Gerard Quenum’s work is instantly recognisable owing to his signature use of discarded dolls’ parts and found objects, which create witty yet haunting ‘portraits’. Quenum uses aged dolls which he reconfigures into evocative assemblages. The sculptor’s ability lies in his storytelling, engaging the imaginative faculties by transporting the viewer into an alternate reality transcending time and space. The wooden objects he chooses - mortars, ritual drums or pilings that once supported entire houses in the marshy lagoons surrounding Porto-Novo, also have unique histories. The woods are impregnated with inherited stories, their roughened surfaces speaking about the lives of many, concealing alternate worlds and other experiences entirely. Through his sculptures, Quenum fulfils his main task to ‘act as a messenger’.
Read MoreQuenum had his first solo exhibition at October Gallery, Clandestins - Stowaways, in 2009 followed by other international exhibitions which include Gerard Quenum: Rupture at the Fondation Zinsou in Cotonou, Benin in 2013 and O dragao entre dois mundos (The Dragon Between Two Worlds) at Museu Afro Brasil in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2010. His works can be found in esteemed collections such as the British Museum, London, UK, and the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University, Stanford, USA.
Text courtesy October Gallery.
