The recent exhibition Nudes at Nairobi’s One-Off gallery was a huge success with assured sales and more visitors than any other show held there — so successful that the temptation to hold another must have been overwhelming.

And so we have Nudes II.

The expectation was that a wealth of formal skills would be on show, plus interpretations of the human figure that would surprise and delight.

It is true there are a few surprises, but equally true that delight is a little thin on the walls.

This was an opportunity for our artists to demonstrate how well they had mastered the basic skills of their trade, for it is said that if you can draw the nude you can draw anything.

All the problems to be found in figurative painting, landscape, still life and even abstracts can be found, studied and hopefully mastered amid the sags, folds and taut lines of the human body.

The difficulty here is that several of the artists are, quite simply, not up to the job — either with their shortcomings cruelly exposed or seeking refuge in the handy fire escape of pattern, bright colour and fiercely mannered stylisation.

There are however a few bright spots in this show, among them the two densely worked etchings by Peterson Kamwathi.

They are from his Constellation and Sediment series and show the artist dealing with issues of migration.

The Constellation represents the universe with stars both as a navigational guide and symbolic of our hopes and dreams, while the Sediment is the rooted reality of our lives, against which our dreams play. Thus Kamwathi’s naked figures float onwards through the stars above the certainties of our existing predicament.

Tribute should also be paid to the offerings of Olivia Pendergast. I am not a fan of her figure paintings, with their slab like bodies and illogically small heads, but her technique is exemplary and her drawing skills unquestionable; quick confident and accurate. Pendergast is a superb colourist too.

Her underdrawing was, as usual, left exposed, which imparts excitement and energy to her figures. One group in particular appealed — three single-figure charcoals on paper, with striking backgrounds of yellow, turquoise and red.

Nudes show

Timothy Brooke, shown this time in the Stables Annex, perhaps because his was such a strong presence in the first Nudes show, demonstrates how an assured line can flash and dance across the paper and how a little rubbed chalk can model form and bring figures to life.

Then there is the Expressionist painting of a bending nude by Nadia Kisseleva looking like a hangover from the Blaue Reiter school with its creamy figure set against a glowing red cloth, and its rich blue background.

The paint is luscious and the vigorous brushstrokes add a welcome plasticity to the piece. I did not much care for this painting the first time round (too imitative and out of its time) but here against the remaining artists it stands up brilliantly. Which should tell us something. Because it is with these remaining artists that it all starts to go horribly wrong.

Nudes II, for example, exposes the drawing ability of Yony Waite to a scrutiny she might have been wiser to avoid. Waite presents spiky foliage like few others but the life drawings shown here lack structure, as though she were attempting to capture the likeness of jellyfish.

Unfortunately, some of her drawings hang near the group by Brooke, inviting a direct comparison that does her no favours at all.

Whereas Brooke uses overdrawn, confident outlines to increase the dynamism of his figures, Waite’s parallel scratchings reveal her attempts to demarcate form as hesitant and anxious.

Of the others, Talal Cockar shows tightly cropped close-ups of naked women rich in chiaroscuro that echo the warmly lit photos found in soft porn magazines, while Leena Shah retreats into pattern to produce an exaggerated if colourful style that disguises her subject, its possible meaning and whatever abilities she might have as an artist.

Then we have the Hallmark moments of Geoff Weedon while a roseate swirl of paint is Tabitha wa Thuku’s sole contribution.

A couple of opulent photographs by Anthony Russell combine wildlife and naked women, showing a huge debt to Peter Beard.

So, while Nudes II offered a surprisingly generous opportunity for artists new to the One-Off to demonstrate the skills that should underpin their careers, it was a chance that in most cases, perhaps shrewdly, they ducked.

This difficult second album will fall silent in just a couple of days.