What Happened in the Western Cape? by Willie Bester. All photos courtesy Sothebyâs
Speculation, rumors, and revelations have always surrounded David Bowie, before and after his death. Most are aware he was married to a Somali model, Iman, and have heard his song "African Night Flight," a tribute to the music and culture of the veld following a trip to Kenya with his son in the late 1970s. But what is perhaps less known is Bowie's passion for contemporary African art. In 1995, he wrote the article âThe Cleanest Work of Allâ for Modern Painters, in which he described African artists as having âonly one common thread: an unquenching thirst for national- and self-understanding.â This November, with over 350 works, Bowie's contemporary African art collection will be exhibited and auctioned at Sothebyâs under the title Bowie/Collector.Since his Kenya trip, Bowie had been âmesmerised by the spontaneous and ever changing panorama of this continentâs [Africaâs] artistic experiments.â But it was not until 1995 when he traveled to South Africa for the Johannesburg Biennale titled Africus that his appreciation of contemporary African art gained notoriety. Less than a year after the end of apartheid and international boycotts, the Biennale aimed to reconnect South Africa with Africa and the rest of the worldâthrough art. Bowie wrote about the Biennale in the Modern Painters article, stating, âThis is as mind-jarringly moving as any major art-thing Iâve seen, East, West or Middle, in any year.âIt was at this time that Bowie met some of the artists featured in his collection on show in London. This included leading Angolan contemporary artist AntĂłnio Ole, whose work Bowie described as capturing âthe tension between the different logics of war and peaceâŠthere is a sub-text that envelopes the soul.â He also met Romuald HazoumĂš, whose now-famous tongue-and-cheek masks play on expectations and stereotypes of African art. Bowie described HazoumĂš as a âbig and jolly chap who reminds me much of early footage of Muhammed Ali at his most poeticâ and describes the Beninese artist as âin his element sorting through the contents of garbage cans throughout Africa (yes, I mean it), transforming his finds into pure icons of humor and spirituality.âOn his return to London, Bowie went on to push for an exhibition of contemporary South African art in the UK to coincide with africa95, a festival of African arts in the UK. His hope was that this would "challenge our preconceptions of âothernessâ and establish African art as being some of the most tantalising and provocative work to be seen,â adding that, âif we continue to categorize art that is outside our cultural experience as somehow âlow art,â curio or merely artefact, we will be dealing these artists a serious injustice and we ourselves will be far poorer for it.âIn 1995, Bowie also hosted his first solo exhibition, New Afro-Pagan And Work 1975-1995âin collaboration with South African artist Beezy Bailey, with whom he worked on more than 50 paintings and drawings. Bowie truly appreciated and championed contemporary African art. He did this at a time when African art was only thought of as traditional, and the continent overall was tarnished with negative stereotypes of war and corruption.Today, as his collection is unveiled in one of Londonâs most prestigious art institutions, Bowie continues to challenge âpreconceptions of âothernessââ about Africa from beyond the grave.Click here to learn more about the exhibit Bowie/Collector and auction.Related:You Can Buy David Bowie's Art Collection (If You Have the Cash)Artists Preserve Nelson Mandela's Legacy with 95 Unique Posters25 Contemporary Artists Reimagine the African MaskTake a Haunting Trip to Nairobiâs âConcrete Jungleâ in These Images
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