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Rafi

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Press Release

of Africa - www.galeria-out-of-africa.com

arrer Nou - 08870 Sitges (Barcelona) - España

ia-out-of-africa.com - Tel: +34 618 356 351

Insightsy (Benin – painting)

&

atues and terracottasst and Central Africa

itges (Barcelona)tember to 3rd November 2013

September 2013

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I N S I G H T S

Inauguration of the Out of Africa gallery in Sitges: A unique contemporaryand tribal art space 35km to the south of Barcelona.

100m2 of gallery space in the historic centre of Sitges putting contemporaryand tribal African art in perspective.

Currently riding a wave of success, the Outof Africa gallery has carved itself anexclusive high quality niche since its launchon the 1st of June in Sitges (Barcelona),thanks largely to its presentation ofAfrica’s best contemporary artistsalongside a collection of tribal art andtraditional objects with provenance fromdifferent West and Central Africanethnicities. These pieces have beencarefully collected throughout numeroustrips to the heart of Africa’s most remoteethnic villages.

Having exposed the work of painters LarryOtoo and Kobina Nyarko(Ghana) throughthe summer of 2013 alongside the recycledworks of Burkina artists Hamed Ouattara,Xavier Sayago, Sahab Koanda and SamboBoly, the Out of Africa Gallery opens anexhibition in September entitled “Insights”.

The painter Rafiy (Benin) will exhibit hisnew printed canvases: in his work intenselooks and stares pierce out from histhoughts and brush strokes.

Demonstrating that tribal art and modernAfrican art can sit quite comfortably in amodern interior space, the Out of AfricaGallery has selected for the month ofSeptember around 30 masks, statuettesand original fired earth pieces whosepiercing looks bear witness to the power ofcontact with gods, ancestors and otherspirits from the beyond in ritualcelebration.

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Rafiy – Cotonou – Benin - 1979 – Painter

Rafiy finishing a canvas for the Out of Africa gallery.

Rafiy (Bénin), a glance at the world.

Rafiy Okefolahan was born on the 7th

of January 1979 in Porto Novo(Benin).

He lives between Cotonou in Bénin,

Paris, Brussels and Barcelona. Having

trained in 2007 at the National Arts

school in Dakar, he took part in

“Rencontres professionelles en art

contemporain” in Ouidah,Bénin. In

2009, he was one of 5 artists from

Nudowa Yoyo chosen to exhibit in a

collective exhibition in the French

cultural centre of Cotonou. In 2010 the

French institute of Paris granted him a

studio space in the “Cite

Internationale des Arts” in Paris. In

2011, the Lazarew gallery in Paris and

Brussels exhibited him and he took

part in a collective show at the

invitation of Charley Case at the

“Triangle Bleu” gallery in Stavelot ,

Belgium and the “L&deco” gallery in

Paris. In 2012, he exhibited for the first

time in Spain at the request of the Out

of Africa gallery in Benasque(Huesca)

and in Paris at the Kaertner gallery.

That same year he was one of 14 artists

to be offered a video art residence at

“Art Bakery”, the contemporary art

centre created by Goddy Leye,

dedicated exponent of Cameroun’s

experimental art. Ever immersed in the

artistic life of his own Benin, in 2010 he

organised the “First Open Doors” with

his association Elowa, involving 45

plastic art studios, and in 2012 with the

same association he organized “L’un

dans l’autre”, a residence exchange

with the Belleville artists association in

Paris to get 20 Benin and French artists

working together.

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Rafiy – Dance of the Monkeys – 2013 – 120cm H x 120cm W – Mixedmedia.

Rafiy – The Monkeys market – 2013 – 120cm H x 188cm W – Mixedmedia :

Rafiy (Bénin), a look at man

His restless style captures the world’s

movement and articulates his work

around human beings caught in the

trap of history, snared in everyday life

and their own existence. He never

paints alone; he works within the noise

of the street, surrounded by market

sellers, friends in the passages and

televised news.

Whether standing up or on his knees

above the white nakedness of the

canvass, he’s poised to leap, ready to

integrate anything that comes his way.

He uses glue and acrylic, he paints,

scrapes, uses coffee stains and rust, he

draws, writes words and numbers in

charcoal, in pen, in pencil and with

pastels. Thus adorned, the canvas

oozes sensuality from these media

giving it body and stark, defined

colour.

He draws portraits of souls, of faces:

sources of right but also wrong. He

transcribes telephone numbers and

Christian names written up in chalk on

shop doors and windows. These

numbers lead him to reflect on

identity, on urban space and on

society’s mutations.

The process can sometimes be slow

and so, propped in a corner, the

canvass will wait to be taken up again

and tweaked.

Rafiy tells us of fact, of experience, of

opinions, a state of mind from which a

fantasy world of creatures bursts out.

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Guerrero Bini Edo – Benin City – Nigeria – 40cm H x 16cm W x15cm D - Bronze

Statue charm – Kongo - Democratic Republic of Congo – Wood, bone,iron, fabric, rope – 83cm H x 34cm W x 29cm D

Tribal art, another view.

To approach tribal art solely from an

aesthetic angle is to deprive it of most of its

meaning and its human significance. To

really feel the beauty of a piece of work,

you must understand its “raison d’etre”, its

objective and the mythical meaning it holds

for the person who created it and the

people who used it for traditional ritualistic

ceremonies. If, on the other hand, we

favour ethnology on the basis of aesthetics,

we rob it of its beauty, its pure form and its

visual impact.

We mustn’t forget that under the outer

aesthetic shell of all tribal art there is nearly

always a philosophical dimension: these

objects are aids to rites or traditional

celebration. Their main function is centred

on ancestral or mythical cults: bringing core

myths back to life, perpetuating the

memory of ancestors, acting positively on

supernatural forces or on emanations from

the beyond. On the other hand these ritual

objects insure cohesion and social

hierarchy, as well as respect for sacred

places and the preventing of unacceptable

behaviour within the group.

Man has always striven to transcend the

limits of his five senses by crossing the

threshold of the supernatural. So,

throughout history, men have conjured up

and made intermediaries. Nearly all of

Africa is familiar with and uses masks and

statues for traditional, ritual celebration.

The ritual mask and statue appears to be

the symbolic expression of certain aspects

of the supernatural. It allows safe passage

to the transcendental. Tribal art is

inextricably linked to music, rhythm, dance,

song, sacrifice and all of their rituals.

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Cult statue – Bembe – Democratic republic of Congo – Wood, naturalpigments, set in ceramics, nails – 21cm H x 6cm W x 7cm D.

Mask – Democratic Republic of Congo – Wood, textile and fibres -31cm H x 19cm W x 10cm D

Facial features give specific meaning to the

look of a face: a look from two squinted

eyes evokes an expression of spiritual

possession while prominent facial traits

with open eyes are found on masks and

statues whose aim to scare.

Before use, masks and statues must be

consecrated by initiated priests so they are

apt to receive the spirit or god they

represent, thus taking on sacred value.

The aim of ritual celebrations is not purely

for enjoyment though it’s fair to say that

onlookers get emotionally stirred when

watching the masks in a dance. These

gatherings are also about bonding within

the community.

There are also ritual objects found in

villages that even people from outside the

community can see. This is the case with

alters. The family alter, set up opposite the

house entrance, is thought to protect the

family enclosure against evil spirits.

Thanks to the oral nature of most African

cultures, history is often cast in myths, given

strength by the masks and statues which

bring them to life. A mask worn by a dancer,

whose identity is hidden, becomes the

manifestation of a spirit, a rare supernatural

creature, intervening in the group’s social

life.

When the mask wearer appears in his

fibrous or leafy costume, he isn’t just trying

to disguise himself, or make himself more

beautiful to the audience. He hides behind

an image lain down by the myth. The

masked man isn’t trying to pass himself off

as a god or a divine spirit. It’s the god or

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Statue charm - Vudu – Benin –Wood, sacrificial remains, fabric and iron- 51cm H x 16cm W x 15cm D

Helmet mask charm – Yoruba – Benin – Wood - 21cm H x 20cm W x25cm D P

spirit that possesses him and acts through

him.

“For Africans, everything is a sign or holds

meaning, so that all is symbolic” Leopold

Sedar Senghor.

More information

Sorella Acostasorella@galeria-out-of-africa.comwww.galeria-out-of-africa.com+34 618 356 351facebook : Galeria Out of Africa

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