From Modernism to Transculturalism: Reclaiming African sculptures as found objects in contemporary art

The history of found objects in art that emerged in the early 20^th century has broadened of late to include more diverse kinds of things. Within this expanded field, West African sculptures and masks resurface in assemblages by African-American artists David Hammons, Matthew Harrison, Nari Ward, Fred Wilson, Sanford Biggers, and Jefferson Pinder. If Modernism saw African objects as colonial source material for a burgeoning fascination with “primitivism,” this recent exploration places the material vitality of such objects front and center as powerful signifiers of personal heritage. West African sculptures and masks as found objects in contemporary Western art function as canny markers of transcultural identity, collapsing Africa and America’s national borders in the realm of the symbolic imaginary. This presentation will outline a brief history of the found object’s more expansive disposition today, situating the African art as found object example. How African art was used by modernist artists will then be contrasted with that of current practitioners. The framing of the objects is key--as in the forms of encasings that occur in Harrison (single figures locked into polyeurothane resin blocks), Pinder (masks within a monumental vitrine), and Ward (two standing figures in a grandfather clock); as well as other formal adjustments with Hammons (overpainting), Biggers (violent deconstructions), and Wilson (fabric interventions). Questions relating to the original history of these objects and their renewed agency and aura in this new context will be explored, yielding a discussion of the varied meanings these artists pose through such transcultural propositions.