Simonet Biokou (born 1965) is a contemporary Beninese scrap metal artist. He has also appeared in film, playing himself in the 1998 film Divine Carcasse, in which his character is shown creating a sculpture using car parts.[1] His works have been featured in major metropolitan museums including the Metropolitan Museum in New York.[2]
Biography
editSimonet Biokou was born on July 7, 1965 in Porto-Novo, Benin.[3] He comes from a family of blacksmiths who helped him acquire his skills with metal before pursuing art as a career. He started his journey along with his cousins and fellow scrap metal artists Calixte and Theodore Dakpogan, who at first did not support his decision to become an artist fearing that no one would buy his work. After seeing interest in his art from a man in the French Embassy who acquired one of his statues, they joined him in using recycled parts to make artworks.[4] Both the brothers and Biokou were commissioned to contribute statues in Ouidah for Ouidah 92, a festival that brings attention to the African Diaspora in Benin and the slave route.[5]
Biokou is based in Porto Novo, Benin, where Vodun (or Voodoo) is an official religion practiced by 40% of the population. His creative and symbolic pieces that highlight his cultural heritage have allowed him to become the only contemporary African sculptor exhibited at the Contemporary Art Museum of Liège, Belgium.[6] He has frequently exhibited in Africa, Europe, and Canada.
Artworks
editA common theme in his artworks is the depiction of professions, like musicians or soldiers, as well as Voodoo spirits and priests. He utilizes recycled metal from different objects for his sculptures, like bicycle chains, car rims, gears, and screws.[7][8][9]
- Les musiciens, scrap metal. Features two figures sitting together on a bench playing a guitar and a trumpet. The sculpture is mostly made out of wrenches to form the shape of the instruments. This is one example of the many sculptures he has featuring professions.
- Le commerce de l’homme, scrap metal. Features 4 human figures in a boat, some of them chained to each other and one rowing the boat representing the Atlantic slave trade and how they would transport enslaved people, a prominent theme in Biokou's artwork. He accompanies the title with "the enslavement of Africans".
- Dieu Ogoun, scrap metal. Features a figure representing Ogun, the god of iron in Voodoo culture, a great inspiration as well as one of the main subjects in Biokou's art. He is seen standing and holding a machete, a common item in other manifestations of Ogun.
- Une petite representation du Dieu du fer Ogou, scrap metal.
- Musicien, scrap metal.
- Porteur d'eau, scrap metal.
- Elisabeth III, scrap metal.
- Le joueur de djembé, scrap metal.
- Prêt à voler, scrap metal
- Le roi, scrap metal.
- Le sage, scrap metal.
- La compagnie, scrap metal.
- Le discours, scrap metal.
- Pause clope, scrap metal.
- Le couple, scrap metal.
- La pintade, scrap metal.
- Le troisème âge, scrap metal.
- Femme enceinte, scrap metal.
- Le socle, scrap metal.
- Zangbeto, scrap metal.
- Ogou, scrap metal.
Exhibitions
editGroup exhibitions
edit- Festival vidéo, Liège, Belgium.
- Les internationales, Liège, Belgium.
- Rencontres internationales d'été, Castelnaudary, France.
- Centre d'animations Louis Lumière, Paris, France.
- Migrations culturelles, Bordeaux, France.
- Musée Ethnographique, Geneva, Switzerland.
- Semaine de la Francophonie, Accra, Ghana.
- Rencontres internationales d'été, Castelnaudary, France.
- Centre Culturel Saint Exupéry, Libreville, Gabon.
- Ouag'Art, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
- Ingénieuse Afrique, Musée des Civilisations, Canada, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Benin.
- Agnès b., Paris, France.
- Art Vaudou, Galerie de Nesle, Paris, France.
Solo exhibitions
edit- Simonet Biokou, Centre Culturel Français, Cotonou, Benin.
- Bangui, Centre-Afrique Ambassade des Etats-Unis, Cotonou, Benin.
- Centre Culturel Franco-Nigérien, Niamey, Niger.
- Gatobar, Lomé, Togo.
- Club des Nations Unies, Cotonou, Benin.
Collections
edit- Jura Isabelle Art Gallery
- Contemporary art Museum of Liège
References
edit- ^ "Divine carcasse". IMDb. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ^ "Reconfiguring an African Icon: Odes to the Mask by Modern and Contemporary Artists from Three Continents". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
- ^ "AFRICAN LOXO - Bio Simonet BIOKOU". www.africanloxo.com. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
- ^ Rush, Dana. “Contemporary Vodun Arts of Ouidah, Benin.” African Arts, vol. 34, no. 4, 2001, pp. 32–96. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/3337805.
- ^ Cousin, Saskia, and Théodore Dakpogan. “Des Faïences de Gou: Art Contemporain et ‘Vodun’ Au Bénin.” Cahiers d’Études Africaines, vol. 56, no. 223, 2016, pp. 503–16. JSTOR
- ^ Badoi, Fabiola. "Biokou". Benin Arts Visuels. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ^ “Sculptures Africaines de Simone Biokou.” Masques, Statues, d’art Africain
- ^ Beaujean-Baltzer, Gaëlle (2009). Artistes d'Abomey. Musée du quai Branly. p. 127. ISBN 9789057791109.
- ^ Jeune Afrique L'intelligent. Groupe Jeune Afrique. 2002. p. 105.
Further reading
edit- Benín. Spain, Alhenamedia, 2020.
- “Simonet BIOKOU (Bénin).” Article27.
- Culture et talents du Bénin: itinéraires et rencontres. France, Somogy, 2009.
- Forte, Jung Ran. “Marketing Vodun. Cultural Tourism and Dreams of Success in Contemporary Benin (Commercialisation Du Vaudou. Tourisme Culturel et Rêves de Réussite Dans Le Bénin Contemporain).” Cahiers d’Études Africaines, vol. 49, no. 193/194, 2009, pp. 429–51. JSTOR.
- Goussanou, Rossila. "Tourist visits and misappropriations of the past on the Slave Route in Ouidah", Ethnologie française, vol. 50, no. 1, 2020, pp. 65–76.
- Harmattan 2000: Art Contemporain Au Bénin. Centre culturel français. 2000. pp. 38–41.
- Rémy, Mylène. Le Gabon aujourd'hui .... France, Editions du Jaguar, 1996.