Magiciens de l'Afrique
dal 14/7/2011 al 9/9/2011
Segnalato da
14/7/2011
Magiciens de l'Afrique
Galeria Kewenig, Palma de Mallorca
A selection of richly diverse African art and, at the same time, its effects on contemporary art. It unites photographs by the Malian portrait artist, Seydou Keita, and drawings by Frederic Bruly Bouabre' with archaic African sculptures, but also with a recent nickel-plated sculpture by the French artist Bertrand Lavier. Thus paying tribute to the exhibition, Magiciens de la terre, in Centre Pompidou in 1989.
The current exhibition of the Galería Kewenig in Palma de Mallorca shows a selection of richly diverse African art and, at the same time, its effects on contemporary art. It unites photographs by the Malian portrait artist, Seydou Keïta, and drawings by Frédéric Bruly Bouabré with archaic African sculptures, but also with a recent nickel-plated sculpture by the French artist, Bertrand Lavier, thus paying tribute not least of all to a path-breaking exhibition that placed African art in the context of contemporary art for the first time in 1989. Like Keïta, Bouabré, too, gained access to the Western art world through this exhibition, Magiciens de la terre, in Centre Pompidou which was curated by Jean-Hubert Martin and André Magnin.
After subsequent exhibitions in the 1990s at the Fondation Cartier pour l'art Contemporain in Paris and at the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, Seydou Keïta (1923, Bamako, Mali–2001, Paris), was acknowledged also in Spain with the exhibition, Alter Ego (2003, Centre de Cultura Sa Nostra, Palma de Mallorca) and in 2007 by the large travelling exhibition, 100% Africa, at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
As an autodidact, Keïta transformed classical African studio photography into a unique photographic art. With sure-footed sensibility for those portrayed, his black-and-white photographs show a remarkable sense for detail, the gaze, the pose, the symmetrically arranged background and the carefully selected accessories. His precision and simultaneous discretion are, at the same time, historical evidence of the modern Malian middle class and its unique synthesis with Western consumer culture. The exhibition brings together 13 of Keïta's photographs that came about between 1949 and 1959.
From Frédéric Bruly Bouabré (c. 1923, Ivory Coast), the Galería Kewenig is showing a key work, Le Musée du Visage Africain (1995/96) from 70 colourfully painted sheets the size of postcards that were put on show already in 2002 at documenta XI. Since the 1940s, in his drawings, Bouabré has been casting a symbolic system of signs for divine creation. From prehistoric African writings, modern advertising logos, emblems and symbols, he finds new formulae for a universal interpretation whose basis is always a firm belief in God.
Framed by Keïta and Bruly Bouabré, the exhibition is showing wooden sculptures by ancient tribes from West Africa. Talismanic figures of the Dogon (Mali), androgynous sculptures in austere Cubist forms symbolize at the same time masculine strength and feminine fertility. The people of the Lobi (Burkina Faso) carved so-called Bateba figures with strict symmetry in their thoroughly formed bodies and expressive portrayal of their facial traits. They were understood as mediators between human beings and supernatural beings. The talismanic figures of the Fon (Benin) make a connection with the religion of voodoo. One of the presented figures is wearing a coat made of iron padlocks. Each padlock symbolically stands for fathoming an accident or problem that has to be solved or 'opened'. Twin figures of the Ewe (Ghana, Togo and Benin) complete the exhibition. Honouring deceased twins brought the reward of happiness and comfort.
The circle to contemporary art is completed by Bertrand Lavier (1949, now living in Burgundy and Paris), whose work will be shown in 2012 at a large retrospective by the Centre Pompidou. Lavier has been engaged since the 1970s with mechanisms for transforming everyday objects into art. At the Galería Kewenig he takes up African sculptural language in order to reinterpret it in his own reply, thus bringing it into present-day art via his characteristic style. Made and used in Africa as everyday objects, the sculptures first became works of art and commodities in the art trade within the context of the European world. By not carving his sculpture in a handicraft way, but casting it in bronze and having it nickel-plated, Lavier demonstrates how an individual art object becomes artistic commodity.
Image: Bertrand Lanvier, Teke ,Cast in chrome on base, Sculpture: 40 cm, Base: 19 x 12 x 1 cm
Opening Friday, 15 July 2011, 8 to 10 p.m.
Galería Kewenig
Oratorio de Sant Feliu C/ Sant Feliu s/n E-07012 Palma de Mallorca
Opening hours
Mon–Fri 10 a.m.–2 p.m., 4 p.m.–8 p.m.,
Sat 10 a.m.–2 p.m.