African Artists

Skoto Gallery - Drawings from Contemporary African Artists

2011-12-01T03:26:00.000-08:00

SKOTO GALLERY 529 West 20^th Street, 5FL.

New York, NY 10011 212-352 8058

info@skotogallery.com www.skotogallery.com

Uche Okeke, Beggar,1963, charcoal on paper,15.5x11.5 inches.

Drawings

Jose Bedia, Dudley Charles, Victor Ekpuk, Vladimir Cybil Charlier

Bernard Guillot, Richard Hunt, Osaretin Ighile, Michael Marshall

Uche Okeke, Ibrahim El Salahi, Sumayyah Samaha, Juliana Zevallos

December 8^th, 2011 – January 21^st, 2012

Skoto Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of drawings by an international group of established and emerging artists. The opening reception is Thursday, December 8^th, 6-8pm.

This show will include more than three dozen works on paper made in a wide variety of media, including ink, graphite, watercolor, and collage that offer unique insights into the thought and work processes of the exhibiting artists. These are phenomenal works in their own right, and they also provide a link between their other works in painting, sculpture and architecture. Despite their varied experiences, personal cultural backgrounds and styles their approach to drawing is through a contemporary experience, their metaphysics is distinctly new and refreshing, celebrating the moment of apprehension and the fugitive moment of response with a few traces of ink or a few strokes of the pencil.

Among the works included in the exhibition is a selection of six exceptionally strong drawings from the early 1960’s by the Nigerian artist Uche Okeke (b. 1933), whose exhibition “Another Modernity: Works on Paper by Uche Okeke”, Newark Museum in February-July, 2006 was highly acclaimed. This will be the first US exhibition of these drawings. Renowned for his immense contribution to the development of modern Nigerian art and pioneering visual experimentations with traditional Igbo Uli mural and body design, Uche Okeke’s early drawings in graphite, charcoal or ink are pure meditations upon the nature of line itself. A master of lyrical and sensitive lines, he uses resplendent curves and fluid lines to convey the true harmonies of his artistic vision.

Also included is a selection of ink drawings by the Cuban-born artist Jose Bedia (b. 1959) that reactivate imagery drawn from the most diverse ancient, geographical, historical and cultural horizons, he utilizes a particular rigor and economy of line in his work that encourages a clarity of intent and simplicity of execution. Bedia says of his work - It is an attempt at communication and community between the material and spiritual universe of “modern” man and that of “primitive” man.

There is a lyrical beauty in the recent large-scale drawings of Dudley Charles (Guyana, South America) that belies its surprising seamlessness between the spiritual and physical worlds. He draws from both figuration and abstraction, combined with a wide spectrum of cultural references to expand the medium’s definition in relation to gesture and form. There is a sense of value for spontaneity and improvisation that engages the viewer directly and viscerally as ideas are distilled into swirling or meandering lines in his work.

The Lebanese-born artist Sumayyah Samaha’s series of charcoal drawings titled “Portrait of Iraq”, 2004-2006 explores the vulnerability of humanity caught in a state of ruin as a result of the US invasion of Iraq. The delicate nature of her drawings allow the viewer to be initially drawn into them, and upon closer examination one is almost taken aback by the realization that such fragility also convey atrocities of war, destruction and death. Her work also demonstrates mastery of the use of charcoal with such subtlety that reveals the incredible possibilities of the medium as soft fields of gray become backgrounds for her abstract and organic forms, creating an aura of magic and playfulness. Samaha’s work goes beyond the political and emotional turmoil of our confused world, emoting, instead, an almost surreal, exotic world that creates a tantalizing sense of belonging.

Zenzele Chulu - Schmatic Tantrums

2011-11-28T07:06:00.000-08:00

Man and Machine: The Art of Kelani Abass

2011-11-27T09:22:00.000-08:00

Man and Machine: The Art of Kelani Abass

Obidike Okafor | AfricanColours.com

The views of any engineer about machines might just change with the new offerings Kelani Abass has been showing, at the Omenka Gallery in Ikoyi, Lagos. In his second solo exhibition titled “Man and Machine” Abass takes viewers on a roll through a new body of work that involves gears wheels, colours, print and stories told through machines. Kelani Abass, was born in 1979 and has been a full time studio artist since graduating from YABATECH in 2007. His works explore human figures and mythology, the best Painting student in 2007 at YABATECH has featured in about 16 group shows.

Abass worked in his father’s printing press throughout his primary school and secondary school. He grew his creative side and worked the machines while at the press until he left for Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, in 2002 to study art. “It is fascinating to observe the way machines operate as different parts, to achieve a common goal. This informs my thinking and ideas, and thus inspires my art in this direction. Most of my early works seem to fall within the Naturalistic figurative genre, they reflects socio-political and economic realities of the Nation, creating a platform for my new works, which evolves more metaphoric in nature” Abass says about his new works

_{Man and machine (Politics of Godfatherism)}

His new paintings, drawings and sound installation are indeed a metaphor he uses to describe how machines make work easier. Some of the paintings and drawings are divided in series there is the “Man and machine series” were he lays emphasis on the way by which wheels, as singular units, propel movement in machines, all working together to achieve a common end result, and the “Illusion” series were the digital camera as a machine inspire these set of drawings. “This (Man and machine series) illustratively reflects the basic need for individuals to work together as one, with combinative and compensative efforts, to achieve their objectives. We need one another to survive as a team, with synergetic efforts to make our dreams, visions, goals and aspirations, as a common people, come true. I also use patches of red, green and orange following the traffic light system in some of the works to show when to move, when to stop and when to get ready” he said.

According to the artist, the “Illusions” series are drawings based on photographic reproduction, with the help of processes like enlargement or slow motion, processes controlled by machines that capture images which escape natural vision. These works wake the mind to the realities of time and space, the way the past is brought into the future by stored images, then tomorrow which we base the whole of our existence never really exists. “We must learn to stop seeing something which is actually not there, conquer illusion then we will know reality, once we can see behind the curtain of illusion and find the true reality, we can only transcend the illusion of being a physical thing to a spiritual entity” Abass says.

_{Man and Machine I}

When “Man and machine” opens a different side of this multimedia artist will be seen as the pieces on display are a complete departure from his solo “Paradigm shift”. Normally there is always the fear of the new but Abass is comfortable with where he is going to as an artist. “While in school you have to do what your lecturer wants you to do. The school system does not allow freedom and it affects your creativity. My first solo exhibition ‘Paradigm shift’ was a combination of what I learnt in school and what I had learnt on my own. Moving into conceptual works allows me to say more using non conventional ways of working,” he explained.

The winner of the Caterina de Medici painting competition organised as part of the Black Heritage Festival, Lagos in 2010, will have 25 works set up with sounds made by various machines while at work will provide the ambience; bringing the paintings and drawings to life. The work entitled Man and machine (Baba Ijebu), is done on a grey back ground and has lotto numbers covering certain parts of the surface with two wheels being held by a spool, and as seen on the lotto boards of the popular Baba Ijebu some of the numbers are circled.

“This work shows how we allow machines decide our future. I asked the young people who play the lotto in front of my house questions about how the lotto works and they told me that the machine picks the winning number” Abass said about Man and machine (Baba Ijebu).

In Man and Machine (I) the general composition is dominantly grey on two panels that are held together by emblems of technology (gears, wheels), with city outlines dancing long the edges of the canvass. In the composition entitled Man and machine (Politics of Godfatherism), the work is done on two joined canvasses that are bonded by a cluster of wheels and gear systems connected by a spool. On two ends of the gears are black and white small portraits of a past head of state. On the lower part of the canvass are groups of people, representing the populace. The background has a hue closer to neutral gray with patches of red, blue and green on the edges.

_{Man and Machine, (Baba Ijebu)}

Man and Machine IV (Politics of God fatherism), talks about the way past leaders still remain relevant in determining who rules the country,” Abass said. In the composition entitled Tussle (a diptych), a plane is broken into two equal segments connected by a rope, at the end of each spool are arms tugging the rope, with patches of red, blue, green and yellow forming a hedge around the arms. In Man and Machine (Peace) is made up of three panels with a an arm is turning the handle on one of the gears while a white dove sits on top of the connecting wheel on the third panel.

Man and Machine (Time past), Man and Machine (synergy) and Man and Machine (Governance and Entrepreneur) follow the same orientation with gears, wheels, spindles and hands. Done in acrylic, oil, charcoal and paper collage that hint at the story of printing, and the colours used also mimic paper. The images in Illusions series look more like hazy photographs. The distorted pictures of a child’s face, an adult’s face and a blurred image of a child drinking water are a part of this body of work.

Machines save time, with the print technology being one of the first to use machines the artist takes advantage of this experience to discuss themes in terms of concepts. “I want to use this exhibition to show people new ways of doing art. I also want to educate people about printing and machines. It is difficult at times as an artist to represent ideas especially when combining art and engineering” Abass said.

_{Man and Machine, Time}

The body of work is an undeniable love and attachment to the trade of printing. Childhood experiences as a machine operator and his creative process, is what he uses as a tool to discuss important themes. For those who have been to a press and seen how noisy and chaotic it can be, “Man and Machine” could just bring out the beauty found in the entire hullabaloo. For those who have never been to a printing press in their lifetimes, the exhibitions will not only provide the sights but the sounds to make the viewer appreciate how machines have made things easier, and the beauty seen in every gear, every wheel and every other machine that has come into existence.

Abass requires us to look at how new inventions have been born out of hard work, the painter says the works are a reminder to us of how far we have come as a people and how far we can go as we continue to discover new things.

To appreciate machines more one has to be able to see them in action. Abass plans on taking his works to the next level after this exhibition, by making them animated. “There is a South African William Kentridge who does animation and video drawings, that is the level and direction my works are going to” Abass said with a smile.

Zenzele Chulu | Zambian Artist/Activist

2011-11-26T10:24:00.000-08:00

Born in 1967 on Zambia’s Independence Day earned him the name Kenneth after the first Republican President Kenneth Kaunda. Later Zenzele a Zulu name meaning self reliance became the name synonymous with the artist’s credentials. In 1991 Zenzele Chulu enrolled at Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts and Commerce, to do his Art Teachers Diploma, he later headed the Art Section and taught art for four years at Kabulonga High School for Boys before joining the Visual Arts Council – Documentation Project as a Research Assistant, it was this period that he motivated himself to take on art administration and cultural management as his contribution in developing visual arts in Zambia, working with almost the entire spectrum of the Zambian art scene. Since 1998 when he quit from teaching, Zenzele has immersed his abilities in the creative industry with humility and dedication. Despite the rages, changes and challenges faced in the Zambian art scene, he has shown remarkable zeal in delivering what he can.

His 1997- 2000, allegoric and epic painting, Return of the Gods was exhibited first time at Expo 2000 in Hanover, Germany and later was entered into the Osaka Triennale in Osaka, Japan 2001 becoming the first Zambian artist to enter the US$ 93,0000 rich finals of this international art competition and later the same year he attended Thapong International Art Workshop in Gaberone, Botswana, and concluded the year with local Ngoma Award - Best Two Dimensional artist in his pocket. In 2002 he became a member of the Insaka International Artists Trust organising team and has organised five successful international artists workshops producing more new artists that have become household names in contemporary art today in Zambia. Over the years he has facilitated a lot of artists to get exposed, Stary Mwaba, Ngamanya Banda, Kalinosi Mutale, Charles Chambata, Gordon Shamulenge, Kate Naluyele, Nezias Nyirenda, Tom Phiri the list goes on, while working with experienced senior artists Vincentio Phiri, Lutanda Mwamba, Mulenga Chafilwa, William Miko, Patrick Mumba, Style Kunda, Flinto Chandia, Martin Phiri, Godfrey Setti, Shadreck Simukanga and many more not mentioned here.

In 2004 he participated in the TGD4 Tambacounda International Art Workshop in Tambacounda and JOKO Workshop in Dakar, Senegal. In 2005 he went to Nagoya, Japan as the designer for the Zambian pavilion for the Aichi Expo 2005 and later he went for an art residence at the Bag Factory in Johannesburg, South Africa and after returning he got inspired to do an art residence at Rockston Studios in Lusaka till 2008. His work , ‘ Will Power ’ broke through ranks was also exhibited alongside great painters Andy Warhol, Mangalatana , Alberto Korda and Roy Lichtenstein in Paris, at Tajan Auction House facilitated by Joe Pollit. Zenzele represented Triangle Arts Trust at the 2008 Tulipamwe Workshop in Nambia after returning from another workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the first Abro Ethiopia International Workshop where Kenenisa was added to his list of names and an exchange programme in Mauritius.

In 2008 he attended ARESUVA visual arts conference in Abuja, Nigeria where he sat on the panel among professors and doctors of the arts . In 2010 he was invited to a residence at the Art Bakery in Cameroon where he got inspired by the late Cameroonian artist Goody Leye to launch Zambia’s first art newspaper, ARTpages and later he conducted a capacity building workshop in Addis Ababa for young emerging Ethiopian artists. He was in China at the Shanghai Expo 2010, to modify the Zambian pavilion and later was selected to attend the 2011 Florence Biennale in Florence , Italy. He was this year nominated by Triangle Arts Trust Director Alessio Antoniolli to enter the US$ 25, 000, Sovereign Art African Prize to held during the Johannesburg Art Fair in September 2011, part of the Prize money will be donated to charity. Zenzele is scheduled to give a presentation of Insakartists Trust at the Triangle Arts Conference in London, this year November, 2011.

His uncompromising distinct artistic direction makes him one of the most sophisticated and diverse artists of the times. Zenzele styles have one thing in common , all have ancient and traditional African themes, which are central to his compositions, from the figurative contra style to the current trend of emotionally charged schematic tantrums .One may not realize that the current abstract schematic tantrums have roots in the ancient caves and rock shelters of Zambia’s Heritage sites, found scattered across from the hills of Eastern; Central and Northern provinces, hence in 1994 he had his first schematic tantrums solo exhibition at Rockston Studios and Gallery. Zenzele began his research way back in 1998 up to 2003 with the Documentation Project funded by the Visual Arts Council going round the country documenting Zambian arts and crafts , which included historical sites and national monuments. It was the outburst of artistic anger about the state in which these sites were losing their priceless value through archaeological theft and grafiti . He decided to throw tantrums on canvas as a way of drumming up an awareness campaign, about the plight of these heritage sites, since 2004 the trend of schematic tantrums has continued to fascinate the art scene with various themes within themes. He continues to be the contemporary custodian of ancient tradition of abstraction and an activist of his country’s artistic heritage. On the other side Zenzele was this year nominated as country researcher for the Zambian chapter on the artists expression of creative freedom and its relationship to human rights with ARTerial Network based in Cape Town, South Africa under the ARTWATCH AFRICA Programme. Furthermore he was picked to represent artists run network from the African continent at the Triangle Network Conference in London.

©ARTpages 2011.

Soweto meets Savile Row - African Fashion Week 2011

2011-11-20T18:55:00.000-08:00

News from Jo'burg from the amazing Makhotso Simone

Liberia’s President Wins Boycotted Runoff Vote

2011-11-20T17:08:00.000-08:00

Glenna Gordon/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

By EMILY SCHMALL

10th November 2011

MONROVIA, Liberia — Election officials announced on Thursday that Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s only female president, had been re-elected by an overwhelming margin this week in a runoff vote that was marred by an opposition boycott.

Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf won 90.8 percent of the vote in the low-turnout election, easily defeating Winston Tubman, a former United Nations diplomat who said he was withdrawing from the race only days before the voting over what he claimed was fraud in the first round.

Independent election observers found no evidence of serious irregularities in either the first or second rounds of voting, and Mr. Tubman’s motives for pulling out remained unclear. Both the Carter Center and monitors from Ecowas, the regional grouping of West African states, said both votes were generally free and fair. Analysts said Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf’s opponent had been expected to lose, boycott or not.

Mr. Tubman’s strategy proved provocative in a country that has been through decades of political violence. On Monday, his supporters clashed with Liberian police officers who responded to the crowd with tear gas and live ammunition, killing at least one of the protesters.

The Carter Center, calling Mr. Tubman’s claims “unsubstantiated,” said the election was “well-administered,” and it criticized Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf’s opponents for spoiling the vote.

Their “decision to boycott essentially denied the Liberian people a genuine choice within a competitive electoral process,” the center said in a statement on Thursday. Only 37.4 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot, about half the number who voted in the first round on Oct. 11, when 16 candidates were running. The low turnout and political unrest may leave the president vulnerable to claims that she does not hold a clear mandate going into her second term.

Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf came out on top in the first round of voting in October, shortly after having been named the joint winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in stabilizing a country torn by more than a decade of civil war. The Nobel announcement apparently boosted her re-election prospects, even as it was criticized by opponents as unfair interference in Liberia’s voting.

But she did not garner the more than 50 percent of the votes necessary to win outright, and so faced a runoff against Mr. Tubman, who conceded that the real draw on his ticket was his vice-presidential running mate, the former international soccer star George Weah. Both men lost to Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf in the 2005 presidential election.

In an interview on Thursday Mr. Tubman, a veteran Liberian political figure who once served as justice minister under the military dictator Samuel K. Doe, did not back down from his boycott call. Mr. Tubman, a member of the country’s American-descended ruling elite and whose family has long played a leading role here, said again that his party’s attitude toward the new government would be one of “noncooperation and nonrecognition.”

Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf, for her part, said she would pursue a policy of reconciliation.

“We are determined to make Liberia a post-conflict success story,” Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf said at a news conference, adding that she was considering giving out government posts to leaders of opposition parties. “I’m very confident that we’ll be able to reconcile.”

Mr. Tubman seemed disinclined to take her up on the offer. “I have never wanted a job from her government,” he said.

With 86 percent of precincts reporting, the Liberian elections chairwoman, Elizabeth Nelson, said Thursday that Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf had received 513,320 votes out of 565,391 tallied. Only 52,071 of the ballots counted, or 9.2 percent, had been cast for Mr. Tubman — his tally in 2005.

Mr. Tubman had urged Liberians not to vote and warned there could be violence if the runoff election proceeded as scheduled. When his supporters confronted the police on Monday with rocks and bottles, the police fired back, killing at least one. One of Mr. Tubman’s supporters said she and others had been held in a shipping container at the airfield across from Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf’s home. All 84 of the detainees were released late Tuesday.

Mr. Tubman said that while he regretted the loss of life during Monday’s confrontation, he did not regret the boycott.

Adam Nossiter contributed reporting from Dakar, Senegal.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman win Nobel prize Three women – two Liberian, one Yemeni – are awarded peace prize for their work campaigning for women's rights

2011-11-20T16:51:00.000-08:00

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty, Frederick M Brown/Getty, Khaled Abdullah/Reuters

Three women who have campaigned for peace and democracy in Liberiaand Yemen have been jointly awarded this year's Nobel peace prize.

The Liberian president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Leymah Gbowee, a social worker turned peace campaigner from the same country, will share the 10m kronor (£950,000) prize with Tawakkul Karman, a journalist and pro-democracy activist in Yemen who has been a leading figure in the protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh since January.

The Nobel committee said the three had been chosen "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work".

"We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society," the committee said in a statement. They are the first women to be awarded the prize since 2004 when the committee honoured Wangari Muta Maathai, the Kenyan environmentalist who died last month, and bring the tally of female winners to 15, compared with 85 men.

Sirleaf, 72, is a Harvard-trained economist who became Africa's first democratically elected female president in 2005, two years after the country achieved a fragile peace after decades of civil war. The committee said she had "contributed to securing peace in Liberia, to promoting economic and social development, and to strengthening the position of women".

Seen as a reformer and peacemaker in Liberia when she first took office, Sirleaf declared a zero-tolerance policy against corruption and has made education compulsory and free for all primary-age children. She is currently running for re-election, with a vote to be held on Tuesday.

Gbowee, 39, was instrumental in helping bring Liberia to peace in the early 2000s, leading a movement of women who dressed in white to protest against the use of rape and child soldiers in the war. During the 2003 peace talks, she and hundreds of women surrounded the hall where the discussions were being held, refusing to let delegates leave until they had signed the treaty. The committee said she had "mobilised and organised women across ethnic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia, and to ensure women's participation in elections".

Since 2004, Gbowee has served as a commissioner on Liberia's truth and reconciliation commission, and she is now executive director of theWomen in Peace and Security Network, an organisation that works with women in Liberia, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Sierra Leone to promote peace, literacy and political involvement.

"In the most trying circumstances, both before and during the Arab spring, Tawakkul Karman has played a leading part in the struggle for women's rights and for democracy and peace in Yemen," the Nobel committee said of the third winner. Karman, 32, is a mother of three who in 2005 founded the group Women Journalists Without Chains.

She has been a key figure among youth activists in Yemen since they began occupying a square in central Sana'a in February demanding the end of the Saleh regime, and has often been the voice of activists on Arabic television, giving on-the-ground reports of the situation in the square outside Sana'a University, where dozens of activists have been shot dead by government forces.

She called her award "a victory for the Yemeni people, for the Yemeni revolution and all the Arab revolutions".

"This is a message that the era of Arab dictatorships is over. This is a message to this regime and all the despotic regimes that no voice can drown out the voice of freedom and dignity. This is a victory for the Arab spring in Tunis, Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen. Our peaceful revolution will continue until we topple Saleh and establish a civilian state."

The chairman of the Norwegian Nobel committee, Thorbjorn Jagland, told the Associated Press that Karman's award should be seen as a signal that both women and Islam had played an important part in this year's Arab uprisings. "The Arab spring cannot be successful without including the women in it," he said.

He said Karman belonged to a Muslim movement with links to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group "which in the west is perceived as a threat to democracy". He added: "I don't believe that. There are many signals that that kind of movement can be an important part of the solution."

Jagland told AP it was difficult to find a leader of the Arab spring revolts, especially among the many bloggers who played a role in energising the protests, and noted that Karman's work started before the Arab uprisings.

"It was not easy for us to pick one from Egypt or pick one from Tunisia, because there were so many, and we did not want to say that one was more important than the others." He noted that Karman had "started her activism long before the revolution took place in Tunisia and Egypt. She has been a very courageous woman in Yemen for quite a long time."

Sirleaf said the award "gives me a stronger commitment to work for reconciliation. Liberians should be proud".

Asked about the potential sensitivity of awarding an international prize days before the winner seeks re-election, Jagland said: "We cannot look to that domestic consideration. We have to look at Alfred Nobel's will, which says that the prize should go to the person that has done the most for peace in the world."

Suzanne Ouedraogo from Burkina Faso

2011-11-16T02:25:00.000-08:00

Suzanne Ouedraogo artist from Burkina Faso.

Here is one of my favourite artists. Suzanne Ouedraogo. Her work is quite shocking but this makes it all the more impressive especially coming from Burkina Faso. She has taken bold steps to be outspoken about issues surrounding women - the family, child welfare and sexual violence.

Her series on Female Circumcision 2000-2003

Excision 2000

Excision I - 2003

Excision II - 2003

Here is a poem on the subject of female circumcision by a young female Nigerian Poet which goes well with these paintings.

Our Dilemma by Chinwe Azubuike

You, our gods of immortals and living
Of seas and lands
Of all visible and not
We beseech, hear our cry this day
And come to our rescue.

Our sacred weapons of pleasure
Are being destroyed by the day
Rendered useless
By our overseeing Lords and Ladies
Of ancestral descent.

They perform a barbaric operation on our ‘flesh of honour’
And call it ‘Female Circumcision’
In the white man’s language.
They mutilate our pride and say it is ‘tradition’
“The initiation to womanhood”

They cut us!
Oh yes, they cut us with the blade.

In the gaze of our fellows, they cut us!
At times in the secrecy of our mother’s haven.
They do not concede to the tools,
Nor words of the physician’s for our safety
To them it has been for ages
And tradition dare not be defiled.
They just cut us.

Against our will as they are wont to
For we foresee the agony and anguish
To these we try to parry but helpless we are

Our eyes have cried,
Tears of unending pain and torment
They have run dry of water.
Our hearts, laden with loathsomeness
We fear may burst.

They cut us, with or without our consent
Left to bleed by their ignorance
Sometimes fatal to our existence.
Other times, we become plagued with illness of strange names
“Infection” the physician would call it

Again they say it delivers us from the hands of promiscuity
As we ascend the ladder of womanhood.
Such blasphemy! We think
As if we are not bound for the act of consummation
In our ‘married’ days

As we watch our counterparts this day
Buried deep in this sin,
Sisters whom we term fortunate cut at childbirth
Fortunate to have escaped the pain we feel now,
We can’t but wonder
“Who is fooling who?”

You, our ancestral Lords and Ladies
Suffer us no more we beg
What profit do you aspire
When our lives are wont to expire
In this course of tradition?

Oh! What a shame,
That you who drum to our ears
To revere the dignity between our legs,
Become the ones that destroy it.

Poem by Chinwe Azubuike | Nigeria

Violence, loathing, beauty, pain: How Rembrandt influenced Francis Bacon

2011-10-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

Self Portrait by Francis Bacon 1974

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/violence-loathing-beauty-pain-how-rembrandt-influenced-francis-bacon-2369493.html

He brutally mutilated the old master's self-portraits – then endlessly echoed them. but just how influenced was Francis Bacon by Rembrandt? Charles Darwent explores a new exhibition that attempts to paint a clearer picture

By Charles Darwent
Sunday, 16 October 2011

In June 1962, the American photographer Irving Penn shot a series of portraits of Francis Bacon at the latter's studio in Reece Mews, London. One (previous page) sticks particularly in the mind. It is of Bacon standing in front of a wall which he has covered, typically, with pages torn from books and magazines. Peering down over the artist's shoulder is one of these, the crumpled image of an old man. It is Rembrandt, painted by himself, in the famous Self-Portrait with Beret now at the Musée Granet in Aix-en-Provence.

Self-Portrait with Beret

Us looking at Penn looking at Bacon looking at Rembrandt. Penn's portrait is full of questions, prime among them the one of who chose its mise-en-scène. Did Bacon ask to be photographed in front of a dead Old Master, or was it Penn who saw a connection between the two men, and if so of what kind? Bacon was 52 when Penn's picture was taken, although, with his cherub cheeks and boot-polish-blacked hair, he looks 20 years younger. Rembrandt was 51 when he painted the Aix self-portrait and seems 20 years older. Like Bacon, he had lived beyond his means; unlike Bacon, his luck had run out. In 1660, the year of the self-portrait, Rembrandt had been forced to sell his house and printing press and to go to work for his son, Titus. Etched into his face is the pauper's grave that would wait for him a decade later. Did Penn see, in Bacon's sybaritic life, a similar end? Or did Bacon choose to have Rembrandt look over his right shoulder – the angel's side – as a token of admiration, or self-admiration?

Nothing in Bacon's life or art is ever easy, his take on Rembrandt least of all. What we do know is that there was a take – that Bacon, a tireless gatherer of scraps, admired Rembrandt above all other artists. Again and again in his quarter-of-a-century of interviews with the critic David Sylvester, Bacon returns to the Dutchman, worrying away at him as if picking at a scab, or at Rembrandt's scabrous paint. It is hard to believe that so deep a relationship between two such great artists had never been the subject of an exhibition – Bacon has been paired off with everyone from Van Gogh to Eadweard Muybridge – but this is the case. Which makes Irrational Marks, the opening show of the new Ordovas gallery in London, which looks at the work of two men side-by-side, both welcome and revealing.

Maybe acts of homage are always tinged with loathing; certainly, Bacon's seems that way. Rembrandt painted or etched nearly 100 self-portraits over 40 years. Many – the Mauritshuis gallery's Self-portrait with Gorget, say – show him as young and strong, high on the hog's back. Bacon's fascination, though, is with the man laid low, stripped bare. There are half-a-dozen of his torn-out pages in this show, all of them taken from Reece Mews and bearing reproductions of Rembrandt self-portraits post-1655, when the artist was in his fifties, widowed and broke. To the violence of the Dutchman's own life, Bacon has added another: the pages are creased and spattered with paint. The housekeeping at Reece Mews was known to be slovenly, but the treatment to which the pages have been subjected seems harsh even so, less a lack of care than an outright attack. In one plate, torn from Claude Roger Marx's monograph on Rembrandt, the old man's throat has apparently been cut. His upper lip has been gouged out.

It may, of course, have been a kind of empathy. If you saw the film Love is the Devil, you'll know Bacon's taste for the lash. Pain was beauty for him; pain was truth. In a story he told, often and in several variants, Bacon's fox-hunting father had had his 14-year-old son horsewhipped when he was caught being buggered by a stable-boy. The punishment had backfired: from then on, the artist-to-be added masochism to his repertoire of happily delinquent sexuality. To enjoy Rembrandt's pain was to pay him an accolade, to enrol him in a club: not for nothing did Bacon refer to the Dutchman's clotted brushwork as a "coagulation". But, as with his father's horsewhipping, to feel Rembrandt's pain was to turn the Oedipal tables.

If there is hate in Bacon's love of Rembrandt, then it may have something to do with their differing views of age. The master of Reece Mews once disingenuously remarked to David Sylvester that he painted self-portraits, although he "loathed [his] own face", because he hadn't "got anyone else to do". By absolute contrast, Rembrandt loves his own face, not because it is his but because it is a face.

In a sense, all of the Dutch Master's self-portraits are double portraits. They depict a man who is getting older, but they also show an artist who is growing more mature. Every vicissitude that life can throw at Rembrandt – each pouch and jowl, every newly acquired line – calls for an artistic answer. There is a blessed equity to his self-depiction. It takes experience to paint an experienced face: Rembrandt had to be 51 to paint himself at 51. Old age, suffering, become cartes de visite, advertisements of his skill. The Aix self-portrait is like a fugue in which one voice is worn down by time, the other triumphant over it.

Talking to Sylvester about the Aix image, Bacon praised Rembrandt's abstraction, his capacity to make the "irrational marks" from which this show takes its title. The Aix self-portrait, he says, is "almost completely anti-illustrational". That both is and is not true – Rembrandt, like any 17th-century painter, would have viewed the lack of resemblance as a failure – but it is certainly revealing about Bacon's own view of himself. The point of a double portrait is to understand both sitters by reference to the other. This exhibition of the two men's work does just that. Where Rembrandt's images of himself are revealed as inescapably optimistic, Bacon's are endlessly pessimistic.

Only when you see him next to Rembrandt do you realise that Bacon is all about self-effacement. In one study for a self-portrait, made in 1973 (above left), Bacon's own face is eclipsed by another, the face of a watch. You sense an 11th hour: the artist, now 64, is reduced to two forms, a double-chin and the skull-like socket of an eye. There is no redemption in his self-image, none of Rembrandt's saving virtuosity: there is only age, and time ticking away. With its grey brushwork and hazy surface, the watch-portrait feels like a picture torn from a newspaper or magazine. Its monochrome palette seems to echo the brown-on-brown self-portraits of the ageing Rembrandt, at least as shown in black-and-white reproduction. The watch-portrait is Rembrandt rubbed out and then rubbed out again, faded and re-faded. It is a self-portrait of Bacon as someone else, someone he wanted to be.

Irrational Marks: Bacon and Rembrandt is at Ordovas, 25 Savile Row, London W1 (020 7287 5013, ordovasart.com), until 16 December

Masters of the art: Two very brief lives

Francis Bacon

The second of five children, Francis Bacon was born in Dublin in 1909 to a Boer War veteran and an heiressto a Sheffield steel business. The family moved frequently between Ireland and England in Bacon's youth. Bacon's father banished him in 1926 when he discovered the 17-year-old in his mother's underwear; on a meagre allowance, he drifted between London, Berlin and Paris, where he was inspired to art by a Picasso exhibition.

In the 1930s, he made tentative forays into painting, while working as an interior decorator and furniture designer. His breakthrough came in 1944 with the triptych 'Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion'.

In the 1950s and 1960s Bacon became an habitué of Soho drinking and gambling dens. In 1971 his then-lover George Dyer killed himself on the eve of a retrospective in Paris. Bacon spent the rest of his life with the altogether more stable John Edwards, who was named as the sole heir to Bacon's estate on the painter's death in 1992.

Rembrandt

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born in 1606, the ninth child of a prosperous miller.

Within five years of opening his studio in Leiden in 1624, Rembrandt had been discovered by the Dutch court; he soon moved to Amsterdam, married well and bought a house in a fashionable quarter.

From then, despite his success as a painter, he was plagued by personal tragedy and money problems. Only his fourth child, Titus, born in 1641, survived beyond infancy, and his wife Saskia died in 1642. Rembrandt narrowly avoided bankruptcy in his early fifties (he had to sell his house a few years later).

After an unfortunate relationship with his ailing wife's nurse, he took up with a young maid, Hendrickje, who, with Titus, assisted in the final years of his career.

Rembrandt died in 1669, outliving his son by a year and Hendrickje by six.

Mike H

Building an African Library Online

2011-10-22T03:55:00.000-07:00

Modern African Writers

Hello Fellow Readers,

This is an introduction to the African Library. My name is Joe Pollitt and I would like to start to put together a series of published works found on the Internet by African Writers or about the issues surrounding Africa. The main source of information will be coming through the Amazon website with a brief editorial and information about the artist and their lives. Initially, I am starting off with a list of over 800 writers from Africa and this blog would like to explore as many as possible and maybe more. What could be more exciting is the development of artists and writers who self-publish from Blurb | www.blurb.com and create a continually developing library with artists and writers who are keen to contribute to the educational development from all corners of Africa.

All the artists will be labelled in the appropriate African countries from Algeria to Zimbabwe - there is a small tag feature at the bottom of the posts. Click if interested in a specific subject or country as they will be labels for Books on African Artists, African Design, Diaspora, Tribal Art, African Music, Modern Art, African Fashion and Photography and more....

Here are over 800 African Writers

A
A.M. Issa-Salwe
Ababa Haylemelekot
Abbakar Adam Ismail

etc.........

Lu Lei | The Sky's The Limit by Joe Pollitt

2011-10-16T03:10:00.000-07:00

(Here is something rather off subject but an article I wrote about for a Chinese gallery - OtherGallery, Beijing)

Since the beginning of this millennium, the world has been exposed to modern China through the eyes of a select few from the media arena. Resolute to infect and dilute the potency of the artistic dragons of China, the U.S and UK art worlds have purposefully created their own brand of Eastern promise by trying to create the fetishism akin to the Saatchi version of “Oriental Sensationalism.” In dong so, they have ostensibly set about with such extraordinary determination to undermine and align Chinese artists with the likes of Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and the demon, Damien Hirst. Crushing any notion of true intelligence and strongly endorsing mediocrity and celebrity over raw acumen, they are demanding and increasingly supporting, creating and promoting mindless Pokemon sex stars whilst constantly ordering posters of Red Flags, hammers and sickles along with More, More, Mao. Desperately fearful that the active minds of intelligence in fresh China should dare to flourish and thrive, like young bamboo. The West encourage all artists to become ‘Pop or Hip-Hop’ from the US or YBA or Banksy with ‘Gimmicks of Urban Street Chic’ from the UK.

Thankfully, there is fruit amongst the thorns in the shape of Lu Lei. Unlike his counterparts such as Zhao Bo who mass produces cartoonish Congolese-Cheri Samba-style works of political satire or the disappointing legal graffiti efforts on canvas of Zhang Dali or the non-offensive angelic and delicate designs by Qing Qing whose robes appear of hemp and spring and summer flowers from the meadows. As an intuitive fine artist, worthy of fervent support, Lu Lei has, inevitably, chosen a different path; a unique Global vision of clarity. His is a way of seeing further than the commercial campaigns and the obvious financial gains being offered up as treacle for the few and dished out to the masses – soon those decorated as important artists of ‘Now’ will be remembered as the major players of the Chinese artistic sell-out movement of the early 21st Century.

When thinking about modern Chinese art, what springs to mind, are the interviews with the young Bruce Lee back in the 1970s; so determined was he, to be seen as progressive, whilst Hollywood had other ideas. The very hint of having Bruce Lee as the leading man in Kung Fu was unthinkable. The role was given to David Carradine; a safe, trustworthy American actor whom the US movie public could fall in love with and still be regarded as respectable. Pinewood producers felt similarly in Britain, secretly electing, as they all too frequently do, that the British audience would feel better-off and more comfortable with Chinese characters like the mischievous, Cato Fong played by Burt Kwouk, rather than the more aggressive alpha males such as Sammo Hung, Russell Wong or Robin Shou. This year, Burt was awarded an OBE for his contribution to drama, for his portrayal of the Chinese houseboy in the Pink Panther films, but this negative, albeit mildly amusing role went a long way in denigrating the Chinese people and their culture in the minds of Western onlookers. This obvious abuse of the medium of cinema should have sent alarm-bells ringing throughout the Buddhist world but the seduction of all things broadcasted and televised has been all too tantalizing yet it comes as a surprise that the Great Wall of China can so easily be tarnished.

Lu Lei’s artistic practice promises to generate a sea-change with new works being created and previous works being mounted; this vigorous, intelligent and motivating exhibition titled is earmarked to be one of the greatest showcases ever seen in Modern China. In fact, the show could potentially create a new art dynasty in contemporary Chinese Art. The true art revolution starts with the courageous wild swans that are willing to stick their necks on-the-line by producing provocative works and those prepared to champion that provocation. For those unfamiliar with this artist, Lu Lei and his works here is an extremely succinct resume: he was born in Jiangsu Province in 1972 and graduated in sculpture at the China Fine Art College in Beijing in 1998.

Square, 2005 by Lu Lei

Cleverly, Lu Lei has added the essential ingredient of intelligence into the mix. He has been amongst one of the few artists that are managing to push forward the ambitious notion and contemporary concept of global art. In doing so, he has somehow relaxed the grout away from the bricks from the Great Wall itself, revealing a trailblazing Chinese art in the making. His works begin in 2005, with a series of black and white images of 100 empty barrels of gasoline/petrol and within a selected few barrels are loudspeakers; other barrels have concave mirrors inside; this results in the spectators being left with a mild sense of wonderment and acute confusion as to whether or not, the barrels are full or empty. There are two flags, one on either side of the installation and they are black and white respectively. In many ways the work is a living statement, a therapeutic form of self-analysis or self-hypnosis, constructively analyzing the purpose and function of being built in the first place; contemplating the ultimate nature of art as viewed from an internal perspective. The work is ironically entitled, “Square” – In the same year and along the same lines Lu Lei constructed a glass house, with five speakers on the front wall and five on the back, amounting to ten in all. A thin isolated individual with his arm raised is clearly visible and behind him is a tiny square screen playing a video, the work is entitled: “The Big Details in the Key Moment”, 2005.

The surroundings are perfect. Deep inside the guts of a gallery; a time for reflection and rational meditation without the restrictions of dictatorial obligations, family duties or curious religious hand puppets, casting shadows of doubt where there are none. Artistic memory jogging and the eyewitness is immediately transported back to 1989 to the Tiananmen Massacre and that inconceivable picture of a single man, alone in front of the world and before him four petrifying tanks. One voice or heroic action can speak for a nation and on that particular day it was the Leader, Liu Xiaobo who shocked the visual world. The works clearly defend the rights of dreamers; rejoices in those who see themselves as individuals and shows China to be a country thinking out-aloud; stepping out from the majority; away from the group and ultimately standing up; bravely independent and often alone.

Alongside the installation Lu Lei has created a series of professional sketches and proficient watercolors that illustrates he is an impressively proficient draftsman. Working out sketches on a series of white and blue mathematical graph paper, he methodically constructs and develops his idea down onto the paper in a rather clinical fashion, as if he were an architect or structural engineer. He also created images on thick watercolor-paper and effectively uses Indian ink displaying a beguiling technique and in one painting creates a fantastic image of the man in the glasshouse being bombarded with disorderly flapping bats and in another more academic and intellectual work he starts to play with the idea of Russian artist, Vladimir Tatlin and his ‘Monument to the 3rd International’. Tatlin’s version came at a time of immense change in the Soviet Union and the interest then, was on the mechanics of all things; the nuts and bolts of arguments and discussions. The reason being was to discover the reasonable and the rational explanation to all things; the vision of the time was on the planning and the analysis; the architectural blueprints and the pure pleasure of working out the best solution for a worthwhile society, opposed to just ignorantly enjoying the end product only to take it for granted later. In many ways these positive, ideological and altruistic thought processes echoed the modernization of Soviet Russia; and the possibility of achieving authentic social change and ambitiously and maybe naively, searching for total equality.

In Lu Lei’s deconstructed version he adds a satellite and an aerial and then redressed or reconstructs the deconstructed version by wrapping the image up and adding a hammer and sickle to epitomize that the transparency so wished for at the beginning of the Russian Revolution, had failed and drastically changed. Sadly, Tatlin’s Monument and his dream of an unambiguous world had woken up and was now dressed and fully-clothed. These works really acknowledges that Lei has superlative dexterity and is proficient in numerous aspects of Art.

The artist continues with the effective theme of working in monochrome, “Clouds”, 2006 - tackles the issues of the ideological contrasts between the socially conscious, society within China and the Capitalist, and consumer greed of the West. This is simply represented in a series of clouds connected together by thin wire, symbolic of the importance of telecommunications, in a Post Internet Asia. In 2007, Lei begins to open up, but only slightly and introduces a single color, Red. In his installation, “Elements”, Lei, focusing on the organs of the body and veins in which they are fed and kept alive. The organs are made up of resistance wire and then painted red and placed on ceramic backs, in the shape of graveyard-headstones. A year later in 2008, Lei creates what many would consider his Masterpiece – “Moments”. The work plays with so many different elements within art – geometry, architecture, sculpture, video-work, inventive carpentry, light and shadows. A blackboard is the material of choice; a material able to create true magic.

Moments, 2008 by Lu Lei

Let us start in the middle, where the meat of the work lies. The slanted table top is attached to the blackboard and seen as an extension of the blackboard. A perversion, this unwanted bastard of a blackboard, is the creation of the original. The artist blows life into the blackboard, giving the inanimate object a life-force able to create. He has extended the possibilities of what essentially a traditional blackboard has always been expected to do. Bending the functionalities and responsibilities of a regular Chinese blackboard; the artist has the audacity to allow the board to breed, creating an imaginative blackboard without restraint. A board that was left alone one evening as nobody was watching and started to create; creating a series of abominable atrocities. This anarchic structure hypothetically, has free will. A mind of its own and the ability to create monsters at will. Forming structures that defy definition – shapes that are virtually impossible to define and when seen, even by experts, are unable to either be named, or understood. The practicalities of these disobedient shapes seem abhorrence to those that dare to visually confront. These rebellious structures are forcing all to put into question the actual reason for their very existence? Formed out of the belly of the board is a distorted tabletop, with flat surfaces and challenging perspectives housing a small square hole nearing the end; spikes underneath, like a trapped black star, unable to breathe or shine; devoid of reason. The board is unfairly divided and poking out the corner on the larger side of the board or the majority share side, is a video playing but seen more as a Cyclops looking, spying on at all those that are viewing, singularly seeing. The majority stare and the onlookers ponder on what or who is watching who or whom? Flying out from the corner of the board is a shooting black star, invisible at night but visible in the day, when the lights are turned on. The dull-black-star casts playful shadows on the white-washed-walls. Giving new life to the board and the walls and poking from the side a seemingly huge architectural tumor has been growing, forming staircases and platforms with limited floor-space and high dark walls; walls without ceilings, walls without windows, walls without doors. Only the walls, the single staircase and the limited floors space exist; as if in an Escher-style dream in a three-dimensional reality the board has created a perfect malfunction. Shadows radiate fantasy silhouettes that virtually fall to the floor. This ingenious installation entitled, ‘Moments’, is simply the artist’s greatest work to date.

All in all Lu Lei’s work is a celebration of an artist who is beginning to display a true sense of artistic maturity. His installations, alongside his obvious expertise in draughtsmanship can be defined as precision artistry, which can only be compared with skilled archers on horseback, shooting arrows at targets, whilst side-saddling thoroughbred stallions. He confidently assembles his fluid ideas and develops and executes them perfectly in his artworks. The artist is able to broach an array of various complex disciplines: with a comprehensible understanding of architecture, mathematics, design, sculpture and geometry, which are the ideal qualities to look for when choosing an artist to move up into Chinese and international civic art and join the ranks of other international super artists such as Michelangelo, Picasso, Miro, Anthony Gormley, Anish Kapoor, Richard Serra and Henry Moore. Civic or public art has often been used for political gains. The most extreme and widely argued demonstration of this continues to be the use of art as propaganda; especially within regimes coupled with instantaneous suppression of opposition. The approach to art seen in Stalin's Soviet Union and Mao's Cultural Revolution stands as a symbol of this old school oppression. It would be wonderful to see a Chinese Artist working alongside the best in the world and Lu Lei has all the right attributes and credentials to do so. It is vital that government and local leaders take it upon themselves to encourage a new way of seeing and a new wave of supporting their artists. In many countries around the world an unofficial ‘Artists Tax’ is levied onto all new builds and the construction company and owner set aside 1% of the overall budget to go towards the purchase of artworks from artists.

China is so fortunate to have an artist such as Lu Lei who is clearly capable of creating and performing successfully on the national stage but more importantly, if given the opportunity, could show the country that he is more than adept to deliver and compete within the International art scene. His works create a myriad of ideas that shine like a sharp bright light, through glass prisms, generating new and glorious sounds and visuals, seldom published or accessible to those in the autocratic Far East.

Weaving the Threads of Livelihood

2011-10-12T17:30:00.001-07:00

Date: 14 October 2011Time: 10:30 AM

Finishes: 10 December 2011Time: 5:00 PM
Venue: Brunei GalleryRoom: Brunei Gallery Exhibition Rooms
Type of Event: Exhibition

The Sirwa is situated at the junction of the High Atlas and the Anti Atlas mountain ranges in Morocco. The Berber weavers of the Sirwa are renowned for their wide range of textiles and their technical knowledge and artistry. In addition to embroidery and sprang (an ancient precursor of knitting), female Sirwa weavers master several weaving techniques: tapestry weaving, twinning, brocading and knotting, which they use individually or in combination. Since the 1980s weaving production has intensified, this activity occupying most of the households in the region and constituting a major livelihood option complementing subsistence agriculture.
The central piece of the exhibition will be a special 19th century cloak, the akhnif, (loaned by the British Museum) a garment unique to Morocco that has inspired the production of a new type of carpet in the 1990s, and variants since. In the exhibition, many of these richly coloured, densely embellished and painstakingly crafted carpets will be displayed. They demonstrate the dynamism and creativity of Sirwa weavers who exploit and continuously update their rich weaving tradition to produce a great variety of weavings for the international market. This will be the first exhibition dedicated to contemporary textiles production in Morocco.
Visitors to the exhibition will have the opportunity to watch as the Sirwa weavers demonstrate their technical skills on equipment especially brought from Morocco and can even try their own hand at weaving. They will be given the opportunity to touch many items displayed in the exhibition, to handle tools (spindles, cards and beating combs) and textures (yarns and weaving samples) and to experience the carpets.
A one-day international conference on Moroccan textiles will take place in conjunction with the exhibition. The conference will explore Moroccan textiles in their historical and social context; contemporary Moroccan textile designers and artists will present their work and creations.
Contact email: gallery@soas.ac.uk
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Visionary Africa: Art at Work Exhibition

2011-10-12T05:42:00.000-07:00

2010 and 2011 mark the 50th anniversary of the independence of 22 African countries.To commemorate this anniversary and to mark the occasion of the third EU-Africa Summit, the European Commission and the Palais des Beaux Arts (Centre for Fine Arts),in collaboration with the African Union, is launching a multi-disciplinary and itinerant cultural project: “Visionary Africa: Art at Work”. This initiative is the extension and the development in Africa of the “Visionary Africa” festival held in Brussels (Summer 2000).

African Installations - 3D View

This project focuses on the importance of culture and creativity as development tools and is directly in line with the Brussels Declaration by Artists and Cultural Professionals. It includes an itinerant urban exhibition of contemporary African artistic practices, artists’ residencies and workshops. The exhibition will be previewed in conjunction with the European Union-Africa Summit in Syrte/Tripoli (Libya, November 29, 2010).

It will then begin to travel to different African capitals at the start of 2011, beginning with Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), followed by Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). It will feature some 30 reproductions of works of art created by contemporary African artists, taken from the works presented in the exhibitions of the “Visionary Africa” festival in the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, which ran until September 26, 2010. The idea for this project was put forward during the international colloquium “Culture and Creativity as Vectors for Development”, organised by the European Commission in April 2009.

Culture at the heart of African-European dialogue

Since the end of the 1990s, the European Union has been progressively more committed to strengthening dialogue and building more specific and special relations with Africa.

The first EU-Africa Summit was held in Cairo in April 2000. It defined a framework of political and global dialogue and laid down an action plan in the areas of African integration in the global economy, democratisation, health development, education, the environment and security.

The second Summit took place in Lisbon in 2007. This Summit further strengthened the partnership and brought the EU-Africa dialogue to a higher political level. The Treaty of Lisbon signed at that Summit emphasised culture and creativity for the first time by according it a central role in all European policy fields ranging from regional policy to foreign affairs and development. Culture must therefore find a place “at the heart” of development policies. At Lisbon, the frequency of the Summits was also determined.

From now on, they will take place every three years. The next one will be held in Syrte/Tripoli, Libya, on November 29 2010. The theory was quickly put into practice. The European Commission has increased its efforts to show that culture is a factor of human development, social cohesion and employment.

It was thus thanks to the impetus provided by Louis Michel, the then European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, that in April 2009, the seminar on “Culture and Creativity as Vectors for Development” was organised.

This brought together around 800 participants: politicians (of whom 46 were ministers of African countries), artists and civil society representatives from the different countries of the EU, but also from the 65 ACP countries (Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific). On that occasion, Louis Michel insisted on the importance of addressing a broad public, on culture is not “a plaything for the pretentious elite” but an integral part of development, “a sphere in which society explains its relationship with the world and plans its future …in a certain way, a mental cement of social cohesion.” In the conclusions to the seminar, stress was placed on the importance of launching an exhibition on African artistic heritage on the occasion of the third EU-Africa summit to be held in Syrte/Tripoli..

Commissioner Andris Piebalgs co-chaired a High-Level Round Table on Culture and Development during the United Nations Summit on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Culture is increasingly recognised as a fundamental dimension in building development and in constructive relations between people.

The European Union-Africa partnership has also identified cultural cooperation as one of the priority actions to consolidate this important dialogue between the two continents. The campaign, “African Cultural Renaissance”, launched by the African Union for the period 2010-2012 and supported by the European Commission, is one of these actions, and the itinerant exhibition of African artistic practices “Visionary Africa: Art at Work” forms part of this.

“Visionary Africa: Art at Work”, urban and itinerant project in Africa

The exhibition will be presented in three African cities in conjunction with important institutional and cultural events. It starts off in Syrte (Libya) in the form of preview on November 29 at the same time as the Europe-Africa Summit. It will then be staged, in a wooden pavilion designed by the architect David Adjaye, in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), headquarters of the African Union, from January 10-30, 2011, dates which coincide with the festival of Timkat.

The exhibition can be seen from February 19 to March 13, 2011, in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso and one of the focal points of celebration of African culture, with, notably, the pan-African cinema and television festival FESPACO (which for a number of years has been part-financed by the EU). The exhibition will spend three weeks in each city. A broad attendance is therefore expected.

The aim of this new exhibition is to provide, through the work of African artists, a snapshot of the transformations that have occurred on the African continent during the last half century, as well as put its future development into perspective. The exhibition will be staged in a pavilion designed by David Adjaye and divided into three sections: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

It will feature some thirty reproductions of works by contemporary African artists from different regions of the continent. Each section will retain its autonomy. At the same time, there will be a continuous interface and dialogue between the three “space/time” modules. Seen from this perspective, the exhibition dovetails perfectly with the philosophy of the “Visionary Africa” festival and represents its natural extension.

The fourth space in the pavilion will be dedicated to video projections of the living arts. Every evening, the public will be invited to share the performances of African artists (musicians, choreographers, film-makers, and actors) committed to and involved in African cultural development. These videos were filmed for the most part during the event “48 hours in Brussels”, which was also a part of the “Visionary Africa” festival.

It is from this perspective that in 2009 the European Commission launched this partnership with the Palais des Beaux Arts (Centre for Fine Arts) in Brussels, which consisted of emphasising and strengthening relations between the cultural centres and museums of Europe and Africa. This ambitious project began with the foundation of a “Visionary Africa” festival. Inaugurated on May 30, 2010, it ran until September 26. The festival will continue in itinerant form in major African capitals in the form of the exhibition of African art practices “Art at Work".

The festival was a vast platform for African culture, bringing together an eclectic programme adapted to all types of audience, uniting exhibitions, debates, concerts, film screenings, performances and shows. Two exhibitions dedicated to the African culture of yesterday and today constituted the high point of the “Visionary Africa” festival.

The ambition of “GEO-Graphics”, which was developed and designed by architect, David Adjaye, with the assistance of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, was to redraw the cultural map of Africa and instigate a visual and narrative dialogue with contemporary art. For its part, the exhibition “A Useful Dream. African Photography 1960-2010”, put together by Simon Njami, celebrated 50 years of African photography and presented some 200 photos taken by contemporary African artists (living or deceased). It also signalled the point of departure for drawing up a long-term vision of the relationship between African art and culture, and its development.

The reflections initiated in Brussels by “Visionary Africa” will thus be extended to the African continent thanks to the itinerant exhibition “Art at Work”. The third EU-Africa summit in Syrte/Tripoli will be the starting point for an essential extension of “Visionary Africa” in Africa. The moment chosen is opportune, for in 2010-2011, 22 African countries are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their independence, an independence which has been closely linked to profound changes in political, economic, social and cultural life. In addition, this it is also the moment when the African Union is rediscovering the importance of culture as a factor for development by launching the campaign “African Cultural Renaissance”.

The commissioners of the “Art at Work” project

1) David Adjaye Artistic Director of the “GEO-Graphics” exhibition
Joint Commissioner of the “Art at Work” project and designer of the itinerant pavilion

Of Ghanaian origin, David Adjaye was born in 1966 in Dar es Salaam, in Tanzania, where his father was Ambassador of Ghana. At the age of 14, he moved to London, where he still lives. In 1993, he completed a degree in architecture at the Royal College of Art. After work placements in the offices of architects David Chipperfield and Eduardo Souto de Moura, he founded his own offices, Adjaye Architects, in 1994. His rise was rapid. Professionals and specialists welcomed his vision and artistic sensitivity, his ingenious use of materials, and his talent for sculpting and emphasising light.

Versatile and the winner of several prestigious competitions, David Adjaye excelled in architectural projects, design exhibitions, temporary pavilions and private homes in Great Britain and the United States. Artists of global renown called on his talent. He worked with Dane Olafur Eliasson for the light installation “Your Black Horizon” at the Venice Bienniale in 2005.

In 2002, he designed the staging and lighting for Chris Ofili’s exhibition of paintings “The Upper Room”, now on display at the Tate Britain. According to David Adjaye, “architecture must make the world a better place.” The way it influences and shapes daily life is at the centre of his thinking and his work. He also attaches great importance to the public and cultural character of architecture. His design of arts centres and large public buildings, built recently in London, Oslo and Denver, bear witness to the interest he shows in the needs of the community as well as the integration of architecture in the existing local environment. Practising his profession extends into major broadcasting and communication work. David Adjaye regularly develops his theories on the BBC, in the “Dreamspaces” programmes. In June 2005, he presented the television programme “Building Africa: Architecture of a Continent”.

Aware that he is a role model for future generations of architects, he is involved in teaching, giving classes at the University of Princeton and at the Royal College of Art. Currently, David Adjaye leads an Anglo-American team in charge of the building of the Museum of Afro-American History and Culture in Washington, whose objective is to celebrate the contribution of Afro-Americans to American culture. It is scheduled to open in 2015.

In parallel to his work as an architect, David Adjaye has for some years been researching urban mutation on the African continent. At the end of his travels in all the countries of the continent, some 53, he has gathered together an impressive collection of photographs reflecting the great diversity of the African continent and the dramatic speed of urban growth.

The display of these photographs was a high point of the “GEOGraphics” exhibition.

2) Simon Njami Commissioner of the exhibition “A Useful Dream”Joint Commissioner of the “Art at Work” exhibition

Born in 1962 in Lausanne (Switzerland) to Cameroonian parents, Simon Njami is an author, critic and exhibitions commissioner. After studying law and the arts, he began his professional career in Paris as a journalist, a writer, and then as a visual arts consultant at the Association française d’action artistique (AFAA - French Association of Artistic Initiatives). In 1991, with Jean-Loup Pivin and Pascal Martin Saint Léon he co-founded the excellent cultural journal Revue Noire (of which he is also editor-in-chief). This rapidly asserted itself as a reference work for contemporary African art.

In 1997, the three colleagues organised the “Suites africaines” (African Suites) exhibition in Paris. An enthusiastic public discovered the installations, photographs and sculptures of totally unknown artists. Its success was considerable.

The Revue Noire disappeared in 1999, but Simon Njami carried on his activities as an commissioner of exhibitions and has 20 to his name. In 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007, he was the general commissioner and artistic director of the African Festivals of Photography in Bamakp, the only international event dedicated to contemporary African photography and its diaspora.

In 2007, he designed the African “Check List Luanda Pop” pavilion at the 52nd International Art Bienniale in Venice. A prolific writer, Simon Njami’s works include, among others, Cercueil et Cie (Coffin and Co., Lieu Commun, 1985), Les enfants de la Cité (The Children of the City, Gallimard Jeunesse, 1987), Les Clandestins (The Stowaways, Gallimard Jeunesse, 1989), African Gigolo (Seghers, 1989), La Peur (Fear, Serpent à Plumes, 1990) and James Baldwin ou le devoir de la violence (James Baldwin or the Duty of Violence, Seghers, 1991).

He has also co-edited a number of works, including Anthologie de la photographie africaine (An Anthology of African Photography, 1999) and Anthologie de l’art africain au XXème siècle (An Anthology of 20th Century African Art, 2002).

One of his principal struggles is to make contemporary African artists visible throughout the world and above all, on the African continent – a struggle that is slowly beginning to bear fruit. One example? Between 2005 and 2007, it proved possible to present his ambitious “Africa Remix” project, of which he was the exhibition curator, in Düsseldorf, London, Paris, Tokyo and also in Johannesburg. Plastic responses of African artists to the questions they have in common were at the heart of the exhibition and were articulated around three themes: history/identity, body/soul and town/earth.

Given his impressive background, the choice of Simon Njami as the curator of the exhibition “A Useful Dream". African Photography 1960- 2010” was an obvious one. Simon Njami gives voice exclusively to artists of the African continent, living or deceased, some of whom have managed to make a name for themselves, and have become known worldwide.

It is enough to mention Mohammed Dib (who died in 2003), Cornélius Yao Augustt Azaglo (who died in 2000), Malick Sidibé, Sammy Baloji, Dorris Haron Kasco or Aïda Mulunech. In 200 superb images, most of them in black and white, these great photographers provided a panorama of the development of the African continent over the last 50 years.

David Adjaye’s Pavilion structure

The showcase for the “Art at Work” exhibition designed by David Adjaye is a pavilion which is at one and the same time elegant, spacious and ergonomic. The concept is in line with “low technology” and is characterised by its ability to be easily assembled and dismantled. It is a lightweight structure created from panels of wood and surmounted by a roof inspired by a pergola and broken up at regular intervals by wide openings which allow the light to flood in.

The pavilion will integrate perfectly with the African landscape and will function with natural light. A detachable canvas cover is, however, provided for in case of rain. To facilitate movement around the pavilion and fluidity, the pavilion has several entrances. Superbly proportioned, the volume is organised into four spaces.

Three of these will house the new “Art at Work” exhibition, bringing together 30 photographic reproductions from the “GEO-Graphics” exhibition (David Adjaye’s works), and the exhibition “A Useful Dream” (the photographs, selected by the co-organisers, David Adjaye and Simon Njami, will be unveiled at the press conference).

The display will be organised around three spaces/moments in time (Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow), which are separate, but yet linked by permanent dialogue. The decision to present reproductions of the photographs instead of the originals is a choice on the part of the organisers.

This formula fits better with the light structure of the pavilion and its ephemeral character. As there is no power supply, the exhibition will only be available to view during the day. In the evening, video projections created during the “48 Hours in Brussels” event will take over. This event, which took place at the time of the “Visionary Africa” festival, gave a voice to a whole range of African artists engaged in strengthening African civil society through the medium of art. Invited by the Palais des Beaux Arts in the summer of 2010, they were able to visit the Festival’s exhibitions.

In their performances, they provided living testimony of the plural identity of African culture in both the plastic and living arts. Among the artists were, for example, musicians, Pitcho Womba Konga, Rokia Traoré, Angélique Kidjo, Didier Awadi, Papa Wemba and Venancio Mbande, the film-makers Hawa Essuman and Raoul Peck, the choreographer Germaine Acogny, the actor Dieudonné Kabongo and the dancer Serge Aimé Coulibaly.

It will be excerpts of their concerts or shows in Brussels that the public of Tripoli/Syrte, Addis Ababa and Ouagadougou will be able to admire. The part of the programme bringing together the living arts is thus an extra opportunity for the “Visionary Africa” festival to be able to travel. So, the debate continues.

Workshops

The aim of holding the workshops is to provide yet another occasion to pursue the debate initiated in Brussels. What are the main issues for contemporary art in Africa? How can art influence the development of African countries? During the “Visionary Africa” festival, this aspect of the debate was touched on in the Atlas Room. Images, texts and graphics provided a concrete illustration of the artistic practices and the cultural institutions of Africa before and during the colonial period, as well as after independence. On one wall, a timeline showed the principal documents of African cultural policy at a national and international level (UNESCO, African Union). On the opposite wall was displayed the richness of African culture throughout the centuries. In the two African cities hosting the “Art at Work” exhibition, visitors will be presented with a booklet containing the documents displayed in the Atlas Room. The challenge will be to continue the reflection on the ground. The moderators of the workshops, Simon Njami and David Adjaye, will reach out to people and will have the chance to talk to and debate with the stakeholders – people involved in culture – and to take stock of how the proposals and promises of the different institutions are being followed up and implemented. Each workshop will be an opportunity to gather new knowledge, which will be indispensable for subsequent reflection. It is intended that this project be developed in several African countries in such a way that it covers all areas of the continent. The climax will be the publication of a final and exhaustive document, which will be a precious tool for future work.

Artists’ residencies

The goal of these is to support a vision of African artists connecting with others on their continent, and to support the creation of works of contemporary African art. A famous contemporary artist coming from another African country will be hosted in each of the participating African cities for a period of three weeks. They will leave behind the fruits of their labour and of their interpretation of the city during this period to enrich the artistic heritage of the city.

The concept:

1) Visionary Africa: a work in progress – by Simon Njami

The goal of this travelling exhibition is to convey, through the work of Africa’s artists, the transformations the Continent has undergone in the past fifty years, and show some of the perspectives which it has been imagined could apply for the next fifty years. In lockstep with the structure designed especially for this travelling project, the show is divided into three conceptual spaces: then, now and tomorrow. Although these are treated as autonomous entities, the exhibition will be constructed in such a way as to allow for constant dialogue between these three space/time capsules. The structure’s open and innovative design, and the contemporary artworks on view, represent the vision of tomorrow, where photography and video play a key role.

The then that planted the seeds for the emergence of this new era is for the most part illustrated by photography, a medium that was crucial in the formation of an independent African identity. Now is represented by David Adjaye’s photographic panorama of Africa’s capitals. The public enter the exhibition space through the now section, which gives onto the two separate but conceptually interconnected spaces. The opening now has a documentary character, and intentionally so: it provides the audience with the interpretive keys to the interplay of points reference, or arguments and counter-arguments, that flow through the show, and which weave Africa’s past, present, and future into an imaginary world.

However, these spaces will not be explicitly characterised as such; these titles exist only conceptually, like the backbones of internal circulation.

2) Presentation of the structure – by David Adjaye

The structure is organised as a labyrinth with three gallery spaces and has been designed to house reproduced images of contemporary work and photography. It is conceived as a neglected structure in line with the public spaces in African capitals. Structurally it is a portal made of a standard timber frame, with the lower parts (which vary in height from space to space) covered in 18mm WPB plywood on both sides to mount/display the reproductions. The reproductions will be printed onto paper and mounted directly onto the walls.

The upper part of the pavilion exposes the structure to provide light into the spaces. The pavilion is open to the sky; vertical timbers support the timber ceiling joists which span the width of each section – the direction of the joists vary from section to section. A 7.1m high tower rises in the centre of the structure. It can be used to promote the exhibition either by means of projections or posters. The floor will be raised 200mm from the ground by a series of concealed joists and battens; the finish will also be 18mm WPB plywood.

Contacts

Bozar Raka Singh, coordinator Visionary Africa: Art at Work:Raka.Singh@bozar.be

Nicola Setari, project director Visionary Africa:Nicola.Setari@bozar.be

Leen Daems, press officer Bozar Expo:Leen.Daems@bozar.be European Commission

Giorgio Ficcarelli, DG DEV: Giorgio.ficcarelli@ec.europa.eu

Christoph Pelzer, DG EuropeAid: Christoph.pelzer@ec.europa.eu

Press contact

Hélène van den Wildenberg – Cecoforma press:press@cecoforma.com

Brothers in Arms: A Paradise Lost By Zihan Kassam | AfricanColours.com

2011-10-12T05:27:00.000-07:00

It’s too bad more of us don’t suffer from nostalgia. The anguish in Somalia over the last two decades has become so awfully commonplace it’s virtually invisible to the rest of the world. In a war-torn country infested with Al Shabaab, clan warlords and an imperceptible central government, it’s difficult to remember the castles, citadels, stone cities and celebrated culture that once permeated this paradise lost.

AMISOM soldiers in conversation in front of the obliterated Al Aruba Hotel near the Mogadishu Seaport : Image by Kate Holt.

As a peacekeeping operation, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), effective through the approval of the United Nations, was created by the African Union's Peace and Security Council in 2007. Consisting of 9000 peacekeepers in Mogadishu currently, it comprises of military, political, police and humanitarian workers. In an attempt to stabilize the upheaval, they mandate secure access for the provision of humanitarian assistance. AMISOM endeavours to create conditions conducive to reconstruction and sustainable development in Somalia.

Together with the Transitional Federal Government forces (TFG), AMISOM also works to free key points in the city from the Al-Shabaab terror campaign. Through mentoring and monitoring the Somali Police Force (SPF) to meet international standards, they allow the emerging administration breathing room to secure critical infrastructure essential to constructive change.

Photographed by AMISOM combat soldiers themselves, the ‘Brothers in Arms’ exhibition at the Nairobi National Museum consists of twenty eight photographs selected from a series of shots taken in Mogadishu over the last twelve months. The images are complemented by an impressionable film on the daily realities faced in Mogadishu. Both the photography and film are part of a travelling exhibition that will pass through Uganda to Burundi. The exhibition at the Nairobi National Museum runs from October 7th until October 16th, 2011.

The majority of photographs at ‘Brothers in Arms’ were taken by Kate Holt, a photojournalist born in Zimbabwe, who earlier this year, provided photographic training to the Ugandan and Burundian AMISOM soldiers. Stephen Mugambi, Emmanuel Mucunguzi, Jean Claude Mbayisenga and Baker Tumusime all photographed images examining the conflict in the region. They were able to capture intimate details of the lives of both civilians and soldiers on the frontline.

Kate Holt, began her career in journalism with the BBC in London and subsequently went on to study photojournalism at the London College of Printing. She’s worked as an investigative reporter with Independent Newspaper. Holt is now based in Kenya but photographs the effects of war in the DRC, Sudan, Zimbabwe, South Africa and other crisis zones worldwide. She recently worked for the Daily Mail and Financial Times, photographing US and UK military operations in Afghanistan.

The photographs from Mogadishu are the result of four trips to Somalia where Holt was living with AMISOM troops. "The support of AMISOM soldiers to the civilian population of Mogadishu, as the humanitarian situation has deteriorated, made a huge impression on me,” she explains. “I was contracted to document the work of AMISOM in its fight against Al-Shabaab but was struck more by the humanitarian side of their work. This collection of photographs is the result of nearly 12 months work and I hope does justice to the soldiers I had the privilege of working with."

It’s said that AMISOM troops live where they fight and fight where they live. The soldiers endure gruelling conditions in their genuine struggle to assist the innocent and Holt hopes to have portrayed their hard work in some of her photographs.

In throwing an exhibition for social awareness, especially regarding a subject matter so controversial and so overcooked, the African Union-United Nations Information Support Team (AU/UN-IST) has to be very particular about the information propagated. Along with the associated outgoing media, the images and text have to be powerful enough to conquer desensitization but mild enough so that no one goes home weak-stomached.

In acknowledging that there’s selectivity regarding what’s publicly displayed and, in having watched futile attempts at reconciliation since 1992 (when the Siad Barre regime was ousted in Somalia), it’s just human for visitors to wonder what’s really happening behind the scenes. Naturally, there’s more than meets the eye.

As the lives of up to 750,000 Somalis are threatened by the ongoing humanitarian crisis, one of the more striking photographs reveals a sprawl of orange plastic shelters, used as temporary accommodation for displaced people, usually those fleeing from extensive drought or violence in other parts of Somalia. It’s from the Badbado Camp and the photograph is a uniquely angled image of the squatters in the distance beneath and through an up-close image of an AMISOM machine-gun. It’s not startlingly inventive but it’s a good composition; high resolution, good colour and of course, thought provoking.

A sprawl of orange plastic shelters from the Badbado Camp : Image by Kate Holt

The image accomplishes the task of familiarizing you with the AMISOM agenda and it certainly compels you to question the realities of Mogadishu. Can there really be a fight for freedom? Will Somalia one day be free? If you’re the type to contemplate further and you might ask which is more natural, aggression or civility. Which is more normal, war or peace?

Delving deeper in to the issue, you might consider whether Somalia is an outlet for our latent desires. You may even start wondering whether an indoctrinated faction is trying to force courteousness on to the masses. "Is this an unnatural struggle for survival," you say. You mock the state for its ruthlessness or make fun of futile attempts made in the fight for peace. All this might change at the sight of certain other photographs.

The images with hints of the old city and concerned mothers waiting with their sick children change your frame of reference. Moving from photographs of soldiers in combat mode to innocent women and children in a shattered city, you’re transported from a state of infuriation to compassion and then as a consequence, may be even back to frustration. At the point you process an image of beautiful children shackled by the calamity, your line of questioning will most likely change. What can we do to get justice, to restore the state of Somalia?

Witnessing a photograph of AMISOM soldiers in conversation in front of the obliterated Al Aruba Hotel near the Mogadishu Seaport, you can’t help but notice how grand the hotel might have been before the its brutal destruction.In other photographs, you catch glimpses of mosques or temples and the exquisite Somali-Islamic architecture that mimics wonderful Mediterranean alleyways and white-stone houses.

As you start imagine the old Somalia in all its beauty, you appreciate that it takes a beautiful people to create an architectural landscape so compelling. Observing the distraught facial expressions of those caught in the catastrophe, you’re reminded again of the benevolent citizens that compose most of Somalia. You see that the kind and respectable of society have been at the mercy of smaller, more powerful factions. You realize that, at the hands of belligerent, corrupt rebels, a great city and civilization can indeed fall.

Despite the difficulty creating change in a country so maltreated, it’s fair to say that AMISOM is a well-intended undertaking that’s sincerely making a difference in the lives of many Somalis. Though most of the devastation may persist as a result of the magnitude of the crisis, and though some strategies can’t help but be part of a trial-error process, we’ve learned that through the more straightforward efforts such as providing clean water, foodstuffs and free medical treatment, the quality of life for many a civilian can be significantly restored while they wait for more long term plans to be executed.

In a tour of ‘Brothers in Arms’, you witness the result of greed, hostility and negligence in Mogadishu. You behold the struggle of piecing back what others have callously torn apart. From one photograph to another, the images taunt and tease you, playing games with your conscience. As you switch back and forth between having hope for a country that desperately needs it and being deeply disturbed by the merciless realities of war, you can’t help but contemplate one time old notion: There is no fight for freedom.

Zimbabwean Sculpture

2011-10-11T09:53:00.000-07:00

ZimArt is a project set up by Fran Fearnley over a decade ago and what she has managed to achieve worldwide is amazing. Here is a video of Zimbabwean Sculpture shown in Canada.

Hollie Cook | New Album

2011-10-11T05:27:00.000-07:00

This is a great album from a London based reggae singer, Hollie Cook.

Here is a wonderful gift from Hollie Cook, please download for FREE.

VENICE BIENNIALE 2011

2011-10-11T05:04:00.000-07:00

By Jean Loup Pivin & Pascal Martin Saint Leon, juin 2011

WE SPENT ARSENAL AND INTERNATIONAL PAVILION TO TAKE REFUGE IN NATIONAL PAVILIONS AND COLLATERAL EVENTS. THE VENICE BIENNIAL IS STILL A THOUSAND TIMES HERE.

Reflection in a mirror of Tintoretto's ceilings, Scuola Grande de San Rocco

If the Venice Biennale is always an event rich, plural, where everything is impossible to see and understand, to feel as it develops in each issue a little deeper into the city, it remains dominated by large exposures of Arsenal and the International Pavilion of the Giardini, whose curator is changing every time the master of the house. This year, Bice Curiger, art historian, founder and editor of famous Swiss American magazine Parkett . If these two exhibitions are rarely unanimous successes (this is the least we can tell), they nevertheless give the tone of a moment of creation in the world. Perhaps we expect too much? However if professionals from across the globe meet there, because it is a unique moment. And it is the immense quality of the Biennial, like Documenta, not only to do the largest exhibition in the world but especially the more open the world with the various national pavilions and various events "collateral" certainly the best and the worst above all an immense diversity of hundreds of perspectives.

Tintoretto, "The creation of the Animals" 1550-53, International Pavilion, Gardini

Bice Curiger up its manifestation titled "ILLUMInations" (enlightenment) as a classic theme in Venetian art, but also in reference to Arthur Rimbaud, Walter Benjamin for their interest in the reverie. The report to the plural identity of the multifaceted migrating artist, in an art exploring various forms of community beyond the nation, with the involvement of the spectator, benches "anti-art" and found a link with art called "classic" as says Bice Curiger. That is why she wanted to introduce his speech and exhibitions with a presentation of three works by Tintoretto Venetian (The Discovery of the Body of St. Mark 19562-66, the Last Supper 1592-94 and 1550-53 The Creation of Animals) that would be at the heart of the contemporary issue : the dark light, dramatic expression, the trace of the gesture of the artist - the strokes -, the movement given to the body, playing ... between realism and illusion, the visible and invisible, so contemporary!

Sculpture-paraffin by Urs Fischer, Arsenal

Of two major exhibitions of the Arsenal and the International Pavilion, which spread without sparingly on almost 10,000 m2 (unlike the very confined to national pavilions on only few hundred square meters), it is difficult to talk about the works as they are not very active with the generosity of speech Bice Curiger - indisputable (!) on the knowned and promising unknowned -.

Christoph Schlingensief, Germany Pavilion, Gardini

But later as we see and feel only what we see, it remains an empty feeling in this overflow thousands artworks with sometimes artificial smoke machines theater happen to be masked. And this mask is often repeatedly used for this edition, the art-work becomes richer, because it is not understandable, or even becomes invisible and the object of his own imagination or her own perception.

Andréas Erikson, Nothern Countries Pavilion, Gardini

Not that everyone is immune to often knowned works, that we follow and we love like those of Peter Fischli and David Weiss (geometric concrete blocks under a moon projected), David Goldblatt's photographs, silkscreened acrylics by Sigmar Polke, eclectic candles sculptures by Urs Fischer (the "Rape of the Sabine Women" in 1583 by Giovanni Bologna in front of a friend of the artist, the two life-size wax) that consume during the time of the Biennale or the video "Boloss" on immigrant French suburbs' clans by Mohamed Bourouissa, and a few others like the unbearable, unhealthy and disturbing sadomasochistic group Gelitin with his fascinating performance, relegated to the bottom of the garden, without physical or formal link with the main exhibition. Of course the number of works plays the role of proliferation of perspectives but the myopia of the visits give a sense of all that no work comes to dominate. It is the void, the hole, nothing, just the bitter taste of cold unfinish that the words become now only purpose can not compensate.

Hans Op de Beek (Belgique), Nouvel Arsenal

The awards of this 54th Venice Biennial are participating fully in this sense: what about the Grand Award to Sturtevant and his quotes - since 50 years - in the form of artwork that show how contemporary art but also modern art "may " bite the tail always to call itself and be helpless, "an anti-art. " In the same spirit the Special Mention at the very young Klara Lidén with its collection of used bins. We are really far from the initial discourse by Bice Curiger and can only say "Move along there is nothing to see."

Tabaimo, video "Teleco-Soup", Japan Pavilion, Gardini

If words can suffice to themselves, this should be essays, literature or poetry. But definitely not these scholarly references which might indicate that the words of art forms no longer need them involved. As if the intelligence of the eye could exist only in its transcription into words. When the words preceding works, the necessity of the work is denied. For up to the caricature, the form as illustration is not even about ... except that of the Ethiopian Gedewon the only artist under the current ritual art - art of devination - amidst all the hundreds of works under "contemporary art". Confrontation absurd and marginally justified.

Diohandi, Greece Pavilion, Gardini

Absurd and marginally confrontation, unjustifiable. In the extreme limit if this juxtaposition was biased and had repeated, we would have understood. And yet it was like in the debate now closed for "Magiciens de la Terre" (Magicians of the Earth) that Jean Hubert Martin has initiated in 1989. At the end of my tired feet rubbing on the concrete of the beautiful architecture of the Arsenal, no transport, no upheaval, no trouble if severe fatigue that only some of the pavilions and collateral events made it possible to erase.

Gelitin group, happening in the Gardini

If there is one trait that is common to all our enthusiasm, it was the constancy of the "staging" as a work and / or of the work: no work without walking to lose his eyes, feet, his head and often her ears :
— As the Austrian Pavilion with Markus Schinwald picture walls turning you into ass bowl, head in the sky of the great white geometric panels that punctuate some sculptures and a few small portraits in the manner of the Flemish School (and two videos as endpoints) ;
— The Greek Pavilion by Diohandi that covers the neo-classical building of rough boards that only one slot open to the public and the visitors walk into the void with a quiet surface of water only crossed by a geometric, again, path feeling harmony, solitude ;
— the Luxembourg Pavilion by Martine Feipel and Jean Bechameil halfway between the haunted house of Disney and symbolic and poetic Jean Cocteau stages create a magic moment of self and humor ;
— the German Pavilion by Christoph Schlingensief is indeed a tribute to the artist died in 2010: the ambiguity of the church and its altar, pews for the audience, with music of Wagner while projections on the side walls multiply the facets of the work of the deceased ;
— the Nordic countries Pavilion where the paint-paint bleak Andreas Erikson reasserts itself in the geometry - again - perfect for both volumes of soil than the most beautiful architecture Giardini ;
— out side in the city, the Singapore Pavilion with Ho Tzu Nyen and a very disturbing work, "The Cloud of Unknowing" (see on Home page), a video associated with an installation featured the many worlds of the inhabitants of a building extending them in fiction reinventing the aesthetic criteria : existing elements become fiction. Here we are at the heart of Baroque Tintoretto.
— the Mexico Pavilion disturbance by an heavy instalation by Melanie Smith around their video of the modern concrete ruin in the elementary forest ("Xilitla-Incidents of Misalignment "showing the folly garden of Edward James). We plunges into the unknown.
— Inside an exhibition of the New Arsenal, "One of a Thousand to Defeat Entropy", an installation by Hans Of de Beek (Belgium) invits you into the gray dust covering an apocalyptic world living only by the fountain seeying from an abandoned apartment (too narrative?)
— the Japan Pavilion with an installation-video designed by Tabaimo projects "teleco-soup" drowning in a mirror at the feet of visitors. He don't hesitate to draw a direct reference to the comic strip / cartoon and popular aesthetics;
— and finally at the French party in the Palace School of Music Benedetto Marcello, the little humble and charming journey of Christian Boltanski in the light, music and smoke that we prefer to his bombastic and mechanistic installation in the French Pavilion.

In the general feeling among the salient but not systematic points, the continued use of "geometry" as the basis of modernity in the cases cited here, is not related to "infinity" of repetition that the geometry provides but to its "finishing". Paradox to say that this is not the architecture of current functionalist and rationalist international endlessly multiplying a base module, which Le Corbusier was part (except when he designed and builded churches or houses). Not here every time, forms operate in the fullness of their "finishing", their geometry will not receive more than one lign. As against the infinite be part of the finish of the geometric shape like the forms fed by the extreme eastern philosophies.

Christian Boltanski, staging of the Music Scool Benedetto Marcello

Apart from the use of staging and geometry, the third mark of this Biennial is the use of popular images — always — of fair, circus, cinema (don't forget that cinema was showed first in popular lunaparks and remains a popular consumer imaging) and comics, inexhaustible sources that reach everyone in the immediacy with their violence at one end and at the other end their nostalgia and sometimes their poetry. Reference to knowned who will stun — physically—, amaze, dazzle.

Then the tics becoming tiresome classic contemporary art as the "out of scale" of the wellknowned object (including Jeff Koons works, entirely absent here except in Pinault Collection) and puts it into abyss over its meaning and function, by concentrating its image. Similarly, the political commitment in its first degree where the art "denounces" shaped becoming empty slogans, or seen from afar. This denunciation is more incantatory, the artist utters the outside of the country concerned, while the artists on site find other ways to tell by the shape (like the dramatic treatment of the landscape in China in the 1990s ). And finally the repetition that seems to fade over the past two bienniales.

Continue in spite of their Pavilions that nationalism is to be obsolete, however, were carriers of a relationship to art sometimes quite conventional, but often with surprising strong artistic choices under a freedom which gave breath to the air of the lagoon. The African continent, out of its continental representation (the first one in 2007 with the first Pavilion of Africa curated by Fernando Alvim and Simon Njami) was present as never has been with the 4 national Pavilions of Zimbabwe, Haiti and South Africa, but also of Congo (not visited). The first three were engaged in a selection may appear shifted as they want to offer quantity of works and artists, while the Pavilions of the great countries only choose one artist and one strong work. What has approached South Africa with a powerful work by Mary Sibande very politically engaged. But in these countries, it is understandable that the lack of international visibility of national artists - unlike Europe or the USA and now China and India - can be compensated only by taking this large broad choicing this unique opportunity.

Venice, a city museum offers hundreds of other events as a major monographic exhibition by Julian Schnabel at the Museo Correr, the now usual contemporary inclusions in the magical Palace (as always falling apart) Fortuny, and two exhibitions at the Palazzo Grassi and Punta de Dogana showing the full power of dozens of foundations located in Venice. Most of these historic sites have been recently reworked here by Tadeo Ando, there by Foster as the Foundation Vedova with two special exhibitions for the Biennial - Kieffer and In Continuum. These "collateral" contemporary exhibitions have not only a great quality but also unprecedented spread over thousands of square meters, taking the time and the look of each one. Exhibitions of the Pinault Foundation had the advantage or disadvantage to show number of pieces acquired in the last Venice Bienniale 2009. Like what it is the market that make many collectors around the world flocked to Venice overwhelmed with so much money. This magic moment of worldliness to look like a work in itself, as the soft disgust accompanied by enthusiasm driven by the circulation of rumors. For the better openings and the dozens of parties — in four nights (!) — also make the Venice Biennale. To be informed, be invited to board or be welcomed is a game for those who like that. And there are many. Admittedly, this happens often in palaces and places like the incredible evening of Israeli Pavilion / South Africa Goodman Gallery / Paris Kamel Menours Gallery to Scuola Grande di San Rocco in a madness of paintings and frescoes by Tintoretto - again and again - who gives flesh and the spiritual in art that might suggest to have lost. Thus returning to the starting point of the new Venice Biennale.

Jean loup Pivin & Pascal Martin Saint Leon, juin 2011

PS: Funny flipping through the catalog to see the hierarchy given in the enunciation of national pavilions stakeholders: first the name of the commissioner and then commissioner of those assistants and those "fans" (galleries, sponsors, institutions) and finally (it's not too late) the name of the artist !

Berry Bickle | Peter Hermann Gallery

2011-10-11T04:53:00.001-07:00

Exhibition Opening: Sunday October 9th, 2011 from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM

The opening will be attended by Berry Bickle and Raphael Chikukwa, curator of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and of the Zimbabwe Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

The exhibition will run until November 13th, 2011.

Suite Europa Nr. 12

We will show two photographic series, Suite Europa and Dual Narratives, along with two films, Ze… and On the Wire. In honor of Berry Bickle’s inclusion in the Zimbabwe Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, we will offer a more pointed presentation of her work.

The artist first gained recognition in Germany when she participated in the international travelling exhibition Africa Remix, which began in Düsseldorf. She went on to make guest appearances at the ifa-Galerie in Berlin and Stuttgart with Rencontres Africaines de la Photographie.

Bickle has exhibited in numerous group and solo shows around the world. The video On the Wire, which features Maputo as its backdrop, won the Jury Prize at the Bamako Biennale in 2009. Ze…is a conversation between the artist and Zimbabwe itself; recently shown in Venice, it will now be shown in Berlin.

The photo series Suite Europa takes East Germany and found image templates of Berlin as its starting point. It is being shown for the first time and was conceived specifically for this exhibition. The second series, Dual Narratives, begins by referring to well-known Italian landscape photographer Pietro Pensa, but achieves its own unique interpretations via image editing and processing. In both series, the artist deals with history and a fascination with historical fragments.

Berry Bickle was born in 1959 in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Today, she lives and works in Maputo, Mozambique. She studied Fine Art at the Durban Institute of Technology and at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa.

The Battle for Abidjan

2011-10-11T04:06:00.000-07:00

By Emily Pacey

Source: Design Week | http://www.designweek.co.uk/home/blog/the-battle-for-abidjan/3027672.article

Although much art is conceived from turmoil and suffering, little perhaps as directly so as the work of Ivorian artist Aboudia Abdoulaye Diarrassouba, whose first solo show in the UK opens this week.

His large-scale, busy, Basquait-esque works are the product of the horrors of a country plagued by the bloody conflict of civil war.

By Aboudia Abdoulaye Diarrassouba

The Ivorian presidential election late last year sparked widespread riots, plunging the Ivory Coast capital, Abidjan, into chaos and the resulting Civil War that broke out in March.

During this period, the artist - holed up in his basement studio - created a series of works in direct response to the horrific violence around him.

Djoly by Aboudia Abdoulaye Diarrassouba

The vibrant, vigorous works document the conflict in brave brushstrokes; melding innocence with despair in child-like depictions of armed soldiers, skulls and a war-torn urban landscape.

Warpainting by Aboudia Abdoulaye Diarrassouba

Warpainting shows eerie skull figures clutching guns, staring out from the canvas at the viewer with a menace that belies the innocent-seeming daubs and mark making. Numbers and letters merge into a viscerally painted background to create a disquieting, violent surge of energy and confusion. His 2011 untitled work sees distorted figures set against police cars, abstract shapes and inset-like icons to form a disquieting flurry of marks.

The God by Aboudia Abdoulaye Diarrassouba

Diarrassouba’s influences range from as disparate elements as his direct surroundings and neighbourhood to media adverts to comics, using these to build up multi-layered images of an environment in disarray, torn apart by brutality and violence.

By Aboudia Abdoulaye Diarrassouba

The Battle For Abidjan - Paintings By Aboudia Abdoulaye Diarrassouba runs from June 22 – September 1, at Jack Bell Gallery, 276 Vauxhall Bridge Road London SW1V.

'Beauty Beyond Ego': A Tribute to Rural African Women

2011-10-11T03:53:00.000-07:00

Gallery Watatu presents master photographer Giulio d’Ercole in his lyrical ode to the women of Africa in 'Beauty Beyond Ego', showing from Sunday October 16th – October 30th 2011. You are invited to attend the opening day, Sunday October 16th, 2011 at 2pm. The guest of honour shall be Hanna Grapinski , Polish Ambassador.

The beauty of rural African women in Beauty Beyond Ego

About Giulio D’Ercole
Giulio D’Ercole is a photographer and filmmaker born in Rome, Italy in 1961. Since 1989 Giulio works internationally in TV, Film and Media production. In 2003 he came to Kenya and, captivated by the unique and unprecedented interplay of the social and geographical features of this region of the world, decided to found his own media company, Canvas Africa Productions.

Through his work Giulio witnesses and documents the living history of Africa. Canvas Africa Productions is entirely devoted to producing photography and documentaries on humanitarian projects, social issues but most of all people and their lives.
Giulio D’Ercole has since worked with a number of major UN Agencies and NGOs. He has already successfully exhibited his work at the Italian Institute of Culture, RaMoma, Le Rustique, Alliance Francaise, the American Embassy etc. His photographs have been published in several humanitarian publications and by the prestigious New York Times Lens. His collection “Life in Lake Turkana” is now shown at the Biennale di Venezia 2011.

Rural African Women – Beauty Beyond Ego
"With this exhibition I would like to pay a special and self-standing tribute to Rural African Women. The value of this collection is not only in its photographic value, but mainly in the subjects portrayed.There is a beauty in rural African Women that goes beyond what we normally think beauty is, beyond the egocentric concept of looks, appearance and even beyond the concept of inner beauty," he says.

He continues, "It is a beauty that lies in lives that have been forced to deny themselves the most basic pleasures and human rights, and go through life suffering its hardship: forced marriages, forced pregnancies, forced labor, rapes, abandonments, discrimination and finally the fading out into a most insecure old age, when, maybe, they will finally experience at least the joy of grandchildren playing around them."

"And yet these women are still able to donate smiles, looks, openness that can leave an eternal mark in those who can see these gifts. And I am not talking here about the ridiculous myth of the bon sauvage. No, I am talking of a beauty going beyond what we know or what we are used to, because this beauty includes all sorts of layers: tenderness, motherhood, sensuality, joy, sadness, curiosity, shyness, pride, humility, submissiveness and yet power: The power of infinite femininity at the rawest and most natural, pure level."

"A power even stronger because unused, unexploited, forgotten. Their beauty is a miracle that does not serve anybody, does not benefit anybody, it is not enhanced, distorted or hidden by any make up or coquetry. It is not reflected in any mirror, simply because most often then not they don’t possess mirrors in their homes. The Ego here is gone. It is forgotten."
"That is why when I show them the back of my camera and they see themselves in the LCD, they laugh out loudly turning their heads, and then, excited, pointing again at the small screen, amazed not by their looks but by finding themselves captured in such a small thing."

"….And amazingly they thank me, as if it was me giving them a gift and not the other way around."

For more inquiries, please contact:
Gallery Watatu Ltd,
Tel: + 254 20 2024857
Lonrho House, Mezzanine Floor
P.O. Box 41855, Nairobi, Kenya.

Race Matters, Equal Rites and Women's Hair in the works of Michael D. Harris

2011-10-11T03:43:00.000-07:00

By A. M. Weaver

Upon examining Michael D. Harris’ works, I realized they were like pages from a memoir. His imagery is analytic and sleek in design, yet there is a quality of sentiment about them. Harris watching his girls grow-up realized treatment of their hair marked the transition of years. His observations of women in particular and their hair are pivotal aspects to the oeuvre presented in his exhibition, Equal Rites. A presentation delineating rights of passage, civil rights and rituals that mark a transition and a specific point of time in a life.

'Rootscape' by Michael D Harris

Race matters in Harris’ works as he explores the various hues of blackness in What Are You?: For Colored Girls Who Are Cornered, 2008. The Blackberry, 2008 portrait takes a racialized epithet about color and explores its ramifications in sequential filtered images of a dark girl’s smile. It is obvious that color is an issue even in 2011.

Harris is caught between worlds here trying to mitigate the color line within the black community. “What are you…” raises the question of origin or hue in its diversity--Atlantan; Ethiopian; Brazilian; Irish African American; Californian; Jamaican, Scotch, Puerto Rican; African American" , while Blackberry singles out the adage “ Blacker the berry….” that is all too well known and may reinforce the stereotype associated with darker women. Her story has yet to be told in full—the weight of it and anguish.

Harris gives his black “Mona Lisa” a half smile, yet her eyes are eliminated from the frame and the focus in on her broad nose and full mouth - the mouth, the lips coveted and at the same time ridiculed. This is a woman of a certain age not an Aunt Jemima type, but a dark-skinned woman whose plight has been explored, in part, through the writings of bell hooks and Michelle Wallace.
Bill Duke and D. Channsin Berry’s recent documentary about dark African American women is a compilation of sorrowful tales of rejection and self-loathing. It nearly brought me to tears hearing my darker sisters telling their stories out loud. At least Harris gives his dark lady a smile in the midst of so much pain.

I collect stories of black girls and can attest to my mother’s stoicism, Barbara Chase Riboud’s lament when her Great grandmother murmured “too dark” as the absolute wound, Miss B’s aggression and attitude of a conquistador when it comes to men, and Nina Simon’s Peaches. No black woman remains unscathed when it comes to color; remember the tragic mulatto and the women of medium hue, who are perceived as stepping stones.

The beautifully filtered portraits in Color Struck serve as signifiers/markers of attitudes shaped and molded in slavery. Willie Lynch proclaimed in 1712 to a group of Virginia slave holders, “I HAVE A FULL PROOF METHOD FOR CONTROLLING YOUR BLACK SLAVES. I guarantee every one of you that, if installed correctly, IT WILL CONTROL THE SLAVES FOR AT LEAST 300 HUNDREDS YEARS…” We have suffered in the aftermath.

Harris toys with these signs and elements of word play and a tongue in cheek stance are at times apparent. Does he offer a salve or provide a mirror reflecting a caste system that we are slowly overcoming? In the work “Kevin”, Harris professes to engage irony by incorporating the 1918 cover of sheet music by Harry Carroll, “They’ll be Mighty Proud in Dixie of Their Old Black Joe” - a minstrel tune reflecting the alleged patriotic sentiment of blacks during World War I.

The irony in "Kevin" by Michael D. Harris

Next to the tract are a large yellow filtered image of the artistKevin Cole and the text “Post Black”. Juxtaposed on the left is Kevin’s solarized portrait aligned with smaller snapshots of progressive and iconic images of blacks and the word Black in parenthesis. How will black audiences read the dichotomy? Is this billboard-like work successful in offering a critique of what is considered post black? Or does it feed into the mines laid byMichael Ray Charles and Kara Walker!

All this refers back to Harris’ book “Colored Pictures”, which started as an essay and evolved into a manuscript published in 2003. A confluent exchange with Ken Goings, a history professor at Ohio State University, whose publications include Mammy and Uncle Moses: Black Collectibles and American Stereotyping (1994), was a catalyst to Harris’ investigations in prose and graphic form of black stereotypes. These works intended for black audiences serve as cathartic devices and are infused with diagnostic and personal responses to being black in America.

About Harris
Starting as a painter, Harris received his MFA from Howard University in 1979 and more recently, shifted to photography as a means to construct a virtual studio. He lost his actual studio space in 2000. Prior to that his signature work was based on mixed media shrines and constructions, this led to the creation of reliquaries using paint and photography.

A seminal work, Shaman: Seso the Prophet, 2011, is indicative of this style. Modern day altars for contemporary living, “Shaman” incorporates a large portrait in golden tones of the poet Anthony Fudge, who wrote a book based on the idea of a spiritual journey. Obviously shared thoughts and life challenges are implied; Harris and Fudge have been friends for forty years.
Below the portrait is a triangular chest of drawers that resembles a large metronome. There are spear-like extensions that protrude from the sides of the structure and at the base the entire unit sits on sculpted equid hoofs. Minimal in its presentation, this work has a futuristic edge marking the passage of time - a conceptual testament to a visionary. Harris’ Imagery is personal and evokes an intimacy, documenting people that he knows, and alluding to places that he’s been.
A collaged and painted work on Barbados is representative of his travels to the island and the quest to render paradise in a tangible realistic way. Removing its inscription of fantasy giving it a history rooted in slavery and representing generations of lives lived there through photographs and antique post cards, he states “I use a creative voice, giving pictorial credence to my familial and personal experiences”. Thus marking his innumerable trips to the Caribbean and Africa and poignant commentary on African American issues and culture.

Several of his series feature women, yet his take is not a voyeuristic one, but a view that implies an intimate understanding and regard. I asked Harris if he was a feminist; he chuckled lightly and we engaged in a discussion on feminine percepts as evidenced in the work of Betye Saar, Renee Stout, Alison Saar and Marie Johnson.

Woman’s Hair
His hair-based series began in 2004; this fascination with all types of black hair feeds into his philosophy that a woman’s hair and or hairstyle communicates her history. Rootscape equates dreadlocks and a free style ponytail with the branches and exposed roots of mangrove trees from Barbados. The care of black hair is a multi-billion dollar industry in the US and I would imagine a substantial enterprise anywhere where black women are.

However, let’s not underestimate the importance of hair in American culture at large. It is a huge issue brunette vs. blond and the warring factions continue. In reference to African American women it’s a matter of full luxurious locks and length. For the B-Girls, the Rapunzel look is all the rave and with older women the weave, curly and straight hair are options. I can’t get over how black women finger and sweep hair that isn’t theirs in such a self assured and alluring manner; I guess a gesture served with attitude is all that matters.

Harris tends to use the deadlocked woman’s hair as a metaphor for cultural roots. He literally contrasts locks with tree roots. And adorns the hair in the piece Oshun with feathers, beads and butterfly to symbolically represent the qualities of that deity. “Oshun”, a bricolaged triptych, represents the three wives, of the Yoruba God of thunder and iron Shango, Oba, Oshun, considered the principal wife and Oya.

Incorporated in the work is a handcrafted fan which suggests theabebe of Oshun. An antique chest of drawers laden with emblems associated with Oshun includes gift-wrapped packages a mirror, candles, soap and vitrines. Oshun is the epitome of feminine beauty and harmony and considered the mother of all. A goddess, associated with the Oshogbo River, whose place in the pantheon of Yoruba orishas was one of the original 16 Irunmole and only female to be sent from the spirit realm by Olodumare (the supreme God) to create the world.

Harris makes use of an additive process. His layered accumulation of paint, marks such as, Amharic script, collage and found objects on photographs, presented within a conceptual framework is subtle and direct. Harris has found a way to mediate between the private and the public, masculine and feminine, giving glimmers into his psyche and should I say “soul”. Harris charts the journey of a life, its struggles, challenges, quest for knowledge and spiritual fulfillment through his graphic insignia—photographs, installations and paintings—publications and innumerable lectures.

As a scholar, Harris makes use of every aspect of his studies and cultural analysis from his fieldwork in Ile Ife Nigeria and travels abroad to academic exposés on contemporary art. Worlds based on antiquity to living practices are explored in his three and two dimensional works. He bridges cultures from an Afrocentric perspective to construct syncretic paradigms.
His knowledge of Yoruba culture and Ifa divination is indicated in his selection of materials and clearly evident the installations Oshunand Shaman. His use of photography, a modernist design sensibility and subsequent forays in film place him on the vanguard of contemporary trajectories in a post black and post post modernist era.
In an epoch marked by pluralism, Harris capitalizes on the profusion of mixed means of expression. As a cultural broker, Harris’s autobiographical articulations are poignant displays of an Africanist and member of the 40 year old movement, AfriCobra, who revives and continues practices that are a part of a contemporary vocabulary inherent in work by many African American artists.

About the Writer:
A. M. Weaver, independent curator and art journalist, resides in Philadelphia, PA. She is currently working on several projects involving sculpture, photography and film from a feminist perspective. She continues to document the work of contemporary women artists and artists of color.

Heritage at The Biennial of Art and Culture of Sao Tome and Principe.

2011-10-11T03:34:00.000-07:00

Press Release | Cultural Association Biennial of Sao Tome and Principe

The Biennial of Art and Culture of Sao Tome and Principe began in 1995 because of one man, João Carlos Silva's dream and perseverance. Organized by the Cultural Association Biennial of Sao Tome and Principe, its purpose is to promote the artistic community of Sao Tome and Principe and its connection with the world.

Heritage is clearly visible in Olavo Amado's Feira

After a break of seven years, the second edition took place in 2002. But it is in 2008, on its fifth edition, that the Biennial faced a turning point and resized its objectives.

If the fifth Biennial was to "Share Territories", promoting knowledge, dialogue and openness in various areas and latitudes, the sixth Biennial will focus on "Heritage(s)" to enable and enrich territories as well as to consolidate the shared beginnings.

The sixth edition will happen between 1st and 30th November 2011, being the second phase of the project started in 2008, and that established a time of consolidation and affirmation of the biennial, with the curatorial orientation of Adelaide Ginga.

The sixth Biennial programme includes an international exhibition of contemporary visual arts called Heritage(s) - Encounters and Intersections, which will be based on artistic residences; an exhibition centred on architectural heritage by the name Roças of Sao Tome and Príncipe; and Roça Língua a project about Portuguese linguistic universe and heritage.

Alongside there will be other cultural activities, conferences, a documentary and film cycle about Africa and its heritage(s), a homage to the artist Almada Negreiros, two projects of photography in public spaces about Tchiloli, workshops and educational ateliers, as well as entertainment events that value traditional performing arts.

A cor da feira-Olavo Amado

The Biennial aims to confirm Sao Tome and Principe in the international cultural community, placing special emphasis in the articulation with the African countries of Central and Southern region and, in particular, its relation to the CPLP (Community of Portuguese-Language Countries).
Among the artists in the international exhibition of contemporary art include: (in residence)
César Schofield (Cape Verde), Emeke Okereke to confirm (Nigeria), Flaviano Mindela (Guinea-Bissau), Ihosvanny Cineros (Angola), Izoe ( East Timor), João Bosco ( East Timor), João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva (Portugal), José Spaniol (Brazil), Lucas Grandin (France), Maimuna Adam (Mozambique), Mário Macilau (Mozambique), Misheck Masamvu (Zimbabwe) and Samba Fall to confirm (Senegal).
From São Tomé and Principe:
Adilson Castro, Eduardo Mahlé, Geane Castro, Ismael Sequeira, Estanislau Neto, Katita Dias, Kwame Sousa, Olavo Amado, René Tavares and Valdemar Dória.

About The Curator : Adelaide Ginga
Adelaide Ginga is a curator and conservator at the National Museum of Contemporary Art - Museu do Chiado, in Lisbon. Previously she was sub director in the Institute of Arts of the Portuguese Ministry of Culture, having, among other responsibilities, the coordination of the international area. Adelaide directed the representations of Portugal in the Biennial of Visual Arts and Architecture in Venice and Sao Paulo, from 2001 to 2007, and the Prague Quadrennial of Scenography and Theatre Architecture in 2007.

She is graduated in Art History from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Nova University of Lisbon; and did her Masters in Modern History from the same institution, with a thesis on "The Surreal Adventure" that was awarded with Victor de Sá prize. She also has a Masters in Curating and Exhibition Organisation from the Fine Arts Faculty of Lisbon / Fundation Calouste Gulbenkian.

Adelaide has done incredible work in the area of scientific research, historiography as well as artistic curatorial work.

About The Coordinator : João Carlos Silva

Joao Carlos Silva was born in Angolares, Sao Tome in 1956. He studied in Sao Tome and Principe, Angola and Portugal, where he attended the Law School in Coimbra University. He practiced journalism and art in Lisbon. He founded CIAC and Teia d´Arte in Sao Tome and has participated in several group exhibitions of fine arts in Sao Tome and abroad.
Currently, he directs the Integrated Project for Development of Roça São João and has been coordinating the Art and Culture Biennial of Sao Tome and Principe since 1995. He has as well presented the television program "Na Roça com os Tachos" and "Sal na Língua" produced by RTP.
He has also authored the books “Na roça com os Tachos” and “Façam o favor de ser felizes”.

For more information, please contact:
Patrícia Corrêa,
Assistant Curator and Press Office.
Tel. +351 912872843.
Email: bienal.sao.tome.principe@gmail.com
Skype: pfvcorrea

'South Is The New North' – The Shift Towards Contemporary African Art

2011-10-11T03:26:00.000-07:00

By a Correspondent from AfricanColours

A geological theory called “The Shift" predicts that a shift on earth’s polarity occurs every 65 million years. At the end of each period, earth’s magnetic poles invert. North becomes South and South becomes North.

'South Is The New North' : A group exhibition of African Contemporary Art

OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) was founded in 1961 and grouped high-income economies with a high ‘Human Development Index’, regarded as developed countries.

Since 2007 the organization has been trying to get five of the largest “peripheral” countries: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa to join. From the 1960’s perspective, it wouldn’t be expected that any of these countries would ever be invited to join the organization. Interestingly, since 2007, none of them to want to.

None of the now called E-5 (enhanced engagement) countries has comparable income to the “rich countries”. They did however grow enough to become important players in world’s economy. In 2009, for the first time since 1880, OECD countries amount to less than 50% of the world’s GNP. In the 80’s they represented 60% of the world’s economy and it is estimated that this share will continue to drop (44% in 2014 according to the IMF).

OECD now believes the organization simply “won’t be relevant” without the participation of these countries.

African Contemporary Art
Along with Asian and South American art, African Contemporary Art is ‘hot’ these days. With a growing middle class and successful corporations all over the continent, Africans have started to look into (their) art both as a symbol of status and as an investment.
Increasing international exposure and circulation also placed African artists on the map for contemporary art collectors. But where did this all come from? Is contemporary art in Africa a recent phenomenon?

Focusing on the 1990 – 2010 period, ‘South Is The New North’ aims to spark the discussion and to show that contemporary art from Africa has been in the news since (at least) the 90’s.

‘South Is The New North – African Contemporary Art’A Group Show featuring Painting, Sculpture, Photography & Video
at Influx Contemporary Art, Portugal

17 September - 29 October 2011, Thursday to Saturday, 14h - 18h

For more information, please contact;

Influx Contemporary Art,
Rua Fernando Vaz, 20 B,
1750-108 Lisbon - Portugal.
Tel: + 351 91 850 1234
Email: info@influxcontemporary.com
www.influxcontemporary.com

The Hamon Foundation

2011-10-11T02:15:00.001-07:00

The Harmon Foundation

Introduction

The contemporary art of Africa eludes generalized description. Artists have utilized various mediums, from oils to silk screening, and methods varying from brass casting by the ancient lost wax process to welding tin cans and other metals into sculpture. Traditionalists like Lamidi Fakeye produce sculpture and wood carvings based on classical African designs. A larger group works in the more modern styles of cubism, expressionism, and surrealism, while others seek a purely personal style. Many African artists were trained at European and American schools; others feel that they can achieve truly African expression only in their native surroundings. In Nigeria, for example, the national artistic tradition is strong and pervasive, even though obscured by the effects of European colonialism and Christian and Moslem religious zeal. In many other countries, traditional art very nearly succumbed under these forces. Thus a contemporary artwork is classified as African purely on the basis of the artist's nationality, rather than according to a peculiar style, subject, purpose, or medium.

The Harmon Foundation, a nonprofit, private foundation active from 1922 to 1967, helped foster an awareness of African art. Although its initial projects were funding parks and playgrounds and providing student loans, the foundation's flexible structure lent itself to support for a wide range of activities, including art. The foundation's interest in contemporary African art grew rather spontaneously. Its initial contact with Africa came through three series of motion pictures commissioned by the foundation in the 1930's on native life and tribal customs and the work of Christian missions in Africa. Although art was not selected as a focal point, the films depicted a culture built around folkcrafts; houses, furnishings, cooking utensils, and clothing were all handcrafted from local materials. Art, in a broad sense, had always been an integral part of African life. By the mid-1940s a few artists, aware of the films and the foundation's work with black American artists and anxious to create a market for their artworks in the United States, began sending their work to the New York offices. General interest was slow to develop. Connoisseurs of art seemed to see the African work not as serious, creative effort, but as sociological commentary on modern Africa. This view became particularly apparent in 1950, when the foundation had difficulty finding an established gallery for an exhibit by Ben Enwonwu, a leading Nigerian artist whose work had been successfully shown in England.

As a result of these early experiences, a strong relationship developed between the African artists, the foundation, and the American art community. More and more artists became aware of the foundation as a contact point and more frequently shipped artworks to the United States for exhibit and sale. The foundation became conscious of the substantial lack of appreciation for contemporary African art and of its own potential role in promoting intercultural understanding. By 1967 it was well established as a liaison between the artists and interested groups. With the cooperation of the Merton Simpson Gallery in New York and a few university galleries, it arranged several one-man shows and numerous general exhibits. After 6 years of research, it published "Africa's Contemporary Art and Artists", a descriptive compilation of artists in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, the staff collected black and white prints and color slides of nearly 2,500 artworks. The Harmon Foundation's role had mushroomed from a latent, remote interest to leadership in the field of contemporary African art.

When the foundation ended its activities in 1967, it donated to the National Archives its entire collection of motion pictures, filmstrips, color slides, and black and white prints and negatives on a variety of subjects. The following selection, arranged alphabetically by name of artist, from the "Artworks by African Artists" series, is a representative sample of the work of some of the artists in the collection. An inclusive list of artists in this series is available upon request.

Many photographs from the Harmon Foundation are not listed in this leaflet. Separate inquiries about other photographs should be as specific as possible listing names, dates, places, events, and other details.

List of Works

* Asterisks following artwork titles indicate those which are available in color as well as black and white.

Abossolo, Martin (Cameroon)

Dancer No. 1,* oil (1965).
Pensive,* oil.
Tom-Tom Player No.1,* oil (1965).

Abubakar, Fatma Abdullah (Tanzania)

Egrets, oil.
Feeding Monkeys,* oil.

Addo-Osafo, Emmanuel (Ghana)

The Coming of the Ashanti Golden Stool, linocut?
The Great Whip, print.
The Orange Seller, linocut or woodcut.

Afolabi, Jacob (Nigeria)

Ahmed, Taj S.M. (Sudan)

Interior with Sarcophagus,* lithograph (1962).
Ottoman Khedive,* oil.
Suzannah and the Elders,* oil.

Akeredolu, Justus, D. (Nigeria)

Boy balancing on one hand,* thorn carving (sculpture carved from the thorn of the wild cotton tree).
Bust of Nigerian girl,* thorn carving.
Farmer cutting bush,* thorn carving.
Hands holding six carvings, showing relative size,* thorn carving.
Woman grinding pepper with baby on back,* thorn carving.

Akolo, Jimo B. (Nigeria)

Dancing Figure,* color print with etching.
Mural, Northern House of Assembly, Kano (?), Nigeria (1964).
Pilate Washing Hands and Feet,* color print (1964).

Antubam, Kofi (Ghana)

An Akan Mother and Child,* watercolor (1947).
Woman Grinding Corn,* watercolor

Ballaa, Yousif Ahmed El (Sudan)

Landscape at Khor Taqqat, oil (1958).
Mabrouka Boardinghouse, oil (1955).
Self-Portrait, oil (1959).

Bedawi, Hassan (Sudan)

Eggz,* watercolor (1965).
New York Landscape,* oil on board (1965).
Tension,* watercolor (1962).
Village,* watercolor.

Boghossian, Alexander (Skunder) (Ethiopia)

Bird No. 1, welded metal sculpture.
Cave-Bird and the Lantern,* watercolor (1964).
Hanging Figure, welded metal sculpture.
Heavenly Enlightenment,* gouache (1964).
Illumination No. 1,* pen and ink (1964).
Jeune Fille Assise* (young girl seated), oil (1961).
Le Marche* (the market), oil (1960).
Primogenetive Fissure,* watercolor (1964).
Self-Portrait,* watercolor (1961)
The Musician, watercolor (1961).
The Umbrella,* gouache? (1961).
Twilight Braves,* watercolor (1964).

Bokoko, Rene (Congo)

Return from Fishing,* gouache?
The Crocodile Hunt,* watercolor.
The Forest, II,* gouache?

Bucknor, Arthur J. E. (Ghana)

Chief from the North,* pastel (1966).
Chieftaincy,* gouache (1959).
Ghanaian Seascape,* gouache (1958).

Bulu, John Barbor (Liberia)

Street of Thatched Huts,* oil.

Buluma, Mordecai (Uganda)

Man with Bulldog in the Evening,* serigraph.
The Abandoned Hut,* oil.
The Market Place,* serigraph (1960).

Burney-Nichol, Miranda (Sierra Leone)

Child Reading, oil.
Child with food,* section of mural in Children's Hospital (1961).
Steadfast, oil.

Chingono, Francis (Zimbabwe)

From the River, carved wood panel.
Madonna of the Divine, wood sculpture.
Man Collecting Gold Dust, wood sculpture.

Chinouya, R. (Zimbabwe)

Goats,* watercolor,

Clarke, Peter (South Africa)

African Figure,* stencil print (1958).
In the Wind, linocut (1961).
Man with White Cock, linocut (1959).
Workers in the Sun,* gouache (1960).
That Evening Sun Goes Down,* gouache (1960).

Dartey E. Owusu (Ghana)

A Cottage,* watercolor.
A Game in Ghana,* oil.
Compound Interest,* watercolor and pen and ink.
I Am Tired,* oil.
Mamudu* (the laborer), watercolor (1964).
Snow,* watercolor (1964).
The Queen,* watercolor.
The Truant,* watercolor.
Unity,* watercolor.

Desta, Gebra Kristos (Ethiopia)

Hausfrau, oil (1961).
Homecoming, oil (1961).

Enwaku, Washington (Uganda)

Crested Cranes, lithograph.

Enwonwu, Ben (Nigeria)

Dancing Figure, ebony sculpture.
Dogari,* oil (1949).
Father and Son,* fruitwood sculpture.
Fulani Girl of Rupp,* oil(1949).
Head of Hausa,* gouache(1958).
Head of Yoruba Girl,* Indian wood sculpture.
Man with Banana Leaf,* oakwood sculpture.
Nkatamuo,* elmwood sculpture.
Waterside Scene,* gouache (1950).

Fakeye, Lamidi (Nigeria)

A Priest of Oro,* carved wood panel.
Annunciation of the Angel to Mary, carved wood panel.
God of Thunder,* wood sculpture.

Grillo, Yusuf Adebayo (Nigeria)

Yoruba Bride,* oil on board.

Hadi, Hassan El (Sudan)

Endeavor, ink and wash.
Forms,* gouache.

Idah (Nigeria)

Hunter with Animal on His Head,* wood sculpture.
Medicine Man, carved wood panel.
Woman As Warrior, carved wood panel.

Idehen, Festus Omo (Nigeria)

Musician,* ebony sculpture.

Kalanzi, Yonansani (Uganda)

The Artist, oil.
The Beer Seller, oil.

Keita (Sierra Leone)

Portrait or Mask,* oil on canvas board.

Khalil, Mohammed Omer (Sudan)

Nude,* oil.
Movimiento Verde,* oil.
Reflections from the World's Fair, etching (1965).
The Chalk Garden, etching (1965).
Waiting on the Pier,* ink and watercolor.

Khumalo, Lazarus (Zimbabwe)

Witch Doctor, soapstone sculpture.

Kofi, Vincent (Ghana)

Awakening Africa, bronze sculpture.
Crucifix, wood sculpture.
Mother and Child, wood sculpture.
Unknown Slave, cast metal sculpture.

Kotei, Amon (Ghana)

Adei with Red Scarf,* oil (1960).
Moments in Hell,* oil(1960).

Kyemwa, Anthony (Brother Anthony) (Uganda)

Cormorant and Fish, wood sculpture.
The Frog, soapstone sculpture.

Kyeyune, Eli (Uganda)

Death,* oil on paper.
Rhoda Kayanja,* oil (1963).
The Conversation,* oil (1963).
The Owl, oil.

Langdown, Amos (South Africa)

Death and the Horsemen, lithograph.
Fighting Cocks; engraving (1962).
Hoola Hoop, woodcut (1962).
Man with Beef, lithograph (1963).

Lumu, Henry Michael (Uganda)

Wandegeya Suburb,* tempera on paper (1960).

Luvwezo, Jean (Zaire)

Dance Masks,* oil.
L'Avenir,* oil.

Malangatana, Valente G. (Mozambique)

Nude with Crucifix, oil (1960).
Rape, oil (1961).
The Voyage, oil (1960).

Manyolo, Betty (Uganda)

Mitchell, James (South Africa)

Excitement, linocut (1962).
Friday Night, linocut (1961).
"Socker's" Alley, linocut (1962).

Mlahlwa, Mercy (South Africa)

Sisters, soapstone sculpture.

Mulongoya, Pili Pili (Zaire)

Crocodile and Snake Fighting,* oil.
Snake Amid Flowers,* oil.

Musango, Francis (Brother Francis) (Uganda)

Christ in the Manger,* oil.
Kikuyu Women,* watercolor?
The Flower,* watercolor?

Mvusi, Selby (South Africa)

Retreat, charcoal.
The Funeral, charcoal (1961).
The Patriots, pencil or charcoal drawing.

Ngu, Clara Ugbodaga (Nigeria)

Beggars,* oil (1963).
Man and Bird,* oil (1963).
Market Women,* oil.(1961).

Njau, Elimo P. (Tanzania)

Head of Christ,* oil. Murals at Fort Hall Memorial Chapel, Kenya.
The Birth of Christ.
The Last Supper
The Load and the Hoe, lithograph.

Nour, Amir lbrahim Mohed (Sudan)

Building in Black and White, lithograph.
Chaos, lithograph (1961).
Lines and Shapes,* lithograph (1961).

Ntiro, Sam J. (Tanzania)

Chagga Beermaking,* oil.
Conversion of Saint Paul, cartoon for a mural, oil.
In the Banana Grove,* oil.
Kakindo Crucifixion,* oil.
Making Chagga Hut,* oil.
Mango Tree,* oil.
Round Huts,* oil.

Nwoko, Demas N. (Nigeria)

Beggar Boy, watercolor.
Children on Cycles, oil on panel.

Odita, Emmanuel Okechukwu (Nigeria)

Ogundele, Rufus (Nigeria)

Bird, linocut.
Figures, linocut.
Scene from "Oba Moro," linocut.

Okeke, C. Uche (Nigeria)

Christ on the Cross, ink and brush on paper.
Frog, Ibo Legendary Figure, pen and ink (1959).
Odede F. Omarudo, pen and ink (1959).

Okeke, Simon Obiekezie (Nigeria)

Composition with Torsos,* oil on paper (1961).
Crouched Figure,* print (1960).9
Head No. 3, sculpture,
Heads with Drum,* oil on paper (1960).

Okiki, Godfrey A. (Nigeria)

African Mother and Child,* woodcut (1963).
Casting the Net,* oil (1964).
Dance to the Talking Drum,* linocut (1963).
Scene: Northern Nigeria,* oil (1964).
The Call,* oil on board (1964).
The Worshippers,* oil (1964).
Women off to Market, woodcut (1963).

Onobrakpeya, Bruce P. 0. (Nigeria)

Ahwaire and the Dog, linocut illustrating an Urhobo folktale that tells how the dog got his black nose.
Ahwaire (the tortoise), linocut illustrating Urhobo legendary figure trapped on the top of the palm tree and being rescued by the fishes.
Eketete and Erbeybuye, linocut illustrating a fight between the two laziest creatures in Benin legend.
Fulani Milk Woman,* linocut.
Okpogho, linocut illustrating Urhobo legendary figure who buried his mother inside his head.
Portrait of Oseni,* linocut.

Osadebe, Oseloka 0. (Nigeria)

He Liveth, linocut (1960).
Ibo Life* (festivals), left half of oil mural at Mbari Centre, Enugu, Nigeria (1963).
Ibo Life,* right half of mural at Mbari Centre (1963).
Ima Ogodo,* linocut.

Osifo, Osagie (Nigeria)

Benin Wrestlers, ebony sculpture.
Girl Carrying a Gourd, traditional whitewood carving.
15th or 16th century Benin king, carved wood panel.

Richards, R. Vahnjah (Liberia)

The Conversation, mahogany sculpture (1964).
Tribal mask of the Vai Tribe sculpture (1961).

Salahi, lbrahim El (Sudan)

Al Ansari,* oil.
Ammi El Kinani,* oil (1960).
Boats at Angoiai, I, * watercolor (1953).
Boats in the Rain,* watercolor (1954).
Dry Month of the Fast,* oil
Head No.1,* oil.
Head of a Mahdiya Warrior, ink drawing,
Ruins of Suakin,* watercolor (1954).
The Arising,* oil.
The Donkey in my Dreams,* oil.
Untitled drawing, pen and ink (1963).

Sambo, Kingsley (Zimbabwe)

At the Mine, oil.
City Night Life, oil.

Sedibane, Solomon Kgwadi (South Africa)

Foster Mother,* wood sculpture.
Mary and Baby Jesus, wild olivewood sculpture (1960).
Shangaan Mother and Child, wild olivewood sculpture (1958).
The Wrestlers, red ivorywood sculpture (1961).

Sekoto, Gerard (South Africa)

Shibrain, Ahmed Mohammed (Sudan)

Mosque Impressions,* watercolor.
Motives,* watercolor.
Shapes,* ink and wash.
The Flower,* watercolor.

Suliman, Sayed (Sudan)

Grazing,* watercolor.
Night in the Forest, wood engraving.
Small Goats at Midday, pen and ink.

Talabi, George 0. (Nigeria)

Tall, Papa Ibra (Senegal)

Harlem,* oil (1962).
La Foret aux Souvenirs, oil (1962).

Tayali, Henry Nikole (Zimbabwe)

Shipwrecked,* watercolor.
Sunset Road,* watercolor.
The Omen,* watercolor.

Tessema, Mamo (Ethiopia)

Porcelain bowl, teapot, and vase,* ceramic.
The Capture,* woodcut.
Vulture, ceramic and steel sculpture.
Warrior,* welded steel sculpture.
Welded Bird,* welded steel sculpture.

Wangboje, Solomon (Nigeria)

At the Wharf,* oil (1960).
Earth, Moon and Sky, 1,* aquatint? (1966).
Male Ego, III.* lithograph (1966).
The Musicmaker: Mood IV,* color etching.
Where Is Ali?* linocut (1961).

Index of Artists By Country

Cameroon

Abossolo, Martin, 1-3

Congo, People's Republic of

Bokoko,Rene, 44-46

Ethiopia

Ghana

Liberia

Bulu, John Barbor, 50
Richards, R. Vahnjah, 195, 196

Mozambique

Malangatana, Valente G., 125-127

Nigeria

Senegal

Tall, Papa lbra, 231, 232

Sierra Leone

Burney-Nicol, Miranda, 54-56
Keita, 99

South Africa

Sudan

Tanzania

Uganda

Buluma, Mordecai, 51-53
Enwaku, Washington, 77
Kalanzi, Yonansani, 97, 98
Kyemwa, Anthony (Brother Anthony), 112, 113
Kyeyune, Eli, 114-117
Lumu, Henry Michael, 122
Manyolo, Betty, 128-130
Musango, Francis (Brother Francis), 137-139

Zaire

Luvwezo, Jean, 123, 124
Mulongoya, Pili Pili, 135, 136

Zimbabwe

MoMA, NYC, 10022

2011-10-11T02:02:00.000-07:00

African Workshops at the MoMA

Since 1958, the International Program has been active in building and maintaining relationships between MoMA and the visual arts communities in the African region, through a variety of programming including circulating exhibitions, curatorial and professional exchange programs, and publications. Examples of recent International Program activities in the African region are listed in the sidebar to the left.

African Museum Professionals Workshop

The African Museum Professionals Workshop—which took place in February 2002 and began at MoMA—traveled to three American cities under the sponsorship of The International Council, Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro, and The Rockefeller Foundation. In New York, participants attended the opening of the landmark exhibition The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa 1945–1994 at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center. This was the first workshop at which participants gave reports not only on their own institutions, but also on contemporary art and artists in their home countries. Participants subsequently traveled to Washington, D.C., in a program arranged by MoMA and the National Museum of African Art. The workshop concluded in Los Angeles with a program organized by MoMA with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Participants in the African Museum Professionals Workshop, February 2002

Meskerem Assegued
ArtSpace
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Brendan Bell
Tatham Art Gallery
Pietermartizburg, South Africa

Hassoum Ceesay
The Gambia National Museum
Banjul, The Gambia

Philippa Curling
National Gallery of Zimbabwe
Harare, Zimbabwe

Annaleen Eins
The National Gallery of Namibia
Windhoek, Namibia

Kathy Grundlingh
The South African National Gallery
Cape Town, South Africa

Simon Ikpakronyi
National Gallery of Art
Abuja, Nigeria

Silvie Kassi
Musée Municipal d'Art Contemporain de Cocody
Cocody, Côte d'Ivoire

Yacouba Konate
Independent Curator
Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

Koyo Kouoh
Goree Institute
Goree, Senegal

Julietta Massimbe
Museu Nacional de Arte
Maputo, Mozambique

Monica Mosarwa
Botswana National Museum
Gaborone, Botswana

Judy Ogana
Kuona Trust
Nairobi, Kenya

Patrick Mweemba Siabokoma
Choma Museum and Crafts Centre
Choma, Zambia

Lonely Tramp

2011-10-05T22:32:00.000-07:00

Can you hear me through my smelly clothes?
My coat of many pukes;
Watch me through my holely shoes and
listen to the purr of my humming-socks.
D-drink from my warmed so-soaken underpants.

I watch you, seeing me as that ugly animal?
Wondering, can you see me as a man at all?
What about a human being?
See me as the man I am and
see me as I should be seen.
See me as your human equal.

Again you passed me on your way to work.
I save a tear for you each morning.
See it falling, slowly rolling down my cheek.

Yet again you missed my weeping.
Ignoring my weak and creepy; out-stretched hand.

Wanting?

Are you reading what I am writing?
Are you hearing what I am praying?
Am I too vulgar for your attention?

Time is money and I have none.
You are cash rich yet time poor.
I am time rich yet piss poor.

Am I too smelly for your concern?

Am I too unimportant to be listened to?
Am I too mucky and lucky to be seen?
Am I too stained, too homeless, too lewd,

too foul to-give-a shit about?

You keep spitting in my dirty face. Thank you.
Thankyou for watching me wash my-filthy-self,
Thankyou for casting an evil eye on my bathtime.
Scrubbing myself in tepid-urine and your generous spit.

Listen to my voice. Through my wrecked breath...

Hear my words.

Avoid my heavy beard, rotten-teeth, glazed-eyes
and ruddy face and see me beyond my putrid stench.

Look for the 'Light' within; every book has a silver lining.
And not every poem should be published.
All I want to be is heard.....

I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on London's High Streets.

When all at once I saw a friend.
A holy ghost, of white iries.

Am I worthy of a note, how about a drink then?

JP 2011

Post Internet Africa

2011-10-05T22:12:00.000-07:00

Wars are not fought throughout the land. No country is constantly on fire. War is fought on battlefields, on isolated pockets of every Nation. The Western world tends to focus on the Crisis. Through this sense of Global Duty, the West are hectically treating the wound by killing the patient. There needs to be far more scrutiny on what the alleged ‘Do-gooders’ are really up to. It seems Africa is being used as a convenient dumping ground for unwanted goods and toxic waste. Ships based in Panama are sailing the world with barrels of high toxicity from Dutch-based Oil companies and poisoning those on the West Coast of Africa. While the Kenyans are wearing their best “Mitumba” and busy destroying their own cotton industry. The Middle to Upper Class Africans out numbers all of Middle to Upper Class Europeans and Americans combined; it is a Continent of 53 countries, the largest landmass on earth. It houses over a third of the world's population. No Continent is constantly in Crisis but it seems outsiders would see it otherwise.

Africa is an Aid Industry and as far as I can detect the outsiders are busy wanting to assist but also wanting to control. What must be reinforced is that Oxfam needs Africa, far more than Africa needs Oxfam. The constant distribution of Western cast-offs destroys the internal cotton and cloth industry of the entire Continent and the chemistry needed to produce the dyes. The same can be said about the World Food Programme, The IMF, the World Bank, the Cocoa Industry et al. I see few, if any, that really want change, especially from within the Continent itself. The Powers that be merely want the same continuous turmoil and to keep things in chaos but there is an emergent shift in the Continent's thinking about itself. Economic transparency, fair trade and a greater understanding of good Governance and personal rights are issues that are all now sourced from the information super highway. Communication from those in the Free World and the Third World is causing an awakening consciousness like never before. No longer are the young, aspiring generation of African intelligentsia willing to be seen in the way their Parent’s generation were seen. Information is flooding into the Continent like a Tsunami as we all now live in a Post Internet world. Africa of yesteryear has all but vanished and where those with access to electricity can inform themselves they are and about pretty much anything and everything.

Recently, a Kenyan writer, was telling me all about the news that was just outside my doorstep. He knew all about the British Coalition Government and what it meant and what the policy makers were saying. It was quite disturbing as I choose to keep myself blissfully naïve to the political scene. I wouldn’t have a clue about affairs of State in Africa as my focus is on the Contemporary Art of Africa and the work being produced should show some depth and progression. Artists should be constantly playing around with different and exciting techniques; using diverse materials and enjoying the time spent trying to be an alchemist. Too many seek financial success and international recognition but the reward for a true artist is in the work being produced and the process developing. The work being produced in a lot of Anglophone Nations seems to have no rhyme nor reason, which makes it virtually impossible to judge and that is why often no reputable Art Critic would attempt to criticise an untrained, semi-trained African artist because it is more than his or her job is worth. However, constructive criticism is vital for an artist and for a country encouraging the production of art, especially on the scale of those producing throughout Africa. Pricing the work becomes so problematical as it’s worth nothing or lots to someone, but that side of Contemporary African Art has yet to level out. Some artists are demanding a fortune for their work without any rational or provenance, which pushes Contemporary African Art back down to street level. Although their are a number of pseudo artists trying to exploit the situation, thankfully the majority of true African artists are turning their backs on those that would see them negatively and beginning to understand the importance of producing work that is progressive and forward thinking. There are forces in the world that degrade those within the Continent but their rhetoric is falling on deaf ears. Change is well and truly beginning to happen and it can be seen within the artwork that is being produced.

YOUNG, GIFTED AND BLACK

2011-08-28T15:49:00.001-07:00

Thinking about Uganda and the artists of Kampala this month

This is something all artists interested in this site should sing to their children at bedtime:

Art Punch Studio Interviews from Kampala

2011-08-28T13:33:00.001-07:00

Here is a video of four emerging artists from the Capital of Uganda, Kampala:

Click on this photograph of Wasswa Donald to see the video.