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Lot Essay
Gerard Quenum’s practice is characterised by its referencing and reinvigoration of the local spiritual traditions of Benin, and also for his deployment of discarded European-style dolls. These dolls arrived in Benin in aid packages sent from Europe, Quenum combines the dolls with sculptural forms and elements of more localised motifs from Benin. Through this method Quenum channels ritual practices and spirituality into his sculptures. He states that his main task as an artist is ‘to act as a messenger’.
The twin Fa sculptures are evocative of elongated human forms, with small doll’s heads atop schematic carved-wood bodies. Potentially representing a male and a female, they are both adorned with cowry shells strung from metal wire. The carved-wood bodies are in fact divination boards, which along with cowry shells are used in Yoruba culture to divine the future. ‘Twins’ also constitute a highly important element of Yoruba culture and the Fa sculpture raises questions over how might one divine the future of a pair of twins.
In Slavery, a doll’s head has been transplanted into a totem-like wooden support which tapers to a point. Its face is haunting and hollow-eyed; bicycle parts adorn the sculpture like jewels and he deploys recuperated bike chains. Quenum carves line and pattern expressively into the wood, giving the sculpture a majestic patina. A strong, compelling and powerful piece, the trauma of the slave trade is indelibly etched into the sculpture. Every Quenum sculpture has little flecks of red, signifying blood, representing life force, the red of the bike light perhaps alluding to the blood shed during the slave trade.
Gerard Quenum continues to live and work in Porto Novo, Benin. His work is held in the permanent collections of The British Museum, London; The National Museum of Scotland; and the Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, USA. Gerard Quenum is represented by October Gallery, London.
The twin Fa sculptures are evocative of elongated human forms, with small doll’s heads atop schematic carved-wood bodies. Potentially representing a male and a female, they are both adorned with cowry shells strung from metal wire. The carved-wood bodies are in fact divination boards, which along with cowry shells are used in Yoruba culture to divine the future. ‘Twins’ also constitute a highly important element of Yoruba culture and the Fa sculpture raises questions over how might one divine the future of a pair of twins.
In Slavery, a doll’s head has been transplanted into a totem-like wooden support which tapers to a point. Its face is haunting and hollow-eyed; bicycle parts adorn the sculpture like jewels and he deploys recuperated bike chains. Quenum carves line and pattern expressively into the wood, giving the sculpture a majestic patina. A strong, compelling and powerful piece, the trauma of the slave trade is indelibly etched into the sculpture. Every Quenum sculpture has little flecks of red, signifying blood, representing life force, the red of the bike light perhaps alluding to the blood shed during the slave trade.
Gerard Quenum continues to live and work in Porto Novo, Benin. His work is held in the permanent collections of The British Museum, London; The National Museum of Scotland; and the Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, USA. Gerard Quenum is represented by October Gallery, London.