Barthélémy Toguo

Barthélémy Toguo, is a Cameroonian painter, visual and performance artist born in 1967. He currently splits his time living and working in both Paris, France and Bandjoun, Cameroon. He works in a variety of media aside from visual and performing arts including photographs, prints, sculptures, videos, and installations.

Biography

He studied Fine Arts in Abidjan in Ivory Coast, École supérieure d'Art de Grenoble and the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Some of his paintings are found in The Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC) of Jean Pigozzi. Starting in 2005 and continuing until completion in 2007, he constructed a cultural project called the Bandjoun Station, an art center located in his native Cameroon that includes an exhibition space, a library, an artist residency, and an organic farm. I was made to foster contemporary art and culture within the local community. The station is composed of two distinct buildings divided into different centers that are used for multiple individual purposes. The main building is designed with five armed concrete pillars and topped with a ten meter high gable. This slopped roof respects the traditional architecture or the area. the station is in a location that welcomes all sorts of traditions. People are invited to appropriate this space, to organize festivals for or related to their culture such as burials, births, and even weddings. It is all done in hope to create social cohesion within the community.

In 2011, Toguo was made a Knight of the Order of Arts and Literature in France for his ongoing engagement and creativity, helping to develop the arts and culture in France and throughout the world, and building bridges between nations with his art.

His first solo presentation in New York City was at Robert Miller Gallery in Chelsea, from September 10 to October 29, 2009. He was awarded a 2018 Inga Maren Otto Fellowship by The Watermill Center in Long Island, New York. During his residency over the summer in 2018, he created some of the works for his exhibition The Beauty of Our Voice, presented at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, New York, from August 5, 2018 to October 14, 2018. His first solo exhibition at an American museum, The Beauty of Our Voice expanded his gaze to the U.S. with new watercolor paintings, installations, photography, performance, and a community art project.

Exhibitions

Solo

• 2018 The Beauty of Our Voice, presented at the Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, New York, from August 5, 2018 to October 14, 2018. His first solo exhibition at an American museum.
• 2013 Hidden Faces, Lelong Gallery, Paris
• 2011 Criminal Tribunal, Mario Mauroner Contemporary Art, Vienna
• 2004/2005 The Sick Opera, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
• 2004 La guerre des sexes n’aura pas lieu, Ecole régionale des Beaux-Arts, Valence, France
• 2003 Pure and Clean, Institute of Visual Arts, Milwaukee, USA

Group

• 2014 Jaume Plensa - Kiki Smith - Bartélémy Toguo, Lelong Gallery, Paris
• 2005 African Art Now : Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, USA
• 2005 Hayward Gallery, London, England
• 2005 Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
• 2004 Africa Remix, Art contemporain d’un continent, Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, Germany
• 2004 Je m’installe aux abattoirs, La collection d’art contemporain d’agnès b., Les Abattoirs, Toulouse, France
• 2003 The American Effect, Global Perspectives on the United States, 1990-2003, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA

External links

• [1]
• Contemporary African Art Collection, Geneva
• Barthélémy Toguo at Galerie Lelong (French representing gallery)
• Barthélémy Toguo on kunstnet.at
• [2]