Emmanuel Kavi or Komlan Kavi (born 3 March 1970,
Lomé
Lomé ( , ) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Togo, largest city of Togo. It has an urban population of 837,437 Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...
), is an African
contemporary
Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...
painter. He refers to his style, a fusion of
figurative and
abstract art
Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a Composition (visual arts), composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. ''Abstract art'', ''non-figurative art'', ''non- ...
, with the term "flouisme."
Biography
Emmanuel Kavi was born on 3 March 1970 in
Lomé
Lomé ( , ) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Togo, largest city of Togo. It has an urban population of 837,437 ,
Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...
. A self-taught painter, Kavi began with drawing and illustration. In 1987, at 17 years old, he won a national drawing contest in Togo. Progressively, his style evolved towards the abstract. In 2001 he began to exhibit, first in West Africa and then in Europe, where his style is sometimes termed "African cubism."
From 2006, his style further evolved into a fusion of abstract and realism. He began to call this "flouisme". At the same time he established his studio in
Ouagadougou
Ouagadougou or Wagadugu (, , , ) is the capital city of Burkina Faso, and the administrative, communications, cultural and economic centre of the nation. It is also the List of cities in Burkina Faso#Largest cities, country's largest city, wi ...
, which he considered "the crossroads of African art."
Since 2008 he has conducted several trips to France, exhibiting and performing in several cultural venues.
Work
He works without sketches using materials derived from African soil: pigments, henna, sand, straw and gravel. He places the colours one after another and gradually, as he mixes tools (brushes, knives, fingers) and techniques (erasure, collage, water jet ...), his work takes shape. Daily life, human interactions, nature, spirituality and children are his favourite themes. He sometimes includes tribal symbols and signs in his work, especially of the
Dogon people
The Dogon are an ethnic group indigenous to the central plateau region of Mali, in West Africa, south of the Niger bend, near the city of Bandiagara, and in Burkina Faso. The population numbers between 400,000 and 800,000. They speak the Dogo ...
of
Mali
Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...
.
Because of their construction, relief and particular methods, Kavi's works have many different aspects, causing new objects to appear, depending on the light and the angle of the viewer. He uses the term "flouisme" to describe this phenomenon of progressive revelation.
Exhibitions
* 2001: Espace Zaka (Burkina Faso)
* 2002: Centre culturel américain (Mali)
* 2003: Espace Gondwana (Burkina Faso)
* 2005: Galerie Villa Sikandra (Burkina Faso)
* 2006: Lausanne (Switzerland)
* 2006: Galerie Huijs Basten Asbeck (Netherlands)
* 2007: Auction sale "Devoir de mémoire" at the galerie Tajan - Paris (France)
* 2009: Exhibition at the Villa Sikandra during the first festival of the plastic arts in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)
* 2010: Exhibition at Ménilmuche - Paris (France)
* 2012: Exhibition at
Saint-Blimont
Saint-Blimont () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
Geography
The commune is situated west of Abbeville, on the D106 road. Sitting squarely between the industrial Vimeu region and the tourist regions of ...
in Offeu, at the Château des lumières
* 2012: Exhibition at the Salon International des Arts d’Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)
See also
*
Contemporary African Art
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 ...
References
External links
Personal site of Emmanuel KaviInterview with Emmanuel Kavi on www.togocultures.com* http://www.lunion.presse.fr/article/culture-et-loisirs/atelier-et-exposition-emmanuel-kavi-artiste-flouiste
Togolese artists
Togolese painters
Abstract artists
1970 births
Living people
People from Lomé
Contemporary painters
21st-century Togolese people
{{Africa-painter-stub