When I was in New York I visited a lot of museums and galleries and saw some amazing works of art and creativity but, there is one exhibit that stands out in my mind and it was at MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). It was a retrospective of works by the incredibly creative and visionary work of Bodys Isek Kingelez (1948-2015).
Kingelez was based in what was once Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. He started making his sculptures after the country's independence
from Belgium and his work reflected dreams for his country as well as the entire African continent.
His sculptures are created from a wide range of everyday materials and found objects such as aluminum cans, plastic objects of all kinds and colored and/or commercial paper.
He never traveled outside of his country until 1989 which I think makes some of his creations even more impressive and unique.
His creations range from single buildings to sprawling cities of futuristic skyscrapers. And as his collection grew, he began using increasingly unorthodox materials.
This exhibit represents the first time his work has been seen in the United States and spans his entire career.
Looking at these models made me think of the modern skylines of cities like Dubai, Doha and Shanghai. The ever changing London skyline even came to mind.
A lot of vision came from this artist who lived most of his life in a relatively under developed country.
4 comments:
This blows my mind! I suppose he got some ideas from magazines and movies, but still, it's amazing he could do such work without ever having left the country. The works of art look modern and futuristic mostly and I've never been able to figure out how people can utilize old pieces of whatever to put together works of art. Those cities are a marvel...just to picture them in one's mind is fantastic but then to be able to actually create them using various materials is hard to imagine.
I don't know very much about Africa but I had an uncle who was a doctor and spent many years in what was formerly the Congo. In fact I was named (middle name) after him. One of his best friends was a missionary (named Paul Carlson) who was killed by the rebels during the uprising.
Unbelievably fantastic! I grew up in Central Africa, in Zimbabwe and Zambia, right next door to the Congo. There are many talented artists in Africa but this is spectacular, what an imagination! I'm so happy that the world is now getting to see his work ✨
Fascinating work!
The artist had a great imagination.
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