DOUAL’ART PT 1 : GUY WOUETE

It’s in the profoundness of the suburb Bonendale that I discover a clustering of multi-disciplinary artists. Guy,28, got interested in visual arts since the age of 18. “ I’ve always had a special relation to image, either through film viewing, drawing, or painting, the activity which would become my full-time job. In a world where been an artist still represents an unprofitable distraction, Guy explains to me how hard it is for him and his peers to advocate for a stream that is far from the popularized folkloric and touristic arts and crafts. Suprisingly, in a country where people ought to have several money-makers, Guy lives upon his work, his “raison d’être”. He captured the attention of more than one at the 2006 Dakar Biennial, and since then, international projects and internships popped out, leading him to France, the Netherlands, the States, and Colombia. He realised several personal and collaborative projects in painting, sculpture, short film directing, and assemblage of recyclables.

Guy hardly defines his work, and gladly leaves that task to “foreigners”. However, he does belong to a totally abstract style, distinctly differentiating itself from traditional figures and tribal landscapes (portraits, images of african villages...). Without understating those lasts, he’s expecting more recognition of the richness of expressionism or “Art Brut” (without however giving them those designations).

He generally uses acrylic in his paintings, and also does mosaics with several pieces, each having a different background and a different inspiration. The all gives a pretty heterogeneous entity, such as the diptych “ The Damned”. This last depicts the deviance of the new city planning of Yaounde, compelling inhabitants of dilapidated houses to abandon their homes, fated to destruction, with little or no compensation (the cross illustrates the sign commonly used by authorities to condemn a building). Guy also explains how he came up with the series “Candles”, during a power shut down. The pieces realised by candlelight limn the flaws of a systemic anarchy. Finally, his inspiration also takes root in historical events, such as this reference to the 1886 Berlin Conference. This series is by the way one of the most interesting, because he puts in parallel the different distorsions of a flame with the feelings and rebellion driving him at the time, while in the dark.

We left each other at twilight, but not without having met another intriguing character. And once thousands of miles away, it’s from the extremities of my keyboard that I’ll be paying him a last tribute....

In the next episode...

Paris, November 15th, 2008

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