Art Basel Miami Beach in December 2025 — the premier contemporary art fair in the Americas — where over 280 galleries from 44 countries will converge to showcase leading artists across a range of disciplines Art Basel Hypebeast Ocula.
At One Off Contemporary in Nairobi, Vaulkhard presents a fresh body of pastel and oil-stick works rooted in the essence of Kenyan landscapes and figures. These pieces embody intimacy and immediacy—capturing the ephemeral interplay of light, colour, and memory. Through bold gestures and rich hues, he evokes both presence and absence, weaving reverence and critique into compositions that reflect upon identity and belonging.
Selected Exhibitions
James Vaulkhard is a Kenyan-born, London-based interdisciplinary artist whose work continually navigates the tension between tradition and experimentation. With a classical foundation in portraiture and sculpture—sharpened during his training and teaching at Charles Cecil Studios and Studio Della Statua in Florence—and a BA in History of Art from Leeds University, Vaulkhard anchors his practice in rigorous craft while engaging with contemporary visual discourse.
In September 2024, he made a notable impact at the British Art Fair at the Saatchi Gallery, where Guerin Projects presented a solo exhibition of his recent oil paintings and pastel drawings. The works, suffused with fauvist and post-impressionist sensibilities, vividly evoked the Kenyan coast, landscapes, and figures from his childhood — including a large-scale portrait of a fisherman and a canoeist on Lake Naivasha—rendered with a touch of magical realism Guerin Projects FAD Magazine.
Looking outward, Vaulkhard’s practice has also been featured in Art Basel, Switzerland, underscoring his growing presence in the global art arena. He is now preparing for the upcoming Art Basel Miami Beach in December 2025 — the premier contemporary art fair in the Americas — where over 280 galleries from 44 countries will converge to showcase leading artists across a range of disciplines Art Basel Hypebeast Ocula.
At One Off Contemporary in Nairobi, Vaulkhard presents a fresh body of pastel and oil-stick works rooted in the essence of Kenyan landscapes and figures. These pieces embody intimacy and immediacy—capturing the ephemeral interplay of light, colour, and memory. Through bold gestures and rich hues, he evokes both presence and absence, weaving reverence and critique into compositions that reflect upon identity and belonging.
Selected Exhibitions
- 2025 July – Hamptons Art Fair, New York
- 2025 June – Art Basel Volta & Art Haus Basel
- 2025 April – Blond Contemporary, St James, London
- 2024 October – LAPADA, Berkeley Square, London
- 2024 September – British Art Fair, London
- 2022 March – Asia House, Solo Exhibition
- 2018 March – The Other Art Fair, London
- 2017 November – Unit London, Covent Garden, London
- 2016 September – Out of the Ordinary, Christie's
- 2014 April – ArtBelow’s Stations of the Cross, Marylebone Parish Church
- 2011 December – Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
Msambweni VII, 2025 - Soft Pastel on Paper - 59.5 x 42 cm - USD 1 800
Wimbi Reef, 2025 - Oil stick on wood panel - 80 x 60 cm - USD 3 600
Funzi, 2025 - Oil stick on wood panel - 80 x 60 cm - USD 3 600
Sunrise, 2025 - Oil stick on wood panel - 80 x 60 cm - USD 3 600
Moonrise, 2025 - Oil stick on wood panel - 80 x 60 cm - USD 3 600
Kawamwaki, 2025 - Oil stick on wood panel - 122 x 100 cm - USD 8 500