Meschac Gaba

Born in: 1961
From: Cotonou, Benin
Lives and works: Cotonou, Benin
Represented by: In Situ - fabienne leclerc
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meschac_Gaba

UN goals

Biography

Considered as a pioneer having participated in shedding light on contemporary African art, Meschac Gaba’s work explores the tangled relations between the West and Africa. Using primarily mixed media –handmade, found and altered objects–, his work aims at showing a decolonized perspective on African life and its culture.

In the absence of a proper setting to showcase art from his region, Gaba developed a project entitled Museum of contemporary African art. Conceived specifically to foster his work and that of his African peers, one of the main axes consisted of incorporating devalued, decommissioned or in use currency, leading him to analyse economic and production systems. Like his fellow artist El Anatsui, Gaba’s work explores Africa’s position in our globalised world and its colonial past.

Gaba also questions art’s role in our society and expands its scope through the integration of everyday objects like instruments which is evocative of Picasso’s first assemblages. But Gaba takes them further by fabricating architectural wigs or other structures exploring African identity.

Career highlights

Solo shows

2017, Cotonou, Benin: Meschac Gaba: Detresse et mon Jardin
2015, Musée de l'histoire de l'Immigration, Le Palais de la Porte Dorée, Paris, France: Architectures Sculptures
2014, Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island city, USA: Citoyen du Monde
2013, Tate Modern, London, UK: Meschac Gaba: Museum of Contemporary Art 1997 - 2002
2009, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China: Meschac Gaba: Sweetness

Group shows

2023, Joan Miro Foundation, Barcelona, Spain: Imaginary Friends
2019, Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah, UAE: Leaving the Echo Chamber, Making New Time
2018, Biennial of Contemporary African Art DAK'ART, Dakar, Senegal: The Red Hour
2015, Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain: Making Africa, A Continent of Contemporary Design
2014, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico: El Teatro del Mundo