Pascale Marthine Tayou opens first solo show in London

Serpentine Galleries presents the first solo show in London by Cameroon-born, Belgium-based artist Pascale Marthine Tayou.

The exhibition includes new work made specifically for the Serpentine and introduces audiences to a range of works that serve as powerful expressions of individual and national identity in an age of inescapable global consumption.

The exhibition, his first in the UK since 2008, sees the Serpentine Sackler Gallery populated by a diverse mix of sculptural forms that demonstrate Tayou’s unique visual language based on archetypes, objects and traditional craft.

Mysterious human forms and fantastical beasts – such as the 100 metre snake of Africonda – incorporate materials such as cloth, wood, plastic, glass, organic matter and consumer waste combined with an artisanal skill.

Tayou, who began studying law before deciding instead to become an artist, began exhibiting in the early 1990s – a time of political and social upheaval across West Africa.

With works often produced in situ, Tayou is renowned for combining found and discarded objects and materials – often sourced locally – with a skilled and playful sense of craftsmanship.

Julia Peyton-Jones, Director, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director, said: “Straddling the radically different worlds of both Cameroon and Belgium, Pascale Marthine Tayou has spent his career examining ideas of identity – whether national, geographical, financial or emotional – in an attempt to find the common ground between us all.

His ingeniously crafted creations are imbued with a strange and alluring magic that has the power to bind us as tightly as the Africonda snake that takes up residence in the Gallery this spring.”

Tayou has exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions at the Fowler Museum at UCLA (2014); Kunsthaus Bregenz (2014); MACRO, Rome (2012); MUDAM Luxembourg (2011); Mac Lyon (2011); Malmö Konsthall (2010). BOOMERANG is produced by the Serpentine Galleries in collaboration with BOZAR, Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels.

This exhibition at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery is part of the Serpentine’s Spring Programme, which includes a major survey by American artist Leon Golub that runs concurrently at the Serpentine Gallery.

Born in Nkongsamba 1966, Pascale Marthine Tayou is a self-taught artist who lives and works in Ghent, Belgium and in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

Recent solo exhibitions include the Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, USA (2014); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2014); Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, Abidjan, Cameroon (2014); MACRO, Rome, Italy (2012); Le Chemin Lumineux, Lille, France (2012); Pavillon Paul-Delouvrier, Parc de la Villette, Paris, France (2012); Gare Saint Lazare, Paris, France (2012); Castello di Ama, Ama, Italy (2012); MUDAM LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg (2011); Galleria Continua / Le Moulin Boissy-le-Châtel, France (2011); REVUE NOIRE Expressions Contemporaines d'Afrique et du Monde Paris, France (2011); Mac Lyon, France (2011); Galleria Continua / San Gimignano, Italy (2010); Goethe on Main, Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, South Africa (2010); Gare Saint Sauveur, lille3000, Lille, France (2010); Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden (2010); International Film Festival, Rotterdam, Nederlands (2010); Venice Biennales (2005 & 2009); Documenta 11 (2002).