01/31/09
Text: Lauren Wang
The art scene in Miami has been scaling the ranks to international renown since the first Art Basel Miami Beach in 2002. Wolfgang Roth & Partners Fine Art, which opened in October 2008, continues to bring world-class exhibitions to the sun-kissed city. Paris and Nicky Hilton dropped by for the gallery opening a few months back, but we at Anthem are looking forward to their upcoming three-pronged exhibition, AFRICA.
The crown jewel of this exhibition is a rare set of centuries-old Benin bronzes, kings' masks from the once vast Benin empire. The exhibition also features photographic portraiture from the 1950s to present day, by African artists Malick Sidibé (Mali), Philip Kwame Apagya (Ghana), and Samuel Fosso (Cameroon). Western photographers contributed the third component of the exhibition, namely Leni Riefenstahl's images of the Nuba tribe in Sudan and hand-embellished photographs of indigenous East Africa by Peter Beard.
At first glance, the selections seem a little anachronistic. Apagya's painted backdrops of airports and hair salons against Beard's painted-on snapshots of elephants in the Serengeti? Venerable bronze sculptures made for royalty on display next to Fosso's extravagantly costumed self-portraits? But in considering the living paradox of aspiring to Western culture against traditional African values, these bold, off-kilter conjunctions may be the right medicine after all. Indeed, Fosso's colorful self-portraits might be the lynchpin that ties this ambitious collection together.
The exhibition opening, hosted by the curator Peter Herrman, will be held this Saturday, January 31, from 7 to 10 PM. AFRICA will run through March 21, 2009.
Wolfgang Roth & Partners Fine Art, 201 NE 39th Street, Miami Design District.
