Ibrahim Mahama's first solo exhibition in France on view at Frac des Pays de la Loire
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Saturday, November 2, 2024


Ibrahim Mahama's first solo exhibition in France on view at Frac des Pays de la Loire
Ibrahim Mahama. Courtesy of the artist and White Cube.



NANTES.- Over the past ten years, Ibrahim Mahama (born in 1987 in Tamale, Ghana) has been turning out a meticulous body of work socially engaged, interacting with the various museums, art centres, monuments and other public spaces that have hosted him. Through his—frequently spectacular—art works, the artist deconstructs historical situations plagued by the notion of failure or crisis in order to excavate the positive effects that may arise from such contexts. Jute sackcloth, shoe-shine boxes and sewing machines form the raw materials of imposing installations that explore the themes of labour, migration, globalisation and economic exchange.

For his first solo exhibition in France, Ibrahim Mahama continues to reflect upon recycled materials, the flow of goods and knowledge, while also branching out in a new direction. The Memory of Love is a blend of architecture, furniture, music and textile archives.

From the outset, visitors are greeted by Untitled (2019). Hoisted on the building’s façade to herald the site of the Frac from near and far are six flags taken from the 25 that made up the work when it was first presented in New York in front of the iconic Rockefeller Center. Made from jute sacks sourced or traded in Ghanaian markets, the banners revisit one of the artist’s favourite materials. These sacks, used to transport precious commodities such as cocoa beans, bear the memory of those men and women—migrants, labourers and the like—who carried them and sometimes marked them with their names.

Once inside the exhibition space, elements such as doors and windows taken from near the artist’s workshop in Tamale—located on the site of a former grain silo in the Brutalist architectural style of the 1960s—are combined with a selection of pieces from his own collection of wax prints and other colourful hand-crafted fabrics with a multitude of symbols and meanings. The disc motif—which also suggests a circle or water—found on the twenty or so doors that constitute the main work appears to echo the presence of records featuring over 50 albums of music typical of the post-independence period. Collected from the family of a Ghanaian DJ, these discs are mostly relics of the post-colonial period, as are the doors, shelves (from his alma mater) and wooden armchairs. The various designs—“Kofi Annan’s brain,” “Money can Fly,” “Fly whisk”—of these printed fabrics, also featured throughout the other panels/sculptures, revisit the history of Ghana in their own way, be it to praise political heroes, to commemorate historical events or to affirm social identity. Having initially trained as a painter, Ibrahim Mahama here reveals his taste for composition, material and colour. A reminder of a bygone age, vestiges of a time whose effects are constantly reappraised, The Memory of Love leads the viewer on a sensitive journey—of both sight and sound—through space and time. —Claire Staebler, Director of the Frac Pays de la Loire

Ibrahim Mahama (1987, Tamale) graduated from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, with a Master’s degree in painting and sculpture in 2013 and a Bachelor’s Fine Arts degree in painting in 2010.

In addition to his artistic practice, Mahama created the Red Clay Studio and the Savannah Art Center for Contemporary Art (SCCA) in 2019—two aspirational structures through which he develops productions, exhibitions and workshops for a wide-ranging audience. In 2021, Mahama launched Nkrumah Volini, a centre of cultural and artistic education housed in a former grain silo, as an extension of the SCCA and Red Clay Studio.

Mahama has exhibited at numerous international events (Venice Biennale in 2015 and 2019; documenta in 2017; Biennale of Sydney in 2020), and enjoyed a major solo show at the Whitworth Gallery, Manchester in 2019. He is currently mounting a solo show, to be held in autumn 2022 at the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam. In 2023, he is due to be the artistic director of the 35th Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts (Slovenia).










Today's News

July 11, 2022

McNay Art Museum acquires monumental bronze sculpture by Hank Willis Thomas

Pace Gallery opens Nina Katchadourian's first UK solo show in a decade in London

Roland NY presents exclusive exhibit of iconic sculptor Tony Rosenthal at Hamptons Fine Arts Fair July 14th - 17th

Exhibition surveys the prolific career of late artist and designer Virgil Abloh

New Museum presents first New York solo show of Kapwani Kiwanga

Meet Gorgosaurus: Sotheby's to offer first of its kind dinosaur in natural history auction this month

Halcyon Gallery opens an exhibition of over 30 works by Spanish artist Pedro Paricio

Open Now: Sabine Hornig at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York

Hauser & Wirth presents a selection of recent paintings by Camille Henrot

a83 presents the work of architect Anthony Ames

A powerful work by Eva Hesse is on public display for the first time in 35 years

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston opens 'Beauty and Ritual: Judaica from The Jewish Museum, New York'

Atlanta-based artist Lonnie Holley opens first solo exhibition with Blum & Poe

ZKM │ Center for Art and Media opens 'John Sanborn: Between Order and Entropy'

Elke aus dem Moore's 15th Triennial of Small Sculpture to be experienced in Fellbach until October 3

François Ghebaly opens an exhibition of works by Tammy Nguyen

Wichita Art Museum opens new exhibition "Beth Lipman: All in Time"

Larry Storch, comic actor best known for 'F Troop,' dies at 99

Mudam opens solo exhibition devoted to the work of artist Tacita Dean

Ibrahim Mahama's first solo exhibition in France on view at Frac des Pays de la Loire

Some surprising good news: Bookstores are booming and becoming more diverse

The Getty Research Institute acquires Black Women of Print's inaugural portfolio

Nouveau Musée National de Monaco opens an exhibition of photographs by Helmut Newton

Directors Aniko Erdosi and Florence Lynch join MARC STRAUS

Use Love Horoscopes To Your Advantage

Purchase Instagram followers from UK

Alexander Payne Talks Early Aspirations 'I Wanted to Be a Projectionist'




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Holistic Dentist
Abogado de accidentes
สล็อต
สล็อตเว็บตรง

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful