John Coltrane

Esse é John Coltrane! Boas vibraçoes....

Joe Pollitt

b.1974 - Present
Image by 
Grek from the Republic of Benin 
b.1974 - Present 
Image by Joe Pollitt

Grek | Anagossi Gratien 

Grek is an exciting young talented artist from West Africa, now living in the the Republic of Benin. Originally, from the Republic of Togo, he moved to neighbouring Benin in his teens and now works as an artist in the port of Cotonou. Previously, he has been commissioned by the French Cultural Centre in Cotonou and most recently, set-up a design group in the port of Cotonou. 

His work is similar to Alberto Burni and Antoni Tapies of the Art Informel Movement of the 1950`s but I believe this is more by accident rather than design. I use the term Art Informel from the French informe, meaning unformed or formless to refer to the antigeometric, antinaturalistic, and nonfigurative formal preoccupations which is so obvious in Grek`s work, stressing his pursuit for spontaneity, looseness of form, and the irrational. His work is pushing forward new ideas of seeing and using whatever materials are closest at hand. His work is extensively about the plight of the empoverished and his inventive techniques of leaving painted canvas' in the sun for weeks on end is extremely effective and inventive. The end product is a painting that looks like it`s about to fall to pieces, which is purposefully symbolic in the way he chooses to reflect his own economic and social condition. 

On the image to the left | L'Homme Malheureux or the Unhappy Man, on the left-hand corner one can just make out a part of a shirt with a corey shell falling out the pocket. When I came to ask Grek what was the significance of the shirt Grek just told me it had a previous owner; an artist in Burkina Faso; but the artists took exception to his work so in return Grek took exception to the man's shirt and now the arguement is over. His shirt now part of his work and if he thinks it's shit then maybe he should reconsider where he buys his shirts. Perfect! The corey shell is symbolic of fame and fortune and is clearly falling out the pocket.

Grek`s work leans towards the gestural and expressive, with repetitive 

Butterflies by Joe Pollitt

QUIET RIOT.
I wanna RIOT.
QUIET RIOT,
a RIOT I want.
QUIET RIOT.
I wanna RIOT.
QUIET RIOT,
a RIOT I want.
QUIET RIOT.
I wanna RIOT.
QUIET RIOT,
a RIOT I want. 

quiet riot.
I wanna riot.
quiet riot,
a riot we want....

CHRISTMAN NUMBER ONE

This is a West African Crisis. I don't care about being a number one for Christmas but I want all to know just how I feel right now. I adore the people's of West Africa and they deserve much better than the shit they have been offered by the chancers and wannabe.....Allow me the chance to sing my little song and have my X-Factor say for humanity.





It does seem rather strange that West Africans are not allowed access to their own medicine. Simply being reliant on Western Aid. There is news that Colloidal Silver and Snake Venom are effective cures for Ebola. This is a human disaster it seems utterly vulgar that big pharmaceutical companies stand to profit and are immensely keen to see how effective their modern treatments work on those effected. You don't think this humanly possible, that a country or a series of countries would use West Africans as a testing ground for Chemical Warfare. You couldn't image that the world would be that cruel but I have so little faith in World Leaders. I think about what Henry Kissenger did in Cambodia with his own private army and dropped all those bombs on innocent villagers on the borders of Vietnam. How they used mustard gas and napalm and cared so little about those they mass murdered. They are all ruthless and want to prove to each other just as powerful they are by crushing the most vulnerable on earth. I think back to a time when countries became nuclear and started testing in the oceans. They never once considered the damage they caused to the marine life. The destruction of a nuclear blast. This is not just once it was for China, India, USA, UK etc etc...Each country wanting to flex their military power.

It seems unthinkable that Western and Asian countries could be using Africans in a similar fashion but it does seem that way. Are we to see outbreaks of plagues in Zambia, Malawi, Kenya and Uganda when the Super Powers want to test out their Chemical Agents and prove to the world that they are equally as heartless. I think back to the 1990's and the way in which the World Press addressed the bombs that went off in Nairobi and Dar and only mentioned the Europeans or American casualties and simply avoided writing about the terrible deaths and injuries inflicted on the East Africans, as if their lives meant so little. I fear for the future and really want us all to be acutely suspicious of what is happening around the Continent of Africa. The Super Powers are utterly ruthless and care so little about the Continent outside their resources. This is of real concern to anybody who is still thinking. We are being brainwashed with reality television, the Premiership, soap operas that seem to preoccupy our screens and lull us into a false sense of security. We are hypnotised into thinking that the ruling classes are decent and worthy of their positions of enormous powers but we should wake up to their devious ways. Man is the most destructive animal on the planet. We must keep a check on the Super Powers as they run riot around the globe, thinking so little of the most vulnerable. Life is precious and nobody's life is more valuable than those that live on African soil.

Fonte: Joe Pollitt blogspot.com.br

Ouattara

Foi descoberto" por Jean-Michel Basquiat em Paris e o trouxe para Nova York. Seu trabalho é por vezes, comparado com Basquiat ; no entanto, ele tem feito muito bem por conta própria com grandes exposições e colecionadores. Ele está atualmente representado pela Gagosian Gallery. Ouattara considera a si próprio como um xamã da natureza  simbólica e espiritual profunda e seu trabalho reflete isso.

Tribal Sunsets

Arte tribal misturada á um cenário contemporâneo. Esses são os trabalhos de Joel Nankin, intituladas Tribal Sunsets

As obras são impressões em papel metálico; montado em alumínio com uma moldura de alumínio secundário. 

Esta é uma série de seis obras e limitada a 5 edições. Eles vêm assinadas e numeradas com uma carta de autenticidade.

Autenticidade Africana por Yinka Shonibare MBE

Yinka Shonibare 

Este é um grande álbum de uma cantora de reggae com sede em Londres, Hollie Cook! Beautiful!

Trabalhos de arte africanos

Tunisian Artist | Baker Ben Fredj 

Tunisian Artist | Abderrazak Sahli

                                       

Zimbabwean Artist | Brighton Sango

                                         

Togolese Artist | Emmanuel Kavi

                                     

Benin Artist | Charly D'Almeida

Uganda Artist | Sheila Nakitende

Ghanian Artist | Kwame Bakoji-Hume

Zimbabwean Art | Stephen Gara'ganga

Senegalese Artist | Soly Cisse

Fonte: Unssen art scene

Sheila Black - Curadora fala sobre a exposição exibida em 2013 em Kampala, Uganda.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vbz2hnybl29cx0o/40%20twists.m4v

Why does the artist do this? Cover herself in mud...so primitive the artist is in Uganda. So close to nature are the Bugandans and those found in the capital, Kampala. Have they all lost their way? Given up trying....leaving those running to be more like the Europeans well alone, and instead bathing in pools of mud like elephants in salt marshes. Look how the artist plays, like a child in a sandpit. See how happy she is being backward, primitive and honest. Watch her gleeful smiles that encourage the viewers to giggle, courting our attention with her native loveliness. Is the artist wanting to be exotic? I don't think so. Not for one moment as this is well orchestrated art, with an attention to the details. It is constructed with intent and full of positive meaning; some may say we are witnesses to a moment of deconstruction and a going backwards, desperately trying to understanding the past and all that has gone before. A returning to the earth and a break from all protocols, in order to reconstruct the way in which Modern Ugandan art is seen and appreciated. Firstly, at home with those inside the country finding affinities to the work, in order to export out to the wider world, with the approval of the Ugandans over and above all else. These works are the language of African artists and this work is bold, it is Afropunk that makes punk look so last-century. There is an edginess to the images. To the rawness of the ground walked upon by modern Ugandans, a place where all the tarmac has run off and left the country. Where roadworks begin and end too early. Nothing is finished, all is a work in progress.



What is this work about and why is of any significance? Let me try and communicate this as clearly as possible. This is the best show on earth. This is a landmark exhibition of black African art. It is so forward thinking it should be shown in years to come. Together, we are standing at the edge of an exciting and novel journey into Art. How shows should be constructed is under discussion and the theory so far, is that they should be created with tenderness, that gently guides the audience through the shows. Each show clearly expressing an overall thought-process of the artist and developing a sense of constructive joined-up thinking. The journey begins at the beginning and we are the observers of a new dawn coming from Guerilla Artists from Uganda. A wave of thinking that may well sweep you off your feet, like a wind sculpture - each show created by this group at @rtpunch Studio are playfully developed and this is intentional to give a sense of inclusion rather than exclusion. To wash away the past and welcome in the future. This sense of artistic generosity is highly infectious. The BA artists are fully aware that contemporary art is not commonplace in Ugandan society. It is yet to be fully appreciated or understood but this milestone exhibition breaks the mould and gives modern Uganda a sense of importance and value.



The background to this story begins with the arts and crafts on the streets of Kampala. The basket-weavers and the paper-twisters are those that are amongst the lowest class of Ugandan society, the ill-educated underclass, whose beautiful and talented works are often overlooked and ignored as trash. This is a best place for our journey to begin...

What is important to note is that this Exhibiton takes place in the @rtpunch Studios themselves in the capital, Kampala. The doors to Modern Ugandan Art have been flung wide-open to a fresh audience. A much younger, proactive group of individuals. The upwardly mobile in Uganda. The thinking classes of the country and those that want to empower themselves with an interest in the development of culture from within. This show was solely funded by the pioneer, Wasswa Donald, the artists that spearheaded the @rtpunch Studios over a decade ago. The group have been irritated by being at the mercy of external support and often denied access to funding. Incensed by the comments made by David Adjaye and Simon Njami last year, expressing their opinions that the country was visually not ready to be seen Internationally. The group was so outraged by these bizarre judgements by complete strangers that, that became the challenge: To create a series of shows worthy of export. The group have worked exceedingly hard to push their artistic ideas forward, especially in regards to the ways in which, they want to world to see them, their country and their works of Art. Previously, shows have been exhibited only to the elite, in the Country Clubs or at the European Institutions. These external aspects of Africa, although with good intent, have had a stranglehold over the intellectual Africans for generations. They have been the Patrons of African Culture and quietly cherry-picking acceptable artists to show.


This exhibition marks a sea-change in that thinking. It intelligently interacts with all aspects of Ugandan identity and proudly displays artworks, which reflect the tapestries-makers, paper-twisters and weaves, placing them all under a different light. Magnifying their importance and empathises these distinct elements that make up the National identity. This is a very important contemporary show, that defines the Nation in an open and expressive manner. It heralds in a modern innovative direction. A guide to an original cultural development of Africa and acts as a blueprint for other Nations to follow.

This is the first of it's kind and with the advancement in Social Networking and Social Media delivering important shows from the capitals of African Nations and also exposing to the wider world has never been easier.

Sheila is a "National Treasure" and this show should be regarded as a celebration of Cultural Independence throughout the Continent. It would be a shame to break it up into pieces and have it ignored, silenced, if not censored by Collectors and art-lovers. This is a show of such integrity it should be shown international to encourage inspiration to artists within the Continent. "40 Twists" defines the role of the artist and outlines what is needed in shaping Africa's own cultural development. Hopefully, this show will encourage Museums that focus on Africa today, to take a much closer look in what is shaping up on the Continent itself. This beacon of an Exhibition, "40 Twists" by Sheila Black was housed in the art studios in Kampala and viewed by the world; it is arguably one of the best shows on earth.


Author: Joe Pollitt

Mário Macilau e o Preço do Cimento

Mário Macilau

O preço do cimento é uma série de fotografias do jovem e aclamado fot[ografo Moçambicano Mário Macilau. Os trabalhos mostram a trágica realidade de jovens garotos e garotas que trabalham em operações de ensacamento de cimentos ilegais em Moçambique em prédio escuros, escondidos da vista, reciclagem/cimento, corte de  derrames de cimento com desastrosas consequências para as suas saúde. As imagens ironicamente e intuitivamente fazem referência ao mundo da mímica e  moda devastando a si próprios. A capacitação de seus súditos  que contam suas histórias com dignidade é fundamental para o importante trabalho de Macilau.

                                                                                                           

Mário Macilau

B.1984 Em Maputo e Moçambique onde vive e trabalha.

Mário Macilau nasceu em Moçambique a recém-independente, no meio da fase mais crítica de sua guerra civil. Sua família mudou-se por dificuldades financeiras e da província de Inhambane para a capital, Maputo, em busca de uma vida melhor. Quando ele tinha 10 anos ele começou a trabalhar em um pequeno mercado frequentado pela classe média / alta, onde se tornou uma criança de rua, lavando carros no parque de estacionamento e ajudando a carregar os mantimentos em um esforço para sustentar sua família. 

Macilau começou sua jornada como fotógrafo em 2003 e foi profissional, quando ele trocou o celular de sua mãe por sua primeira câmera em 2007, ele se tornou especialista em projetos de longo prazo que incidem sobre as condições ambientais e de vida. Como fotógrafo documental ele tem o compromisso de iniciar uma mudança positiva através de diferentes culturas, locais e perspectivas, em seu país natal, ele usa seu trabalho para enfrentar a realidade do poder, do ambiente e do património cultural que afetam grupos socialmente isolados e as questões que definem nossos tempos. 

Macilau mostra seu trabalho regularmente em exposições nacionais e internacionais e, recentemente, ele foi incluído na exposição do grupo Pan-Africano durante a Bienal de Fotografia Africano em Bamako 2011, onde conquistou a residência Travessia Ponto na França, Les Rencontres D'Arles, em 2012, a partir de Fondation Blachère. Ele foi um dos finalistas para a 7ª edição do BESphoto 2011 em Portugal, onde o seu trabalho tem sido mostrado no CCB - Centro Cultural de Belém. No Brasil, ele já expôs em Pinacoteca de Estado de São Paulo. Em 2011, expôs na VI Chobi Mela Foto Festival em Bangladesh 2011, o Photo Spring, em Pequim, China 2011, Lagos Foto I e II, na Nigéria, a KLM na Malasya entre outros. 

Macilau ganhou muitos prêmios nacionais e internacionais, incluindo da Concorrência do ACP Fotógrafo novo em 2010, o Visa Pour La Creation 2012, do Instituto Francês, o primeiro prêmio do Projeto de Proteção em Washington DC 2012, o prêmio Fundação EVTZ na Alemanha, o Santa Lucia prêmio da Espanha de 2011, o Prêmio AECID para a criação, em 2011, ele ganhou o prêmio de talento da França Embaixada em Maputo, em 2011, a TDM Bienal em Maputo ... Mário Macilau freqüenta regularmente a Fotografia master Class anual na África organizado pelo Instituto Goethe, Johannesburg. 

Mário Macilau foi recentemente apresentado no programa Artscape da Al Jazeera em maio 2013

J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere

  

  

 

  

  

We welcome the opportunity to tour this exhibition.

Fonte: Artspeakafrica.blogspot.com.br