Joseph Muthui Juma was born in 1958, in the Nyeri district of Kenya - just west of Mount Kenya. He became interested in art at a very young age and would draw local landscapes and cartoons to amuse his classmates. At the age of 14 an Italian priest saw that he had great potential and encouraged him to pursue a career in painting. Thematically, most of Juma's works are similar: The uncomplicated, stylized people in the painting are either happy, or are wearing Juma's signature oval-shaped mouth as if in awe or surprise. There are wildly sweeping backgrounds and some sort of activity going on in the foreground where the characters come to life. Juma's paintings embody a color, simplicity, and vibrancy that make his stylistic paintings the epitome of African art. From cartoons as a child to showing African life and social interaction in his own unique style, Juma has become one of those artists whose paintings you seem to find in every home in Nairobi. Vastly popular and reasonably priced, he is one of Kenya's most appreciated and desirable artists. Joseph Muthui Juma currently lives in Nairobi, Kenya. WATCHING BIRDS THE NIGHT RUNNERS