CHEN J. YVES "Le beau village"
LILADHAR SANDJAY "Le cri"
CHAN CAROLE "Femme au zebu"
ART FROM MADAGASCAR
till May 3rd, 2008
On April 10th, the president of the Republic of Madagascar did open the exhibition in the presence of 400 diplomats, politicians and guests from culture and commerce.
After independency of Madagascar a search of sense in art began and resulting from it a resort to the own traditional forms of the Madagascan culture. In the following decades there was constantly an argument with the international modern trend, particularly with the techniques of abstraction. The result was that the Madagascan artists started to experiment with their possibilities. Characteristic is the stylization of picture contents and at the same time an expressive mode of colour und form. By the rich, bright colours of the tropics the artists could fall back to a sumptuous pallet. With this kind of art they refer to their society and the love for their homeland. Even the internationally known artists of Madagascar, like Jean-Yves Chen, Liladhar Sandjay or the black-and-white photographer Pierrot Men, in spite of their mostly international education and worldwide exhibitions, are still uniquely connected to the culture of their homeland.
Albert Bour, the president of "L'Association pour la promotion des arts naifs, populaires et sacrés du monde" (Apame), succeeded with a series of European exhibition projects in especially promoting the Madagascan art and some of the best works of the association are now shown at the ART CENTER BERLIN.
Pierrot Men's photos are at the essence of the "Great Island": with neither violence nor passion, just a quietude that seems encased in eternity. For on the "Great Island", life is but an adventure, an obligatory passage that must be subsumed while awaiting deliverance.
Additional to the art exhibition, never before seen historical documents of the 19th century from the Germany Emperor and the Queen of Madagascar as well as historical banknotes are displayed.
Photography by Pierrot Men
