For the 2024 edition of Art Basel Paris, MAGNIN-A gallery presents a solo show by Romuald Hazoumè.
Romuald Hazoumè began his career in Benin in the 1980s with a practice that was to become his signature: the creation of masks based on gasoline cans. He later developed monumental works such as «Bouche du Roi», a powerful evocation of the slave trade, acquired by the British Museum, and «Dream», about contemporary migration, for which he won the Arnold Bode Prize at Documenta in 2007. He exhibits this year at the 60th Venice Biennale «Àse», a large-scale installation in the first-ever Beninese pavilion, and we are pleased to showcase the richness of his work at the Grand Palais through a sculpture and a variety of masks.
Romuald Hazoumè, born in 1962, is a Beninese artist who has been expressing himself for nearly 40 years through sculpture, painting, installation and photography. Of Yoruba origin - his ancestor was a babalao, the high priest of «fâ» who came from Nigeria to the court of the king of Porto-Novo - he considers himself an «aré»: «Among the Yorubas, there were itinerant artists called «aré» who were responsible for carrying culture from one kingdom to another. I totally identify with this term.»
Romuald Hazoumè’s work is immediate and striking, often using humor and derision to develop a critique. He creates spaces where Africa and the West intermingle. However, his work does not result in a soft reconciliation. The artist puts his finger where it hurts, stopping at knots of conflict and tension, applying pressure that is both painful and beneficial. Among these painful knots are stereotypes: those of North-South relations, but also those of Africans’ relationship with themselves and their continent.
One of the most emblematic practices in his work, which we would like to pay tribute at this edition of Art Basel Paris, is the creation of masks from gas cans, combined with found objects to reveal a personality. Behind a certain formal clarity, a simplicity akin to that of ready-mades, several lines of thought emerge that complicate their approach.
Of Yoruba origin, it’s easy enough to say that Hazoumè perpetuates a form of tradition by making masks, symbols of the art of his ancestors. However, the use of cans and found objects makes it impossible to confuse them with ancient masks. In this way, the artist makes a major detour, disrupting Western perceptions about African art. According to Philippe Dagen: «These modern metamorphoses are uncomfortable. They are likely to raise disturbing questions. For example: What are the undertones of the cult of the ancient and the authentic to which I adhere? Am I not still mired in the «primitive» and the exotic?
The almost systematic use of gas cans in his work also opens a second level of interpretation. One of Benin’s economic resources is the smuggling of gasoline from neighboring Nigeria, a hydrocarbon producer. Bulky jerrycans overflowing with petrol are stowed on outdated motorcycles, which the riders risk their lives to drive. The can is then a symbol of an underground economy, sometimes deadly, charged with contemporary economic and political significance.
Furthermore, each mask has its own reality, an identity that serves a purpose intended by the artist. The combination of elements added to the can - feathers, fabrics, pipes or heels - and a sometimes evocative or implied title, enables the artist to create a personality, anonymous or public, to denounce or celebrate. Revealing this personality is not easy, as the artist diffuses a few clues that must be pieced together to identify his subject. These decades of practice have allowed him to create a pantheon of men, women and cultures, unknown or historical figures, that reflects the ideals of this committed artist.
Romuald Hazoumè’s work has been shown in major international exhibitions (La Bouche du Roi: an artwork by Romuald Hazoumè, The British Museum, 2006; Documenta 12, Kassel, 2007; The Progress of Love, The Menil Collection, Houston, 2012; Romuald Hazoumè, Beninese Solidarity with Endangered Westerners, Kunsthaus Graz, 2013; Art/Afrique: le nouvel atelier, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, 2017; Alpha Crucis, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, 2020; Ex-Africa, Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, 2021, 60th Venice Biennale, Arsenale, Benin Pavilion, 2024). His works are included in many prestigious collections (MoMA, NY; The British Museum, London; National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington; The Brooklyn Museum, NY; Musée des Beaux-Arts Montréal; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris).
