Text by Martin Henatsch, Bartholomäus Grill, Daniela Roth.
The Beninese assemblage virtuoso Romuald Hazoumè (born 1962) transforms plastic jugs and other discarded materials into masks and sculptural installations that explore the nexus of ritual and industrialization. Hazoumè mines the space of economic and psychic transaction between Africa and Europe--both the literal exchange of goods and the mutual delusion that paradise lies within the other.
Featured image is reproduced from Romuald Hazoumè: My Paradise.
"The Masques bidons, Hazoumè’s jerrycan masks, bespeak culturalization and counterculturalization. To a certain extent they belong to the traditions of Yoruba. On the other hand, however, they also reflect the projections of the West. The material from which the artist’s masks are made is Western waste. Old jerrycans, scratched records, a dented kettle, watering cans, and smaller plastic and metal parts…Asked in an interview about the 'object character' of his masks, Hazoumè said that they were actually nothing other than mockery…Does Hazoumè want to recycle? Does he not do the opposite, namely 'upcycling', by making art out of a trash object with the intention of putting in the museum for all eternity? In an interview, he himself called his first sixty-one Masques bidons, which he exhibited in April 1989 at the Centre culturel français in Cotonou, a 'satire' on African and European society."
FORMAT: Hbk, 9 x 9 in. / 144 pgs / 80 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $40.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $50 ISBN: 9783775726450 PUBLISHER: Hatje Cantz AVAILABLE: 10/31/2010 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of print AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA LA
Published by Hatje Cantz. Text by Martin Henatsch, Bartholomäus Grill, Daniela Roth.
The Beninese assemblage virtuoso Romuald Hazoumè (born 1962) transforms plastic jugs and other discarded materials into masks and sculptural installations that explore the nexus of ritual and industrialization. Hazoumè mines the space of economic and psychic transaction between Africa and Europe--both the literal exchange of goods and the mutual delusion that paradise lies within the other.
