New contemporary African art exhibition in Switzerland

FOCUS09 is a sort of "newish" art concept which claims to show contemporary art. I say "claim" only because I have never been to the event before and because I am rather sceptical about the representation of African art in its modern conceptualisation.

The reason for this is twofold. Contemporary African art displayed abroad is often very regional or fragmented. Secondly, there seems to be some confusion as to what African art is. By this I simply mean that there is a general vagueness, a sort of wishy-washy understanding of the dynamics of art from the continent.

This is perhaps as a result of the fact that generally speaking, the knowledge of the art in and outside the continent is very much dependent on the buyers. And who are the buyers and why are they the determining factor?

The buyers are the people who for various reasons, are able to travel to an African country and either buy art from galleries or directly from the artist and thereafter follow their carriers and support them. These are the so-called "patrons of the arts". These patrons - who actually wish to become collectors - start to buy art. in increasing quantities. Some speculate as they do so, either buying artworks they personally like or have been told is a good investment. These buyers expose others abroad to their collection either by hiring out their artwork as is the case with CAAC in Geneva or by writing books on the art they have collected, as is the case with André Magnin, curator for the Pigozzi collection or Fred Spinnler in Switzerland. I wrote an article about the latter for the Africa Link magazine in 2008. Mr Spinnler's collection is at the least, interesting andecclectic.

This select league of buyers present a select group of artists that they have chosen from the continent. They thus use this exclusive leverage to determine which artists on the continent sell/succeed and therefore, present a biased picture (pun intended) of the reality.

The fact that some countries like Nigeria are not very tourist-friendly makes things more complex for the artists. Nigeria, for example, has a thriving contemporary art industry which has been in existence for decades. The variety available for purchase on ground is simply incredible. The artists are talented, well trained and imaginative. However, outside the country, Nigerian artists are predominately under-represented. However, the ones that manage to have exhibitions abroad end up being the only names you hear. I would quote here Wole Lagunju, Tola Wewe and Sunday Jack Akpan. This list is far from exhaustive.

Older and especially famous examples of such artists include Bruce Onabrakpeya, Ben Enwanwu and Jimoh Buraimoh. But how many have heard these names abroad?

This problem is generally widespread for most African countries. The Congo has an extremely talented body of artists but again, the same problem.

The names that you do hear again and again include Cheri Samba, Moké, Malick Sidibé (winner of the Lion d’or at the Venice biennial in 2007), Seydou Keita and Richard Onyango.

I would even say it is no coincidence that most are from the francophone countries in Africa simply because there appears to be more support given to artists from this linguistic region of the continent.

These are some of the truly famous artists. It would however be very remiss of me not to mention the great Ghanaian artist, El Anatsui whose work was shown at the Art Basel Unlimited venue in 2008 as well as at the Venice Biennial in 2007.

Now let’s talk about the Diaspora. The artists in the Diaspora have the advantage of having being trained abroad and/or of living abroad, so they have more doors open to them…in a sense. Again, we only seem to hear the same names; Chris Ofili (Turner Prize winner), Yinka Shonibare and Kehinde Wiley.

And they are all men. Don’t get me started on that point.

I think the point is that the continent is too big to be fairly represented for the above reasons and for the simple fact that each African country has its unique history and culture which has and continues to influence its artistry.

All this said, it will be very interesting to see what this FOCUS09 has to offer. I hope to meet some artists or at the least, interview some of the organisers and get their views on the art of the continent as they presented it.

The FOCUS09 event takes place in Voltahalle, Basel from 1 – 14 June and links itself to the Art Basel event which takes place between 10 – 14 June 2009. Please visit their websites for more details.

http://www.focus09.ch

http://www.artbasel.com