Simonet Biokou

Last updated

Simonet Biokou (born 1965) is a contemporary Beninese scrap metal artist. He has also appeared in film, playing himself in the 1998 film Divine Carcasse, in which his character is shown creating a sculpture using car parts. [1] His works have been featured in major metropolitan museums including the Metropolitan Museum in New York. [2]

Contents

Biography

Simonet Biokou was born on July 7, 1965 in Porto-Novo, Benin. [3] He comes from a family of blacksmiths who helped him acquire his skills with metal before pursuing art as a career. He started his journey along with his cousins and fellow scrap metal artists Calixte and Theodore Dakpogan, who at first did not support his decision to become an artist fearing that no one would buy his work. After seeing interest in his art from a man in the French Embassy who acquired one of his statues, they joined him in using recycled parts to make artworks. [4] Both the brothers and Biokou were commissioned to contribute statues in Ouidah for Ouidah 92, a festival that brings attention to the African Diaspora in Benin and the slave route. [5]

Biokou is based in Porto Novo, Benin, where Vodun (or Voodoo) is an official religion practiced by 40% of the population. His creative and symbolic pieces that highlight his cultural heritage have allowed him to become the only contemporary African sculptor exhibited at the Contemporary Art Museum of Liège, Belgium. [6] He has frequently exhibited in Africa, Europe, and Canada.

Artworks

A common theme in his artworks is the depiction of professions, like musicians or soldiers, as well as Voodoo spirits and priests. He utilizes recycled metal from different objects for his sculptures, like bicycle chains, car rims, gears, and screws. [7] [8] [9]

Exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Collections

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West African Vodun</span> Religion practiced by the Aja, Ewe, and Fon peoples

Vodun is a religion practiced by the Aja, Ewe, and Fon peoples of Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Nigeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ouidah</span> Commune and city in Atlantique Department, Benin

Ouidah or Whydah, and known locally as Glexwe, formerly the chief port of the Kingdom of Whydah, is a city on the coast of the Republic of Benin. The commune covers an area of 364 km2 (141 sq mi) and as of 2002 had a population of 76,555 people.

Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, also known as Cheik Nadro, was an Ivorian artist.

Calixte Dakpogan is a Beninese sculptor known for his installations as well as his masks made out of diverse and original found materials. A native of Pahou, he currently lives and works in Porto Novo. Much of his work is inspired by his Voudon heritage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain</span> Contemporary art museum in Paris, France

The Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, known simply as the Fondation Cartier, is a contemporary art museum located at 261 boulevard Raspail in the 14th arrondissement of the French capital, Paris.

Contemporary African art is commonly understood to be art made by artists in Africa and the African diaspora in the post-independence era. However, there are about as many understandings of contemporary African art as there are curators, scholars and artists working in that field. All three terms of this "wide-reaching non-category [sic]" are problematic in themselves: What exactly is "contemporary", what makes art "African", and when are we talking about art and not any other kind of creative expression?

Ananias Leki Dago is an Ivorian photographer.

Cyprien Tokoudagba was a Beninese sculptor and painter. He was from Abomey, Benin.

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Cotonou, Benin.

Julien Sinzogan, is a Beninese contemporary painter and graphic artist. His artwork actively engages the impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade on his native Benin, one of the largest slave-trading posts of West Africa. He has exhibited widely throughout Europe and Africa. As a professional artist Sinzogan's techniques and references move from areas of monochrome pen and ink into glimpses of full-color scenes. He lives in Paris, France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vodun art</span>

Vodun art is associated with the West African Vodun religion of Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana. The term is sometimes used more generally for art associated with related religions of West and Central Africa and of the African diaspora in Brazil, the Caribbean and the United States. Art forms include bocio, carved wooden statues that represent supernatural beings and may be activated through various ritual steps, and Asen, metal objects that attract spirits of the dead or other spirits and give them a temporary resting place. Vodun is assimilative, and has absorbed concepts and images from other parts of Africa, India, Europe and the Americas. Chromolithographs representing Indian deities have become identified with traditional Vodun deities and used as the basis for murals in Vodun temples. The Ouidah '92 festival, held in Benin in 1993, celebrated the removal of restrictions on Vodun in that country and began a revival of Vodun art.

The International Festival of Vodun Arts and Cultures, also known as the Ouidah Festival, was first held in Ouidah, Benin in February 1993, sponsored by UNESCO and the government of Benin. It celebrated the transatlantic Vodun religion, and was attended by priest and priestesses from Haiti, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil and the United States, as well as by government officials and tourists from Europe and the Americas. The festival was sponsored by the newly elected president of Benin, Nicéphore Soglo, who wanted to rebuild the connection with the Americas and celebrate the restoration of freedom of religion with the return to democracy. Artists from Benin, Haiti, Brazil and Cuba were given commissions to make sculptures and paintings related to Vodun and its variants in Africa and the African diaspora.

Dominique "Kouas" Gnonnou is a contemporary Beninese artist and sculptor of Vodun art.

Theodore Dakpogan is a Beninese Vodou artist. His work is influenced by 19th century Fon sculpture. He is noted for his scrap metal sculptures. The artist from Benin is a former blacksmith. Using discarded pieces of iron, he creates works of art, connecting them with the roots of the Vodun religion. As a modern artist, he shows an interest in the tensions between the past and the present, between the "First" and "Third" worlds. His works of art created from discarded things of consumerism and mass production, point to the unresolved state of postcolonial Africa.

Yves Apollinaire Pede (1959–2019) was a Beninese voodoo artist. After being commissioned to reproduce reliefs for the Abomey Museum, he made sand paintings of well-known personalities such as Nelson Mandela. He gradually became oriented towards textile art, looking to Haitian and Cuban Vodou artists for inspiration. He is also noted for his large cement sculptures and bas-reliefs, and is stated to have a "special interest" in Kulito, a Fon word which literally means "the one from the path of death".

Pélagie Gbaguidi (1965-) is a Beninese artist who lives and works in Brussels. She is most well-known for her series of paintings and drawings titled “le Code noir” which evokes the violence of the slave trade and its effected trauma on the following generations of Western African cultures.

Marie-Cécile Zinsou is a French-Beninese art historian and entrepreneur, She is president of the Fondation Zinsou, founded in 2005 in Cotonou, Republic of Benin, West Africa, which promotes contemporary art in Africa and leads cultural, educational and social initiatives. In 2014 she opened the first museum of contemporary art in Benin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valérie Oka</span> Ivorian artist and designer (1967–2023)

Valérie Oka was an Ivorian artist and designer.

Jean-Dominique Burton, born on 13 October 1952 in Huy (Belgium), is a Belgian photographer and filmmaker, author of several books of photographs focusing on Europe, Asia and Africa. Since 1978, numerous exhibitions have been dedicated to his work, in Europe, Africa, North America and Asia. Many of his works have also been included in public and private collections.

References

  1. ↑ "Divine carcasse". IMDb. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  2. ↑ "Reconfiguring an African Icon: Odes to the Mask by Modern and Contemporary Artists from Three Continents". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  3. ↑ "AFRICAN LOXO - Bio Simonet BIOKOU". www.africanloxo.com. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  4. ↑ Rush, Dana. “Contemporary Vodun Arts of Ouidah, Benin.” African Arts, vol. 34, no. 4, 2001, pp. 32–96. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/3337805.
  5. ↑ Cousin, Saskia, and Théodore Dakpogan. “Des Faïences de Gou: Art Contemporain et ‘Vodun’ Au Bénin.” Cahiers d’Études Africaines, vol. 56, no. 223, 2016, pp. 503–16. JSTOR
  6. ↑ Badoi, Fabiola. "Biokou". Benin Arts Visuels. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  7. ↑ “Sculptures Africaines de Simone Biokou.” Masques, Statues, d’art Africain
  8. ↑ Beaujean-Baltzer, Gaëlle (2009). Artistes d'Abomey . Musée du quai Branly. p. 127. ISBN 9789057791109.
  9. ↑ Jeune Afrique L'intelligent . Groupe Jeune Afrique. 2002. p. 105.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.