Sam Kouri
Prof. Alton
Artist Biography
13 March 2016
Closer to Love “If power cannot be used to love human beings, why try to conquer it?-Pascale Marthine Tayou(Jouanno). Pascal Marthin Tayou, later feminized to Pascale Marthine Tayou, was born in 1967 to a new generation on Cameroonians, a generation that was now longer conquered by the French (Magnin). On January 1st 1960 President Ahmadou Ahido gained independence for his people by uniting the formerly British Southern Cameroons with French Cameroun to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon (Chika Okeke-Agulu). At this time Tayou was pursuing a career in law hoping that is would lead to a kind of purity. He later fled the profession after realizing the system was corrupt and turned to an old passion of his, art. Tayou stated, “when I was young I wrote and I drew. It was my way or rebelling.” (Bellmann) Beyond being part of his own life Tayou’s works today is based on the premise that art cannot be separate from life. Pascale Marthine Tayou is a chameleon able to change between many tiles such as sculptor, drawer, installator, performer, and video artist as well as a poet, writer, director and actor in his own plays and films (Bellmann) . His works might individually seem formless and out of control, viewed together in an instillation his works are like a series of interconnected dynamic networks that also like the chameleon blend together to create one message. Through Pascale Marthine Tayou postcolonial, modernist contemporary African art our society is reflected and in doing so our morals are challenged to seek love over all else. As a self trained artist Tayou career began with drawing; in 1995 he created a series of sketches based on Karl Marx’s Das Capital. After creating these first works he became associated with Doul’art association, contributing significantly to promotion the artist to the international scene. Since then, Tayou has participated in over 120 group shows and between 2001 and 2011 had 21 solo shows. By 2012 Tayou had carried out 144 public exhibitions across the globe. His most recent exhibition, Boomerang, presented by the Serptine Galleries was his first London solo show. This demonstration consisted of a diverse mix of sculptural forms that demonstrated Tayou’s unique visual language based on archetypes, made and found objects, and traditional craft (Franklin). From the beginning of his exhibiting in the early 1990s- Tayou has been renowned for combining found and discarder objects with a playful sense of craftsmanship. Post 2012 he has brought this skilled craftsmanship to solo exhibits at Fowler Museum at UCLA(2014), Kunsthaus Bregens(2014) and MACRO, Rome(2012) (Jouanno). All of these exhibits are relevant to the time period they are presented as they visualize the society actions. As a contemporary modernist Tayou departed from styles and values originally used in order to express a need for change in the societal structure. This new generation of artist that was no longer a colony under the sovereign powers of France began focusing on globalization through the lens of post-colonialism. New contemporary African art forms appeared consistently as Africa embraced globalization; the opportunity to travel became broader and many African artists elected to spend time away from their homelands. This period allowed for new inspiration making it hard to define the contemporary movement and Tayou’s nature in this movement. The qualities of his artwork can be put under the umbrella of afropolitanism(Birnbaum). The works created by these African artists from inside or outside Africa were all united by a shared view of Africa. Contemporary African art has the same themes as all contemporary art but are all influenced by a shred view of Africa. Time, place, identity, the body, language and spirituality are the themes shared by artist of the contemporary movement. The styles, techniques, materials, subjects, forms, purpose and aesthetic tradition that the artist use is incredible diverse and creates a vast area for contemporary art (Chika Okeke-Agulu). By its nature the art is self-motivated and resist classifications so the nature of the contemporary art is to not to be limited to one definition. This movement fueled by new inspiration and the ability to express new visions of society lead to Tayou creating beautiful and meaningful works. In 2015 “plastic bags” was displayed at the Museum of Contemporary act of Rome as part of his art instillation. This piece took 60 volunteers over 2 weeks to tie 15,000 plastic bags to a fishing net. ”Plastic Bag’ looking like a beehive or a bag created by the ginormous fishing net. It does not appear that a specific object is being expressed and the shape of the piece had little to do with the meaning (Laylin). Through a collection of found objects in the form of plastic bags a net was slowly raised higher as men and women tied bag over bag to create a collection of essentially junk. The use of space is a large element to a piece of such massive scale however the texture and form of the piece is what sends the message to society The randomization of that colors allows for a rhythm that emphasis this pattern or lack there of. A perfect mix between contrast of the colors and unity of the materials and shape allows for the design to shine through even with randomization. The world’s fascination of bright colors and malleable plastics has resulted in plastic pollution. Our infatuation with things and our need to fill the metaphorical plastic bag of our life with consumer goods is questioned with this shape of colorful bags. Our need to have more in a capitalist society has lead to a collection of empty bags that will stay with us as plastic pollution and a reminder of our need to have more. “Empty Gift” was a 2013 creation by Tayou for the group show “love is colder then capital”. From a distance this piece is a suspended sphere. The shape of this piece does have a larger impact on the meaning because the sphere is meant to represent a globe. Tayou’s artwork focuses on a global village and a unity between all earth dwellers. Throught the use of 1,000 empty parcels that where later wrapped by locals of Cameroon a globe 300cm in diameter was created (Phaidon). From first glance the piece is one sphere and there is unity but at a closer look after dissecting the piece that unity of texture in contrasted with the differences in shape and color of the individual gifts. The use of lines creates for each box to have an individuality that contributes to a greater whole. The same with color as each present has a different pattern and color of wrapping paper. Value throughout this piece is hard to see however the casting of shadows from one box to another allows to an even grander effect of the boxes popping out at the observer. Each box has its own wrapping paper that has a different pattern and color however all wrapping papers shares the same glossy texture. This idea of a global village could be expressed by saying we are all different colors and from different lifestyles but the texture of who we are as the human race is universal. Tayou himself finds it difficult to define the meaning of this encounter. The questions of what a gift is and it’s meaning arises through this piece but is never answered. Individuals offer surprise gifts for the people of the world however the gifts are a celebration of selfish generosity. The gifts that we give have become shallow and empty, they are selfish and a celebration of the ability to give these gifts. This piece in no longer able to be seen, after the group show the piece was disassembled and the empty gifts were given to the observers of the work. Not only do the gift symbolize a physical gift but the emptiness we have inside of us that needs to be filled with a sense of duty to serve and give. We need to seek love over all else is the result of the examination of our morals conducted by the postcolonial, modernist contemporary African art of Pascale Marthine Tayou. “Plastic bags”and “Empty Gifts” examine out need for more consumer goods. Our guest of collection drives us and that has lead us to an empty soul that result in shallow and empty actions. These recent works as part of the modernist contemporary movement that’s deals with problems in the now. Tayou’s collection of over 144 public exhibitions deals with the societal at that time period. Pascale Marthine Tayou’s artwork is an extension of who he is and the world he has been influenced by with the power of globalization. The diverse and obscure methods that allow for his exhibits to be a collection of a greater whole is the result of skilled craftsmanship and an understanding of the societal problems that bring us farther from love.

Work Cited
Bellmann, Karin. "Pascale Marthine Tayou." Art In America 102.5 (2014): 180-181. Academic Search Alumni Edition.
Birnbaum, Daniel, 1963. Defining Contemporary Art: 25 Years in 200 Pivotal Artworks. New York: Phaidon, 2011.
Chika Okeke-Agulu. and Marla C. Berns. and Christa Clarke. and Laurie Ann Farrell. and Khwezi Gule. and Kinsey Katchka. and Yukiya Kawaguchi. and Clive Kellner. and Karen E. Milbourne. and Riason Naidoo. and Enid Schildkrout. and Chris Spring. "Nka Roundtable III: Contemporary African Art and the Museum." Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art 31.1 (2012): 46-111. Project MUSE
Franklin Sirmans. "The Work of Pascale Marthine Tayou." Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art 6.1 (1997): 22-23. Project MUSE.
Jouanno, Evelyne. "Pascale Marthine Tayou." Journal of Contemporary African Art 11.12 (2000): 115-16. Print.
Laylin, Tafline. "Enormous Beehive Made of Recycled Plastic Bags Dangles at Rome's Museum of Contemporary Art." Inhabitat Green Design Innovation Architecture Green Building. N.p., 20 Feb. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
Magnin, Andr, Pigozzi,Jean C. African Art Now: Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection. Houston: Merrell, 2005
Phaidon Press. Cream: Contemporary Art in Culture. London: Phaidon, 1998.