The Jean Pigozzi African Art Collection
AFAA-IBORRI (12) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, black and red ink on paper
Allien Resurrection - 2004
150 x 205 cm
Ballpoint pen and graphite on paper
APPAJAX 2000 (4) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, black and red ink on paper
Beyond Creation - 2004
150 x 201.5 cm
Ballpoint pen and graphite on paper
Crucial Invention of ‘Prof Abu’ - 2005
160 x 213 cm
Ballpoint pen and graphite on paper
D.P.G (11) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, black and red in on paper
Dangerous Computer Virus - 2008
125 x 200 cm
Ball point, colored pencils and graphit on paper
Death Duel (20) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil And Black Ink On White Paper
DGP Universal (30) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, Black And Red Ink On White Paper
Diabase (23) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, Black And Red Ink On White Paper
Digital-Man - 2004
150 x 201.5 cm
Ballpoint pen and graphite on paper
Dogs of Hell (Sumanguru) - 2003
49.8 x 64.59 cm
Ballpoint pen and graphite on paper
Evil Detector - 2005
160 x 213 cm
Ballpoint pen and graphite on paper
Ginna Avion (21) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil And Black Ink On White Paper
Inferno (27) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, Black And Red Ink On White Paper
Kaitiri Watini (26) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, Black And Red Ink On White Paper
Karafilee (14) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, black and red ink on paper
Lumbricost-Terestial (19) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil And Black Ink On White Paper
Masibo (10) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, black and red ink on paper
Metal Storm II (25) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, Black And Red Ink On White Paper
Mistry (8) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, black and red ink on paper.
Mouse Abu - 2003
49.8 x 64.6 cm
Ballpoint pen and graphite on paper
Nambara (17) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, red and black in on paper
Nuclear Telephone Discovered in ‘Hell’ - 2003
100 x 130 cm
Graphite and coloured pencil on paper
One of The African Black Magic. The Witch Plane - 2008
150 x 200 cm
Ball point, colored pencils and graphite on paper
Sector A’Bubak (28) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, Black And Red Ink On White Paper
Sumanguru III (7) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, black and red ink on paper
The Evil Zone (13) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, black and red ink on paper
The Kitty Hawk of UFO (15) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, red and black in on paper
The Manchun (18) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, black and red ink on paper
The Master (16) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, black and red ink on paper
The Metal ‘Falcon’ - 2005
160 x 213 cm
Ballpoint pen and graphite on paper
The Sacrifice (6) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, black and red ink on paper.
The Triumph II (9) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, black and red ink on paper
The UFO Leader (5) - 1997
21 x 30 cm
Pencil, black and red ink on paper / Crayon et encres noire et rouge sur papier blanc
Abu Bakarr Mansaray
Born 1970, Tongo, Sierra Leone
Lives and works in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in western Africa; in choosing a career as an artist Mansaray has laboured to stem the collapse of a nation drained by civil war. After leaving school in 1987, he settled in Freetown, where he became a voracious autodidact, studying all aspects of practical science and engineering. He revived a technique especially popular in central Africa of manufacturing decorative objects or toys out of wire and iron. But he applied an extreme form of this technique to build futuristic machines for extravagant purposes, creating contraptions that could produce fire, light, air, water, cold, motion, and sound. “I am an artist making creations without limitation. I do drawings, paintings, sculptures . . . I also invent machines for my own use at home and sometimes for other people,” he has proclaimed.
Mansaray’s preparatory drawings also stand as independent artworks. These studies consist of detailed calculations, sketches, diagrams, and commentaries executed in pencil, ballpoint pen, and crayons. “I like doing strange, complicated drawings and designing intricate machines inspired by scientific ideas that are at times beyond the human imagination (for example, the machines I designed called Hell Extinguisher and Nuclear Telephone Discovered in Hell). . . . I want people to feel the power of creation.” No doubt the economic, political and social situation in Sierra Leone, a country where war has left behind nothing but ruins and charred bodies, has shaped Mansaray’s imagination and the inspiration. In 1998 he managed to escape his country under extremely difficult circumstances, and spent several years in the Netherlands; however, his work continues to bear witness to the horrors of war.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020
Alpha Crucis, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway (01.22 to 09.30 2020)
2019
Rothko in Lampedusa, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Palazzo Querini, Venice, Italy
2018
Afro-Tech and the Future of Re-invention, Begleitheft zur Ausstellung, Exhibition Booklet, HMKV Hartware Medien Kunst Verein, Dortmund, Germany
Design Histories between Africa and Europe. Flow of Forms / Forms of Flow, Museum für Völkerkunde, Hamburg, Germany
2017
Art/Afrique, le nouvel atelier. Les Initiés, un choix d’œuvres (1989 – 2009) dans la collection d’art africain contemporain de Jean Pigozzi. Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France (04/26/17 to 09/04/17)
2016
Magic and Power Of Magic Carpets and Drones, Marta Herford Museum, Germany
Independent Brussels, Brussels
2015
L’art et la machine, Musée des Confluences, Lyon, France
2015
Unorthodox, The Jewish Museum, NY, USA
2015
Biennale di Venezia, 56th Exhibition
2014/2015
Luminós/C/ity.Ordinary Joy: From the Pigozzi Contemporary African Art Collection, Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African & African American Art, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
2014/2015
9th Taïpei Biennale
2014
Ici l’Afrique/Here Africa - L’Afrique contemporaine à travers le regard de ses artistes, Musée des Suisses dans le Monde, Château de Penthes, Pregny-Chambésy, Switzerland
2014
1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London
Fiac Officielle, Magnin-A , Paris, France
Art Genève, Switzerland
2013
1:54 Contemporary Art Fair, London
Art Paris Art Fair, Paris
2011
Art Paris, Just Art! Grand Palais, Paris, France
2010
African Stories
Marrakech Art Fair, Marrakech
2010
ACM, Mansaray, Rigo 23 & Volyazlovsky,
Andrew Edlin Gallery,
New York, NY
ARTPARIS+GUESTS. André Magnin & Leridon Collection, Grand Palais, Paris, France
2009/2010
Insiders, CAPC de Bordeaux, France
2009 - 2010
Africa? Una nuova storia
Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome, Italy
2007
Why Africa?
Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli
Turin, Italy
2006
100% Africa
Guggenheim Museum
Bilbao, Spain
2005
Arts of Africa
Grimaldi Forum
Monaco - France
2005
African Art Now : Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection
Museum of Fine Art Houston
Houston - USA
2004 – 2006 (travelling exhibition)
Africa Screams – Das Böse in Kino, Kunst und Kult
The Evil and the Uncanny in Cinema and Art
* 29/04/04 – 12/09/04
Iwalewa-Haus
Afrikazentrum der Universität Bayreuth
Bayreuth – Germany
* 05/11/04 – 05/02/05
Kunsthalle Wien
Vienna – Austria
* 03/04/05 – 12/06/05
Kunstverein Aalen
Aalen - Germany
* 08/07/05 – 15/01/06
Museum der Weltkulturen Frankfurt
Frankfurt - Germany
2004 Africa Remix- Art contemporain d’un continent, travelling exhibition : 2004-2007
2004: 24 July-7 Nov. Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, Germany
2005: 10 Feb-17 April. Hayward Gallery, London, England
2005: 15 May-20 Aug. Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2006: 27 May-31 Aug.: Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2006/2007: 14 Oct.2006–14 Jan.2007: Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
2007: 24 June 2007 - 30 Sept. Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2000
Lyon Biennal for Contemporary Art
Lyon, France.
2000
Die ver-rückten Stücke
Stiftung für Eisenplastik
Zurich, Switzerland.
1998
7. Triennale der Kleinplastik
Stuttgart, Germany.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2018
Design Histories between Africa and Europe, flow of forms, forms of flow, Kerstin Pinther, Alexandra Weigand (eds.) Museum für Völkerkunde
Hamburg, Allemagne, Transcript Design
2017
Essentiel Paysage - Artistes Contemporains Africains face à l'environnement, catalogue d'exposition, Fondation Alliances, Musée MACAAL, sous la direction de Brahim Alaoui, p. 159
2017
Les Initiés, un choix d’œuvres (1989 – 2009) dans la collection d’art africain contemporain de Jean Pigozzi. Editions Dilecta, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France. Exhibition catalogue
2015
L’art et la machine, Musée des Confluences, Exhibition catalogue, Lienart publishers, Paris
Mana tukukuq Illapa, Universidad Ricardo Palma, Lima, Peru, 2015
2007
Why Africa?
Exhibition catalogue. Published by Electa & Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli.
2006
100% Africa
Exhibition catalogue. Published by TF Editores & FMGB Guggenheim Bilbao Museum.
2005
Arts of Africa: The Contemporary Collection of Jean Pigozzi
Exhibition catalogue. Published by Skira Edition & Grimaldi Forum Monaco.
2005
African Art Now: Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection
Exhibition catalogue. Published by Merrell.
2004
Africa Screams: Das Böse, in Kino, Kunst und Kult
Exhibition catalogue by Tobias Wendl. Published by Peter Hammer.
2004
Africa Remix
Exhibition catalogue. Published by Hatje Cantz.
2000
Exhibition catalogue.
Lyon Biennal for Contemporary Art, France.
1998
7. Triennale der Kleinplastik
Exhibition catalogue. Abu bakarr Mansaray by J. Soulillou.
Text in German p.176-177.
Stuttgart, Germany.
1996
Contemporary Art of Africa, p.164-167.
Text by Jacques Soulillou.
Edited by André Magnin and Jacques Soulillou.
Publisher Harry N. Abraams.
