Home

The latest exhibition by Senegalese painter and sculptor Soly Cissé presents a selection of his recent work unified by the representation of bodily forms and aligned to questions about what is it that makes us human, after all.

Men and Lives sees this contemporary master interrogating some of the darker reaches of the psyche, though, as ever with Cissé's work, imbued with humour and irony. His paintings sometimes show groupings of two or three figures who seem to be refraining from conversation or interaction, as though consumed by their own thoughts or search for some hoped-for "inner identity" not accessible to others. At other times he reveals a seeming procession of human forms, some overlapping and some set apart; again, each element stands apart even as they enter each other's space. In some paintings, the canvas is divided into two registers or segment, at once seeming to be in conflict but nonetheless harmonised aesthetically, as if the artist is seeking for an impossible unity between fraught human relations.

Cissé's incomparable understanding of the relation of line to the fulfilment of form (as well as a subtle use of detail in the form of pattern and crosshatch) can be seen in the works on Men and Lives. At over four metres wide, the astonishing canvas Untitled (Triptych) of 2018 shows the artist developing this subtle message of the relationship between the human and the lived at a magisterial level and forms a central axis for the exhibition as a whole.

DIPTYK - NEWS - ART MARKET

Contemporary African Art: A Brief History of a Future Market

By Emmanuelle Outtier POSTED 25 July 2019

Translated from French using Google Translate

Twenty years after the sale of part of the Pigozzi collection, a look back at the evocative evolution of contemporary African art whose valorization goes through Paris, London and New York.

If we had to remember a single date marking the start of the contemporary African art market, it would probably be the one of June 24, 1999. That day, Sotheby's organizes in London the session "Contemporary African art from the Jean Pigozzi collection ». We no longer present this collection patiently constituted by the Paris gallery owner André Magnin who bought, on behalf of the heir to Simca, tens of thousands of works while furrowing Africa during twenty years. The 1999 dispersion marks a turning point not only because it is the first major sale organized by a leading company in the international art market, but also because it is a remarkable achievement. The price of the works is then low (not exceeding $ 18,000) and almost all are sold (2% unsold only), a rare phenomenon that can be explained both by the pedigree "Pigozzi" and by the purpose of this sale, the proceeds of which are shared between Unicef ​​and the endowment of the Jean Pigozzi Prize for Contemporary African Art.

Business and Arts South Africa - BIZART_ZA - Issue_01 - Winter/Spring 2019

FOUND OBJECTS: The Figurative Works of Vivien Kohler

I am fascinated both by the ability of the human spirit to transcend ‘the conceptual decay’, and the unique liminality of the post-apartheid South African city. My works illuminate the contrasts of lived experiences by showing people mentally cocooned from, yet physically enveloped by, life’s detritus. I incorporate, cast and paint discarded, packaging material as a signifier of transience, migration and displacement of people on the ‘periphery’.

—    Vivien Kohler

Experimental mixed media painter, Vivien Kohler, makes art that is infused with South African complexity. Socio-political ripples and reflections are inherent in his work but rise from the pieces rather than being the point of them. At the simplest level Kohler takes found objects and transforms them into something new. His work ranges from figurative snapshots of urban South Africa through to the abstract and metaphorical. His mid-career work features sleeping human forms surrounded by their stuff. The forms look like the cardboard Kohler has found in the throwaway corners of the city but they are actually realistically painted images of those finds. As such they offer neatly re-contextualised snapshots of the shrouded figures most South African encounter every day in their peripheral social vision.

National Arts Festival - Creativate Digital Art Festival

'Songsmith & the Living Will' talk by Jenna Burchell at Creativate Digital Art Festival 2019

Grahamstown Foundation - Ntsikana Gallery

1820 Settlers Monument Fort Selwyn Drive, Grahamstown, South Africa

Friday 28 June 2019, 12:30 -13:30

In this talk, the artist Jenna Burchell shares her process and experience in the creation of her internationally acclaimed Songsmith project. She explores the nonsensical, yet beautiful, depth in technology when it is used with art; especially when it appears to act according to its own will. She poses the question; how can we merge art and technology into our physical world so that we can access knowledge otherwise
invisible to us.

Jenna is represented by Sulger-Buel Gallery in London and Everard Read Gallery in Johannesburg.

DIPTYK - NEWS

In Venice, a contrasting African presence

By Roxana Azimi POSTED 26 June 2019

Translated from French using Google Translate

"May you live in interesting times", enjoins the international exhibition of the 58th Venice Biennale. In addition to Ralph Rugoff's proposal, which brings together some of the world's leading artists such as Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Zanele Muholi, Julie Mehretu and Michael Armitage, the African presences reflect the different levels of artistic soft power of the continent. From Ghana, which presents artists from the diaspora in a scenography signed by one of the most famous architects on the planet, in Madagascar who takes an "outrenoir" solo show supported by the highly respected Revue Noire, there are certainly presences brave but a little wobbly like Ivory Coast or Zimbabwe, "clandestine" pavilions like Algeria or the Egyptian kitsch.

She has dreamed about it for eighteen years. Nana Offoriatta Ayim's wish to see Ghana participate in the Venice Biennale is granted thanks to a perfect alignment of the planets. The country, which is growing by 6% a year, wants to boost tourism and bring back the diaspora. As a result, the public allocation for tourism and culture has increased by 120% between 2014 and 2018. We come back from afar, as Ghana has been weakened by repeated coups and chronic monetary instability. 

Afrikaris - Blog & News

Two artists in Tunisian art scene, Thameur Mejri and Slimen Elkamel

By Maxence Zabo POSTED on 24 June 2019

Engaged for the development of the contemporary Maghrebi artistic scene, the Attijariwafa Bank Foundation opened a series of meetings on June 13, 2019, in Casablanca (Morocco). The theme "Contemporary African Art: what perspectives for which markets?” allowed Mouna Kably (Head of the Publishing and Debates Division) to highlight the "historical cultural time of the African art scene and the enthusiasm generated by the works of her young artists". This event gives us the opportunity to present to you two emerging Tunisian artists, Thameur Mejri and Slimen Elkamel.

These two painters, formed at the Institute of Fine Arts in Tunis, went to the soaring of the plastic creation of the country since the Revolution of Jasmin in 2010. This period of political and social crisis, resulting in a liberation of popular expression, offers fertile ground for contemporary artists. Many questions are raised, on the body, on religion, on morale and democracy, the answers are not yet unanimous.

ZBC News Online - Entertainment and Arts

Zim artists' pavilion marvels thousands in Venice

Zimbabwean visual artists who recently attended the Venice Bienale Arts Exhibition have returned home after acquiring fresh ideas on how to come up with internationally rated artworks.

While in Venice, Italy, the Zimbabwean Pavilion left various visitors amazed at the narrative that was being exhibited.

Based on the theme: “Soko Risina Musoro”, derived from the late nationalist Hebert Chitepo’s poems, the Zimbabwean exhibition marveled those who passed through the stand at the showcase.

Neville Starling and Georgina Maxim said attending the Venice Bienale left them yearning to start working hard being exposed to various ideas and knowledge from other international artists.

“It was a great experience and getting to see the ideas behind other artists’ work was mind blowing,” said Starling.

“Art is a beautiful thing and it gets even better when you interact with other international artist whom you can learn one or two things from and incorporate it into your work,” said Maxim.

Concerto para aves (Concert for birds)

Curated by Tiago Sant'Ana

Goethe-Institut Salvador-Bahia

14 June - 27 July 2019

Concerto para aves (Concert for birds), curated by Tiago Sant'Ana, brings together 15 artists that have in their poetics the birds and birds as metaphor of liberties, imprisonments and possibilities of escape. Through several languages, such as photography, sculpture and engraving, the exhibition thus proposes to demonstrate how in various scenarios and research these animals are used as a subterfuge to trigger debates about nature and about humanity itself. Participating Artists include Adriano Machado, Annika Kahrs, Ayrson Heráclito, Calasans Neto, Carlos Martiel, Dona Aletícia, Edsoleda Santos, Efrain Almeida, Georgina Maxim, Helen Salomão, Ieda Oliveira, João Oliveira, Mario Cravo Neto, Mestre Didi e Zé Garcia. 

"The exhibition has basically three nuclei: one closer to Afro-Brazilian religions; another investigating the relations between humanity and nature - a kind of becoming-bird; and a last one with artists that somehow present studies on the birds" comments curator Tiago Sant'Ana.

After "Kaurís", between March and May, Concerto para aves (Concert for birds) is part of a series of four exhibitions to be promoted by the Goethe-Institut Salvador this year, in order to relate the production of local artists and productions Vila Sur Arts Residency Program - such as the curator and visual artist Georgina Maxim (Zimbabwe) and filmmaker and visual artist Annika Kahrs (Germany).

Al Arab Magazine

Contemporary art transcends the tradition of skill, style and rules of the continent

By Dr Charafdine Majdouline PUBLISHED 12 June 2019 (Page 15)

Translated from Arabic with Google Translate

Art is linked to an emergency cultural perception connected to the exploits of the consuming society and the chaotic market system

Human creativity and art are no longer dependent on the identity of the identity, but rather on a common denominator, especially with the emergence of the global citizen, following the spread of globalization that created similar societies. Thus, an art that does not place its first bet on identity within its traditional borders appears to be trying to evade all that hinders its universality and its dimensions, issues and methods.

In his book on contemporary art, British historian and art historian Julian Estelabras used a comparative comparison between contemporary art, the market economy and the globalized system, where freedom is irrational and unchecked. 

Slipstream - UK - Arts Press

SOLY CISSE: Men and Lives – Sulger Buel Gallery

By Eddie Saint-Jean POSTED 10 June 2019

Senegalese painter and sculptor Soly Cissé presents a body of work which drives expressive channels through figurative subjects – with a tilt towards abstraction. Humour, irony and, of course, colour are underscored emphatically.

The work is an examination of human relations and the human psyche. His subjects are herded in conversation, yet set apart in individual worlds with the inevitable overlap displayed through this ‘Expressive’ use of colour.

Sulger-Buel Gallery, 51 Surrey Row, Unit 2 La Gare, London SE1 0BZ. Exhibition runs 06 June – 31 July 2019.

The New York Times - Art & Design

Kehinde Wiley, Spoiler of Artists

By Dionne Searcey POSTED 4 June 2019

He gained fame for his portrait of President Obama. Now he is opening Black Rock, a luxurious residency program in Senegal.

DAKAR, Senegal - The art star Kehinde Wiley is standing in the middle of his spacious bedroom with mint green walls looking like a little kid who can't wait to blurt out the surprise he's been keeping secret.

Everything in his new Black Rock studio and artists' residence in Dakar is fabulous, of course. The 20-foot wooden entry door, the floor-to-ceiling windows, the infinity pool, the sauna, the bath robes and alarm clocks embossed with the Black Rock golden insignia, the lush garden in a region tucked under the Sahara.

In addition, there are thick layers or blobs of paint, chaotic brushstrokes and script - letters and numbers which serve to transmit tension and intrigue while possibly telegraphing arcane hermetic messages.

"I think and reflect a lot about humans and their relationships. Relationships between humans, the confrontation between humans and nature, humans and religion and then I challenge myself and experiment", he explains.

Cissé came of age after violent political unrest had hit Dakar and a new future was being negotiated in a piecemeal manner.