 Fain art is something created for aesthetic or intellectual value and its beauty. It is rooted in drawing and design-based works such as painting, printmaking and sculpture. Presle Kevogo is a young fine artist who has decided to spread his wings and explore his potential in this field. To top on that, he is also a writer and entrepreneur. My art is fine art first of all but it's a mixture, it's a multimedia kind of drawing. I can use graphite, I can use charcoal, I can use watercolor, I can use paint and sometimes I combine a little bit of all of them so that I put them in one picture. Presle's art hails from within as it isn't inborn talent that he has nurtured since childhood with the help of his parents. I haven't been trained by anyone, this is something I was born with and it is a talent which I have been able to nurture ever since I was a child because I bought a lot of papers. My parents bought a lot of papers for me as well so I was drawing anything I could see that fascinated me, I used to draw just put it down. It didn't matter whether it was accurate at the time but I just wanted to draw because I liked it. Fine art encompasses different mediums such as painting, printing and sculpture that requires different materials which are rarely found hence the need for importation on Presle's side. These materials they are not easily found because most of them are not in Kenya. I had to import a couple of items and the ones that are available they are only found in specific shops like for example Textbook Centre. I can only find most of my things there. As much as the aesthetic function and beauty of an artwork is essential, time is also a factor in quality determination. In the art business there is nothing like set pricing, the price of an artwork is determined by the experience and expertise of the artist. That's the essence of art, art is all about beauty and it takes a longer time if you are a professional artist. I'm sure you've seen in maybe movies or maybe you have friends who are artists when they paint it's their skill they are selling you. It's not the materials in which they are buying. So the time it takes for them to produce that painting or that drawing is what makes them stand out. It's what makes them charge at a certain premium. So if you find someone who is charging you at a higher premium than the other, definitely they have something different to offer than the other party. In order to stand out from the rest, precisely invest more on details. My artist's interest is in something detailed, it's not necessarily restricted to African pictures. Well, you're lucky enough I've been able to carry one of my African portraits, actually it's a sold portrait, it's on loan. Other things which I'm able to draw, these are things which I research on and I just decide to do something different. I'm always attracted to something different, like I've done drawings on Aztec warriors, these are people who live long long time ago. I've done a portrait of King Sassis of Basha from the famous movie The 300 for the Spartans. I've also done a portrait of Ahindu Baba, that is a sage. And many other examples, all of these like I said you can find them on my Facebook page and you'll be able to see what I'm talking about. A business thrives on its clientele and the best form of marketing is through the customer's serve. It is therefore important for a business to ensure that it delivers the best output so a word about it can spread. This is therefore where the biggest market lies. The Kenyan market has potential. I specifically like one thing about Kenyans, they can make you go viral. So long as they see something and then someone shares it and then a couple of people like it, you can be famous in let's say two days. You remember Gideriman? Gideriman just shot up out of nowhere, he had it or something out of the blue. That is the same thing about art, so long as people love what they see, the marketing they'll do for you. The relevance of his artwork thrives on the fact that he is able to offer mentorship to others. This therefore creates a platform for creation of awareness to the public. I work alone at the moment, although I have one or two people who are mentoring, they are also artists but upcoming artists. First of all, most of young Kenyans are on Twitter, so it's hard shifting them from Twitter into the real world. But then again, I do with the little I can. Like I've mentioned to you before, I mentor two guys and both of them are artists. I've also joined a couple of groups online, Facebook. One of the groups is called Kenyan Art Wars. It has 3,500 members to date and we post work and encourage each other. Having been able to complete most of his previous projects, Corona has been quite a setback to his recent project and has also been a hindrance in selling of his work. I had started working just before the Corona hit us. There was a contract I was in the middle of negotiating with a well-known school and basically I was supposed to do artwork for the entire school. Where I'd paint cartoons, basically it was just a nursery institution. And in the course of December last year, I was also supposed to do a campaign. I'd paint letters and also colors on the hands of actors because they were campaigning for a certain movement, which they were unveiling in the course of December last year. I haven't been able to sell my artwork as I used to do before. So for now when I approach clients, they keep telling me please hold on until we see how this thing rolls out and then we'll talk to you later. And as I had told you before, there were two contracts I was supposed to handle. Both of them were artistic, but they had to be pulled on hold until further notice. So luckily like I said, I am a businessman, visa via writer. Writing is what is sustaining me right now and also business. Presley is a jerk of all trades and is still able to earn something little from his other sources as he awaits for things to get better after the corona season. Art is not a passion. Art is a strategy. I used to believe it's a passion but passion will only get you so far. Passion is fuel which runs out at some point. And I'll still go back to the example of the corona virus. Basically it has affected about 80 to 90% of companies, jobs, people have been laid off. And also for the self-employed individuals especially the young people, you find that you cannot do much business in terms of art. But even after things go back to normal, like I said before, the Kenyan market hasn't yet embraced art as a full talent earning kind of venture. So what I tell them is art is a good avenue. It is something to keep your demons at bay. But at the same time have about 4 to 5 sources of income if you are not employed in an organization for example. So that art can help you sustain yourself let's say when these other areas have been affected by something like this. A business is only as successful as how much has been invested in it. And this is not exclusively about money. In the art business invest more in attending and participating in galleries and art exhibitions which position you to reach your potential clients. This not only increases your chances of making yourself but also health position your brand. At your scale I believe we should come up together maybe have something like a conference for artists. The first of its kind in Kenya that is pencil artists. We should have something like a conference where we sit down and we figure out what we can do with our talent. To maximise unprofitability do not specialise rather be diverse to leverage on the extensive market. I like the way the youth of Kenya today are becoming more daring. People are venturing into graphics animation and also old school handwork art. There are very many categories of art once which we are yet to explore this garbage art. There is mural painting like I said. There is also wall painting. All kinds of arts. So should we continue with this let's say in the next 30 to 40 years I think people will have embraced the idea of art as a source of income and not just a source of income but also a source of expression. Because money aside it is what you have to show to the world that really counts. Just like most people have something they hold dear to their heart Presley is no exception in regards to his art. So this one is Venom and I drew it in 2018. This was actually the reason why I hold this picture dear is because this is my very first picture of its category. Where I drew grids and then I put in different elements that is the coloured pencils, paint, graphite basically combine all of them. So you can comfortably say Venom is the godfather of all the other drawings I've just shown you because this is what inspired all these other drawings. So on the face I've used watercolour paint parts of it. For the gums I used coloured pencils and paint and for the shirt and the t-shirt is a t-shirt. I used coloured pencils and charcoal pencils and for the beards as well as other areas I managed to use graphite pencils. The fine artist has been made with disappointments along the journey but just like an eagle he keeps soaring and flying high as the sky is never the limit. The Kenyan market has not yet matured enough to accommodate art as a full time job because first of all the market is very young and the purchasing power of the common mananji is not that strong or should I say it's not strong enough for them to buy your art on a regular basis. So if you're just starting out it won't be the best idea to major in it as the only source of income for yourself. All dreams are valid so don't shelve it. Go for it because you never know where it might lead you. Another thing I want to break this ceiling in which art has been associated with for a very long time. Art is not only restricted to pencil, it's not restricted to pens. Art can lead you to so many places because when you venture into art you might suddenly develop an interest in engineering, you might develop an interest in architecture because it's a branch of art. So it's just a matter of following the money, where is your talent leading you because the more you go deep into something the more you discover other areas. So the ultimate form of expression in my opinion is following a certain line, taking different categories and then putting them all together to form something unique that hasn't been seen before.