Thursday, July 3, 2008

Contemporary African Art Breaks Boundaries

Contemporary African Art Breaks Boundaries
Exhibition of Leading African Contemporary Artists, October 2-5,2008, New York City


New York, New York, May 14, 2008 ….From October 2-5, 2008, Art Off The Main will showcase a panorama of contemporary African art at New York City’s historic Metropolitan Pavilion, 110 West 19th Street, Chelsea. Art Off The Main is an annual art fair of contemporary African, Caribbean and Latin American art which was launched in 2004 to address the substantial lack of appreciation of art from these regions. While enjoying much support in Europe, contemporary African art is relatively unknown here in the United States. Art Off The Main not only provides a platform for exposure of the artistic expressions of cultures from across Africa it also exhibits art’s potential role in promoting intercultural understanding.

For many Americans, African art is limited to the traditional wood carvings and masks, which are the work predominately featured in art shows and museums. However, Art Off The Main brings together an impressive group of talented contemporary African artists who skillfully illustrate that there is more to African art than tribal masks. This annual staging creates a venue where viewers are exposed to the less-known side of African Art and serves to educate the public about the noteworthy contemporary artwork that is being produced in Africa today. Ethiopia’s Wosene Kosrof is among the artists whose works will be on exhibit along with Ghana’s Tafa, Senegal’s Souleymane Keita and Nigeria’s Olu Oguibe and Victor Ekpuk, to name a few. These artists speak to the realities of Africa while redefining African art for both the international and native audiences.

African artists are creating works equal in quality and creativity to that of their Western counterparts. Some artists have chosen innovative abstract subject matters demonstrating that these topics and stylistic modes are not unique to Western societies and that African artists are working in new ways with new and old materials, addressing their art to a wider public. However, while many contemporary African artists are exploring new mediums and modes of expression, they still hold true to African artistic traditions which fuses visual imagery with spiritual belief and social purpose. For example in Wosene Kosrof’s paintings, “the calligraphic forms of Amharic are broken apart, abstracted, and reconfigured to create a new visual language that draws upon the artist's Ethiopian heritage while incorporating his experiences as an expatriate living in the United States” . So although African art is rooted in its native communities, it is global in impact- it empowers audiences to see beyond geographic divides and explore the multilayered diversity and complexity of a contemporary Africa.

Art Off The Main creates a greater awareness and knowledge of contemporary African art and shows the American audience that in spite of (or perhaps because of) the hardships and adversities Africa faces, its visual artists are producing a remarkable body of work General admission to the show is $17. For tickets or information, contact Crawford Billings Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 1659, New York, NY 10276; 646-438-9958 or visit artoffthemain.com

No comments: