Kudzanai Chiurai, Revelations V, 2011, Ultrachrome ink on paper, photo Innova, Image: 120 x 180 cm | Paper: 145 x 200 cm. © Kudzanai Chiurai Courtesy of the artist and Goodman Gallery and

Art/Africa: le nouvel atelier at Fondation Louis Vuitton, , until 28 August 2017

The Fondation Louis Vuitton is putting Africa in the limelight with a trilogy of exhibitions: 'The Insiders, a selection of works (1989-2009) from the Jean Pigozzi collection of ', 'Being There, , a contemporary scene' and 'Africa in the Fondation Louis Vuitton Collection'. Spanning nearly the entirety of the -designed foundation, this marks the first time that a spotlight is shone on a particular continent.

Anna Sansom, June 2017

Italian collector Jean Pigozzi began acquiring art from Africa after visiting the seminal 'Magiciens de la Terre' exhibition, curated by Jean-Hubert Martin, at the Centre Pompidou and Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris in 1989. Pigozzi hired Paris-based specialist André Magnin, who owns the gallery Magnin-A, to advise him, and Magnin travelled intrepidly throughout Africa to encounter artists and explore its budding art scenes. Pigozzi has collected widely and in depth, buying a group of works by each artist.

On show are pieces by 15 artists, ranging from photography by Seydou Keïta and Malick Sidibé from Mali to paintings by Chéri Samba and Moké from the Democratic Republic of Congo and sculptural installations by Congolese artists Bodys Isek Kingelez and Rigobert Nimi. While some of these artists have become well known in the last 15 years, relative discoveries are the terracotta fertility sculptures by Seni Awa Camara, 72, from Senegal, the intricate sculptures relating to hunting and sea creatures by John Goba, 73, from Sierra Leone and the masks fashioned from jewellery and other paraphernalia by Calixte Dakpogan, 59, from Benin.

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'Being There' on the South African art scene, meanwhile, assembles 16 artists from three generations. Starting with the likes of William Kentridge and David Goldblatt, it moves onto artists born in the 1970s, such as Zanele Muholi and Nicholas Hlobo, and those born during the 1980s, such as Jody Brand, Kudzanai Chiurai and Nicholas Lawrence Lemaoana. The politically charged works by the younger participants, who came of age after the end of , deal, in versatile ways, with human rights, violence, sexuality and homophobia. The diversity and vibrancy pay testament to South Africa's burgeoning creativity.

Bodys Isek Kingelez (1948 – 2015, Congo), Etoile rouge congolaise, 1990, Paper, cardboard, polystyrene, plastic, left-over materials, 85 x 92 x 50 cm. Courtesy CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection, © Bodys Isek Kingelez, Photo credits: © Maurice Aeschimann

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John Goba (1944, Sierra Leone) Sea marble, 1992, Painted wood and porcupine spines 110 x 50 x 65 cm, Credits: Photo Maurice Aeschimann /Courtesy CAAC --‐ The Pigozzi Collection, © John Goba

Seni Awa Camara (1945, Senegal), Untitled, 2006, Terracotta, 136,5 x 31,3 x 37 cm. Courtesy CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection, © Seni Awa Camara. Photo credits: © Maurice Aeschimann

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Jody Brand, Say her name: Queezy, 2016, digital photograph on polytwirl, 250 x 150 cm. © Jody Brand

Lawrence Lemaoana, Freedom is a Stone Throw Away, 2017, cotton embroidery on Kanga, 155 x 105 cm. Courtesy AFRONOVA GALLERY. © Lawrence Lemaoana. Photo Jurie Potgieter

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Rigobert Nimi (Congo, 1965), Station Vampires, 2013, Steel, aluminium, plastic, electrical and left-over materials, 321 x 138 x 158 cm. Courtesy CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection, © Rigobert Nimi, Photo credits: © Maurice Aeschimann

http://www.damnmagazine.net/2017/06/08/africa-le-nouvel-atelier/

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