Slam dunk! William Mukui paints sporty scenes with energy and passion

The artist William Mukui has two big passions in life: sport and painting. It makes sense, therefore, that he’s spent the past few years combining the two, turning sporty scenes into beautiful watercolour works. Throughout his paintings you’ll come across a whole array of energetic scenes: golfers swinging clubs, divers perfecting their form, and a boxer laying that knock-out blow. But, there’s one sport that is always a winner for William: basketball.

While William himself plays a whole host of sports – tennis, volleyball, table tennis and sailing – basketball has always been his favourite, and it’s actually the sport that pushed him to pick up a paintbrush. He wanted to immortalise his favourite players and capture its fast-paced energy, between bounces and passes. In one of his favourite early paintings, Slam Dunk, (now also a screenprint) William shows the iconic Kobe Bryant slamming the ball into the net, as the crowd and players watch in anticipation. “When I play basketball this is my job too, scoring and getting the big points,” says William.

To create a sense of movement in his work, William uses very thin pens. “I do this part quickly to make the players look fast and busy,” he says. Then, when it comes to watercolour he likes to spend a bit more time, blending his colours and making them as soft as possible. In his piece Diving in the Water, this technique shines – the artist washes his paintbrush across the page, giving the effect of an expanse of water. In terms of form, William enjoys making small postcard-size works, which means he can make lots and exhibit them all at once, creating something of a watercolour Olympics. “In all my pictures the sports people are working hard and doing their best to win or get the medal,” he says.

William doesn’t just pay attention to the sport, however, but the scenery, equipment and sportswear too. In Riding Bike in the Plant, William depicts a panting cyclist riding a bike through a field of flowers, and he’s created a satisfying uniformity between the cyclist’s lycra outfit and bike, and the flora around them: “It’s a very yellow picture,” William says. “The flowers are matching his shirt and bike, he looks like he is hiding in a big garden.” It’s a very accurate painting – we all know some cyclists care a lot about looking the part.

It was around two years ago now that William joined Intoart, the studio that he attends every week to make work alongside other artists. Since joining the organisation, he’s had the chance to hone his craft, meet fellow artists and exhibit his work. “It makes me feel amazing to see my work in an exhibition and show it to the other artists I work with, my family and my friends,” he says. Now, William is planning a departure from his beloved sporty scenes and is turning his hand to the world of interior home styles, from traditional Mijikenda homes in Kenya to ageing Tudor cottages.