30r364 boek.qxd:awards book 11 - Prince Claus Fund

Exposing the Limitations of Categoriesby Jan HoetMy first impression of Ousmane Sow’s sculptures was strangely ambiguous: I was overwhelmedand fascinated. This encounter took place during the time of the First Gulf War in 1991 when I waspreparing Documenta IX. It was a time characterised by terrible media revelations which stilldefine our globalised world to this day: poverty became an undeniable fact, the limits of sexualfreedom were determined by AIDS and Chernobyl was a reminder of a conceivable end. Thedangers of an anonymous threat entered our collective awareness which suddenly became aglobal awareness. It seemed very likely to me that this palpable threat influenced my perceptionof Ousmane Sow’s sculptures.His sculptures do not fit into any known categories. His moulded figures of men, womenand suckling children do not hide their African roots; they are defined by a certain kind ofarchaic ponderosity. However, at the same time they convey a strangely floating transparency.The structure immediately reminded me of the nervously moulded surface of a Giacometti.His works’ appearance also instantly brought to mind Rodin’s Adam with his hanging shouldersand his downcast glance.At that time, I intuitively felt the prophetic signals of an advancing era in his works. I sensedvery strongly that Africa was part of our creation within our globalised world. Back then, Africawas still largely seen in connection with the foreign and archaic. An increasingly open kindof approach towards art and the world can be sensed in Ousmane Sow’s work. This perceptionis not based on the western mechanism of cultural exclusion. The abundance of Classic Modernismis prevalent in his works. However, at the same they render the limitations of categorical classifi -cations pointless. The genuineness of his figures is a genesis in more ways than one. Whilerevealing themselves in archetypal figurations, they hide their secret by referring to a world farbeyond their own artistic context. The self-involvement of Ousmane Sow’s figures not onlydefines his art but also poses a challenge. The foreignness and the irritations underneath thesurface become a mirror which activates inner observations.The autonomy of art does not reside in the airless bubble of speculative ideas but in theconflict with our world. Today, its conceivable collapse seems like a true portent.882008 Prince Claus Awards