Clay Apenouvon, Togo
Plastic Attack.
About:
After working in various painting, graphic design and screen printing workshops, Clay Apenouvon born in Lomé (Togo) leaves his homeland to establish himself in Paris (France). In Paris, Apenouvon comes into contact with artists such as Claude Viallat (Support Surface movement) and Mounir Fatmi. He achieves his first artistic co-production “Africa en Yvelines” in Mante La Jolie with the designer and artist Jules Wokam.
Film Noir, installation.
Apenouvon explores the possibilities of using different materials. He uses cardboard as a physical support and artistic medium. In Clay’s mind, the cardboard is the symbolic material to address the issue of packaging, a major subject of his thinking and his approach: packing things or vacuum packaging. In 2006, Apenouvon is invited to create a performance at the International Contemporary Art Fair, the FIAC. In this period, the artist decides to revive the memory of African politicians, intellectuals and artists that have marked the last fifty years of the history of the continent. He returns to his screen printing practice and develops a series of portraits honoring these great personalities. These portraits are installed in public places in the Paris metropolitan area, and subsequently he launches the African Legend clothing line to extend the life of the portrait work.With a militant and engaged personality, Apenouvon becomes interested in plastic. Galvanized by the work of Steve McPherson and Marthine Tayou, he creates the concept “Plastic Attack”. Leveraging installation as the mode of presentation, “Plastic Attack” raises awareness of the dangers that plastic poses to the environment on a global scale. In these works, Apenouvon seeks to express plastic’s “fatal beauty. He positions himself as a world citizen, sensitive and involved in his time;
Film Noir, 2015.
Dance Plastic #4, 2015.
Plastic Attack #5.
Plastic Attack, a scalable work in constant movement, was presented in residences in Iceland, the US, and in France. An installation is also visible in the Parc du Futuroscope in Poitiers (France).(text and Courtesy Mariane Ibrahim Gallery)