Galerie Vallois
"Totems contemporains du Bénin"
Group show
Benjamin DÉGUÉNON, Agbodjinonto, 2023, sheet metal, nails, tin cans, sewing thread, artisanal string, 220 x 58 x 56 cm, credit: Louis Delbaere Studio
Is it enough for an artwork to rise vertically to be considered a totem, or does the very nature of the totem imply a spiritual dimension? The totem is probably, above all, a symbol, one that signifies a connection between different individuals of a group, whether familial, clan-based, or spiritual.
The thirty or so works by Beninese artists presented in this exhibition are crafted from very different materials: rebar for Marius Dansou, wood for members of the Dossou family, Gérard Quenum, Nathanaël Vodouhé, and Dominique Zinkpè, terracotta for Euloge Glélé, shoe scraps for Achille Adonon, or metal and fabric for Benjamin Déguénon.
However, these sculptures, diverse as they are in their purposes, share more than just verticality. The visitor intuitively perceives that beyond the form, something else is at play, without the nature of this thing being explicit. Like an embodiment of the sacred, which, in the case of Beninese artists, is not surprising when one considers that Benin, the former kingdom of Dahomey, is the homeland of Vodou.
Group show of Achille ADONON, Benjamin DÉGUÉNON, Amidou DOSSOU, Kifouli DOSSOU, Lassissi DOSSOU, Soumaila DOSSOU, Wabi DOSSOU, Euloge GLÉLÉ, Gaël LOKOSSOU, Gérard QUENUM, Nathanaël VODOUHÉ, Dominique ZINKPÈ.
From April 23rd to May 26th, 2024
The gallery
La Galerie Vallois is dedicated to modern and contemporary art. It was founded by Robert Vallois in 1983. Today, it is spread across two spaces in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, at 35 and 41 rue de Seine, adjacent to the Art Deco gallery founded in 1971 by Robert and Cheska Vallois.
Initially focused on sculpture, Galerie Vallois now represents painters, photographers, sculptors, and other visual artists from diverse geographical backgrounds, with a particular emphasis on contemporary African art, and more specifically, Beninese art.
It is now one of the key players in contemporary African artistic creation, both locally with the establishment of the Lobozounkpa Center (in Abomey-Calavi, Benin), and in Europe with the exhibitions and publications dedicated to it by the gallery.
Gallery artists
Achille Adonon, Didier Ahadji, Tatiana Antoshina, Edwige Aplogan, Aston, Youss Atacora, Philippe Brodzki , Mark Brusse, Elisabeth Buffoli, Agustín Cárdenas, Jorge Luis Miranda Carracedo, Chasse-Pot, William Chattaway, Coco Fronsac, Joseph Csaky, Charly D’Almeida, Marius Dansou, Benjamin Déguénon, Roberto Diago, Richard Di Rosa, Kifouli Dossou, Gao Brothers, Euloge Glèlè, George Herms, King Houndekpinkou, Ipoustéguy, KCHO, Richard Korblah, Yuri Kuper, Bengt Lindström, Daldo Marte, Yujiro Otsuki, Stéphane Pencréac’h, Gérard Quenum, Rémy Samuz, Leonid Sokov, Tchif, Prince Toffa, Epaphras Toihen, Nathanaël Vodouhè, A-Sun Wu, Boris Zaborov, Franck Zanfanhouédé, Dominique Zinkpè
