Abdoulaye Konaté: The Diffusion of Infinite Things (2021/04/10)
I visited the first solo exhibition of Abdoulaye Konaté in Japan at Standing Pine, Nagoya. This is the second time for the gallery to host a solo show of leading African contemporary artists, following the success of Joel Andrianomearisoa’s exhibition last summer. Konaté is born in 1953 in Mali and has gained international visibility as the first generation of the African contemporary art scene.
He is known for textile-based installations whose motifs are west African fabric cultures. The majority of his latest works are large-scale abstract installations of a utopian atmosphere consisting of colorful geometric patterns. Last year he held “Symphonie au Kente” at Gallery 1957, Accra, taking inspiration from Ghanian Kente cloth. I saw its exhibition views on SNS of the gallery, and they are amazing. I love these types of oeuvres by Konaté, but Standing Pine showcases another aspect of the artists.
In the solo show in Nagoya, there is a different type of artwork from others. “Les boutons d’amour”(2005) consists of pure white textile, buttons, red fabric fragments, and the Red Ribbon, a universal symbol of awareness and support for people living with HIV.
The commentary of the gallery website sites Konaté’s words: “All dangerous pandemics as Plague, Tuberculosis, Leprosy, and AIDS caused serious dramas to society. I strongly believe that any sick person, without any distinction, needs for love more than anyone else.” As the commentary says, they are more actual than ever in today’s situation.
Abdoulaye Konaté used to produce these kinds of symbolic artworks, which directly refer to social issues inside and outside his country in the 90s and 00s. The gallery owner, Tatematsu san, prefers his latest style of utopian atmosphere, but browsing catalogs of his past exhibition together, we again realize the power of past style works.
I’m especially impressed by his works which use national flags or political symbols directly as motifs to describe social structure originated from the Cold War critically, and other works that raise awareness of the genocide in Bosnia, Angola, and Rwanda. As the impact of the conflict caused by refugees to DRCongo from the genocide of Rwanda remains serious, Konate’s political works are still meaningful today. (I am heartbroken over people suffering from the volcano eruption in the Eastern Congo and also concerned about refugees to Rwanda.)
