Beauty lies not only in the eye of the beholder but sometimes also in strange, dark parts of an exhibition hall…

And so it is at a show of 60 or so paintings by students of Kenyatta University.

Mercilessly placed contre jour between two windows and therefore almost invisible is a painting by someone named Nzofu.

Once you have managed to see it, against the light streaming into your face, a further difficulty is the decorative wooden pillar running vertically behind it, which gives a similar effect to that seen in many a well meaning photograph of a loved one who endures the accidental indignity of an electricity pylon or a tree sprouting from the top of the head.

Having disrupted the painting’s visual integrity, it then suffers from an extra self-inflicted handicap; a sticky-looking black frame that threatens to suffocate the picture before it has even begun to breathe for you.

But give it a chance — because for a student show, this painting is a cracker.

It is of a woodland glade, a silver river sliding and gliding towards the viewer, the tree trunks giving vertical stress balanced by a Fauvist riot of red and gold leaves.

The brushwork is vigorous and loose, the composition harmonious and the tonal scale solid.

The artist turns out to be one Steve Inzofu, a Kenyan-Ugandan living in Eastlands, Nairobi, in his fourth year at Kenyatta University studying painting, ceramics and interior design (which covers most bases).

He has made a fine picture. Relaxed, free and inspired, it is called Nature is Beautiful and it proves its point.

To my eye, it is also far and away the best thing in this exhibition, at the Karen Village arts and heritage centre off the road to Ngong, until the end of this month.

So what of the rest? Aron Boruya has five of his stencil like paintings on show, and Eddy Ochieng’ offers two technically wrought figure paintings; Covered Up, a young woman wearing a sheet, and Reminiscing, an old, old woman with every wrinkle recorded.

Martin Musyoka has painted a ladybird on a thistle with the detail one finds in Eric Gitonga’s macro photographs, while a student signing himself only as Lee has produced a very capable portrait, and pictures of a basketball boot with the laces actually threaded through the canvas, and the tools of a one-man guitar; his guitar with strings glued to the surface, cowboy boots and a Stetson hat. Yehaah!

Lee has also produced a very precise figure that is a cross between Bart Simpson and a banana, with denim dungarees and goggles. He has a real future as a cartoonist if he can keep the ideas flowing.

This is an exhibition by students, not professionals, but as well as these few star turns I was happy to see a generally high level of enthusiasm and effort on show. It bodes well.

Also looking good for the future is the place itself. Karen Village is the 10-acre centre being developed by businessman Anthony Athaide and is so comprehensive that it is more notable for what is not there than what is. For example, it does not have its own international airport, nor world class hospital, nor Olympic swimming pool but it seems to tick every other box.

As well as the exhibition hall, it provides studios for artists including Anne Mwiti (who teaches at Kenyatta University), the glassmakers Toneey Mugo and Bernhard Viehweber, and the painters Beth Kimwele and Wanjuki Kimunya. Then there is the planned conference centre, the theatre, the shops, an 80-bed hotel, apartments for artists undertaking residencies, the gardens, volleyball court, open air chess tables and craft workshops.

It opened only last year, and Athaide and his team are hoping for completion by next year.

If all goes to plan, it will be a stunning addition to the regional arts scene.

Now, about those windows and the wooden pole...

Frank Whalley runs Lenga Juu, an arts consultancy based in Nairobi.